iwoca launches M&A platform as most SME owners lack exit plan

iwoca has launched manda, a new M&A platform designed to connect small businesses looking to sell with potential buyers including search funds, family offices and private equity firms.

The platform, which acts as a market maker rather than representing only one side of a deal as traditional corporate finance brokers do, handles matching between buyers and sellers, due diligence and deal structuring. For buyers, manda draws on iwoca’s data on more than 100,000 SMEs to identify opportunities, and uses bank feeds, filed accounts, VAT returns and payroll data to carry out due diligence and advise on how deals should be structured. manda charges a fee only when a deal completes.

manda has already completed its first transaction, facilitating the sale of roofing contractor TRC (Midlands) Ltd to TrueNorth Capital Group.

The launch comes alongside new polling commissioned by iwoca from Stack Data Strategy, which surveyed 1,219 SME owners in the UK in July 2026. iwoca said the findings point to a growing succession gap among the UK’s 5.7 million SMEs. The poll found that only 21% of SME owners have a formal, documented succession or exit plan, despite 50% saying they will rely on their business to fund their retirement.

A quarter of those polled, 25%, said they had given succession no thought at all. Among owners aged 55 to 64, 73% said they have nothing more than a rough idea of what will happen to their business when they step back, while less than a third, 29%, of those aged 65 to 74 have a formal plan in place.

Nearly three in 10 owners, 29%, said they do not know what their business would be worth if sold.

The polling also examined the impact of Inheritance Tax changes introduced by the UK government in April 2026. More than a third of SME owners, 37%, said they had changed their plans following the changes, with 15% now more likely to sell and 8% now more likely to close their business down entirely.

On buyer preferences, 30% of SME owners said an overseas buyer was their least preferred option, while 22% said they would prefer to sell to a larger UK company and 20% said they would prefer to sell to their existing management team.

Christoph Rieche, chief executive and co-founder of iwoca, said: “Our analysis shows the majority of small business owners have no formal succession plan for the business they’ve built. Often the hardest part isn’t finding a buyer, but finding the right one at the right time – someone who understands the business and will take it forward. manda solves that by matching sellers with buyers who actually fit what they’re looking for. For businesses across the country, this platform is going to transform how deals are done, and how companies think about succession planning.”

Bradley Lay of TrueNorth Capital Group, which acquired TRC (Midlands) Ltd, said: “TRC (Midlands) is exactly the type of business we want to bring into TrueNorth. It has an exceptional heritage, longstanding customer relationships and a reputation that has been built over generations. Our responsibility is to protect the business legacy while also providing the investment, infrastructure and support required for its next stage of growth. The roofing and external envelope market is a major part of our strategy, and TRC gives us a fantastic platform from which to continue building our capabilities in this area.”

Trevor Horne, managing director of TRC (Midlands) Ltd, said: “We’d built the business over many years, investing time and money into its creation and growth, so we wanted a buyer who would take it forward properly. The whole process was smooth and we had the right partners around us throughout, which meant we could focus on handing the business over in good shape rather than managing the logistics of the sale.”

iwoca, which provides finance to small businesses, has made several billion pounds in funding available to more than 100,000 businesses since it launched in 2012.