Knowledge base · Inventory financing · 5 min · 18 Jul 2026
Inventory finance in practice
Your warehouse is full. Your account is not. Stock often holds the largest share of your working capital. Inventory finance makes that capital available again. Below you can read how it works in practice.
What it solves
You buy in, you store, you wait for the sale. Meanwhile your money stands still in the warehouse.
Inventory finance turns the capital locked in stock into cash. Your stock position does not have to be run down for it.
You put that working capital to work for growth, investment or seasonal peaks.
How it works
The finance runs on the basis of an assessed stock value. You submit a stock list periodically, not daily.
That keeps the administrative burden limited.
We confirm the valuation method and the advance rate on stock with the SOOF team.
Who it works for
Inventory finance suits SMEs with a substantial stock position.
In practice we see three sectors most often:
- Wholesale and distribution: high warehouse value alongside long payment terms
- Manufacturing and industry: raw materials, work in progress and long production cycles
- Construction and infrastructure: materials that go out ahead of the income
Is your stock already pledged
Often it is. At many SMEs the stock already serves as security for the bank.
That is the practical bottleneck with alternative finance: the assets are taken.
SOOF can take over that existing pledge and coordinates the process.
Combining with factoring
Is your capital locked up twice, in your warehouse and in your receivables? Then the combination works.
Factoring makes your invoices liquid, inventory finance your warehouse value. Both through one party, with one point of contact.
The process in three steps
SOOF works in three steps per type of finance.
- Application. A meeting in person within 24 hours if you want one, without months of due diligence.
- Assessment and quote. Transparent, with a clear cost overview and no hidden fees.
- Payout. Fast, aiming to be operational within weeks.
Next step
Want to know how much working capital sits in your stock?
Read more about inventory finance or start the Quickscan. No obligations.
About the author
Jaap van Aalst
Commercieel directeur, SOOF Finance
Jaap van Aalst started his first business almost thirty years ago, in staffing and secondment. That is where he saw for himself how many opportunities are lost when money sits too long in unpaid invoices.
Around eighteen years ago he moved into the factoring world, as commercial director. Since then he has sat across the table from countless business owners and seen at first hand what financing questions look like in practice. He looks further than the balance sheet: what the business does, where the opportunities are, and which form of finance genuinely moves it forward.
That is also the basis of his work at SOOF Finance. His starting point is simple: finance is not an end in itself, but a means by which a good entrepreneur delivers on their plans.
Frequently asked questions
No. The stock position stays as it is. Only the capital locked inside it is freed up.
Periodic submission of stock lists. No daily reporting.
Yes. If the stock is already pledged to the bank, SOOF Finance takes over that pledge. How that works is set out in what is a pledge.
Further reading: the biggest pitfalls in factoring
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