Lending against evidenced knowledge assets
A finance-partner proposal from IP-Advisors (DNA Practice) showing how DNA gives lenders the evidence they need to price and recover IP collateral.
The opportunity
The British Business Bank is expected to launch an enabling arrangement for IP-supported lending, understood to be in the order of £500m. Rather than setting a fixed standard, it appears to invite each lender to bring its own IP risk-profiling plan – and to agree support against that plan.
That means the risk process is the thing being priced. Lenders who engage early, with a rigorous approach, will help shape what “acceptable” looks like across the market.
What we're proposing
A focused pilot: adopt DNA as the IP validation and recovery layer within a Business Bank-supported IP lending offer.
You gain the risk process the enabler prices against. We gain a real-world deployment with a serious lending partner – and we discover together what the support turns out to be.
What DNA does
DNA (Digital Novel Assets) turns the know-how a business can already evidence into a validated, independently valued and securely preserved asset record – answering the four questions every underwriter needs answered.
01
Existence
A structured, validated record of the asset and the work behind it.
02
Ownership
A clear provenance and ownership chain, with legal standing under the Property (Digital Assets etc.) Act 2025.
03
Timing
A tamper-proof, time-stamped record, preserved write-once in 5D optical crystal.
04
Reasonable steps
Documented evidence of how the know-how has been protected.
Any value is set by an independent RICS valuer on a recovery basis – never by the party that originates the asset. That independence is what makes the evidence usable by a credit team.
Why it matters to lenders
Probability of default is about the borrower, and DNA doesn’t touch it. Loss-given-default (LGD) is where IP collateral sits – and today it’s priced on assumption, because there’s no data and no repeatable recovery process. DNA supplies the missing evidence.
Lower, evidenced LGD
A validated asset and an evidenced recovery process lower the defensible loss on IP-supported lending.
Better support pricing
A lower, evidenced LGD improves the British Business Bank support pricing you can secure.
Cheaper, deeper lending
Better pricing can be passed on to the innovative businesses you already compete to bank.
First-mover influence
Bring a rigorous process early, and help shape what the market comes to treat as acceptable.
What this is – and isn’t
Not unsecured lending
Lending is still underwritten on cash flow – DNA adds evidence, not risk.
No capital-relief claim
The capital work is done by the Business Bank support, as a risk team would expect.
Recoverability, not headline value
Valuations stay deliberately conservative and never drift toward going-concern value.
Download the full proposal
The full proposal covers the PD and LGD case, our recovery framework, an adjacent asset-protection layer, and the points we’d agree together before any pilot. Happy to talk it through on a short, no-obligation call.
The British Business Bank facility described is anticipated and its terms are not yet published. This page and the proposal are for discussion only and do not constitute financial, legal or regulatory advice, or an offer of insurance or credit.