South Africa's SMEs are stuck in a cash flow crisis, with R12.4 billion in government invoices not paid for more than 30 days and private sector payment cycles stretching up to 150 days, often threatening business survival.
Bridgement founder and CEO Daniel Goldberg is available for interview to speak on the slow death of small businesses due to delayed payments, one of the most serious but under-reported threats to South Africa's economy. With hard data, a decade of on-the-ground experience, and technology-driven solutions already working at scale, an interview with Goldberg will provide audiences with both the harsh reality of the SME funding gap and a local success story.
A South African fintech lender provides fast and flexible working capital funding to small to medium enterprises (SMEs), solving the delayed payment crisis faced by SMEs with short- to medium-term business loans up to R10m. Their funding is approved in 24 hours or less through an online process, with their current average being three hours, which takes about two minutes, providing a simpler and more transparent alternative to traditional loans.
Instead of requiring extensive paperwork, audited financials and multiple in-person meetings, their technology securely connects to a business's bank and accounting data to create a real-time picture of its financial health. This allows Bridgement to make faster, more accurate credit decisions and price funding in a way that reflects the actual performance of the business.
Addressing late payments and cash flow gaps with revolving credit, term loans and invoice financing up to 24 months, they ensure SMEs remain financially stable and operational while waiting for delayed payments. The features are designed to allow customers to settle their invoices, helping business owners streamline cash flow, take on larger orders with confidence, and negotiate better terms with their own suppliers.
This difference is eliminated
National Treasury published data in March 2026 confirming that R12.4bn in invoices more than 30 days old had not been paid by government departments alone. In the private sector, a payment cycle of 90-120 days is standard. The end-to-end cash cycle for SMEs supplying to large corporates can exceed 150 days after including order time, delivery, invoicing and extended payment terms.
For a growing business, that difference is often the difference between hiring or retaining a headcount, taking on a new contract or turning it down, and in some cases, keeping the doors open.
Technology simplifies SME payments and liquidity
Bridgement is the only SME credit provider in South Africa integrated into the country's three leading cloud accounting platforms – Xero, Sage and QuickBooks. These integrations allow them to get the latest financial data directly from the tools SMEs already use to run their businesses, eliminating manual uploads and reducing the risk of errors.
By combining banking and accounting data with their proprietary credit-scoring models, they can make faster decisions, tailor limits to each customer's actual trading patterns, and provide dynamic features that scale as the business grows. For SME owners, this means spending less time on paperwork and more time serving customers and building their companies while effectively closing the payment gap.
key insights:
- R12.4bn Unpaid government invoices older than 30 days increased by 17% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2025 (National Treasury, March 2026)
- 90-150 days Typical end-to-end cash cycle for an SME supplying to a large corporate
- R2bn+ Deployed to South African SMEs by Bridgement since 2016
- 3 cloud accounting platforms Bridgement is the only SME lender in South Africa with integration into Xero, Sage and QuickBooks
- same day Typical transition from application to funding decision
- up to R10m Available within 24 hours.
In his own words:
“Waiting three to six months for payment is not conducive to running a healthy small business. Our mission is to give SMEs a funding partner that moves at the same pace – using technology to remove friction, paperwork and uncertainty from the process..” – (Daniel Goldberg, Founder and CEO of Bridgement)
“By connecting directly to the accounting and banking tools that SMEs already use, we can understand their businesses in real time and provide the right level of funding at the right time. This means our clients can focus on winning contracts and serving customers rather than chasing payments and worrying about the end of the month.”- (Daniel Goldberg, Founder and CEO of Bridgement)
About this:
Bridgement is a South African fintech company that provides fast, flexible and fully digital business funding solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, and has been recognized with multiple fintech industry awards including Xero App of the Year.
They offer a range of products including business loans, revolving credit and invoice finance, with funding up to R10,000,000 available within 24 hours and repayment terms up to 24 months. Using technology and data-driven credit assessment, Bridgment enables SMEs to access working capital without the complexity or delays associated with traditional bank loans.
Bridgement has been in operation for almost 10 years and has deployed over R2bn to SMEs across South Africa and has begun licensing its technology to banks so they can better serve their SME customers. For more information visit https://www.bridgement.com/