Fundsquire: borrowing against your R&D tax incentive refund

Most lenders in this directory look at the same thing: how much money comes into your account each month. Fundsquire looks at something else entirely. It lends against money the government is expected to pay you, chiefly the refund from the R&D tax incentive. For a startup burning cash on development long before revenue arrives, that changes the question from “do you earn enough?” to “is your R&D claim sound?”

This profile covers Fundsquire’s products, how R&D finance actually works, the timing traps founders run into, and where to go if it isn’t the right fit. Fundsquire’s website restricts automated access, so we’ve taken its details from its own pages via search results and checked them against independent reporting, as at October 2026.

What does Fundsquire offer?

According to its website, Fundsquire provides cash flow finance to Australian startups and small to medium businesses across three products:

Product	What it advances against	Published detail (October 2026)
R&D loans	Your expected R&D tax incentive refund	$60k to $1m, paid within 48 hours of approval, set fee
Grant advances	A government grant you’ve been approved for but not yet paid	Amounts not published
Revenue financing	Your recurring revenue	Amounts not published

Independent reporting has covered Fundsquire’s backing from a European investment manager to fund its lending to R&D-heavy companies, and its launch of grant advances in Australia. Its focus is clear: businesses that invest in innovation and wait for public money to catch up.

How does R&D tax refund finance work?

Under the R&D tax incentive, eligible companies with aggregated turnover under $20 million can receive a refundable tax offset. In plain terms, even a loss-making startup can get cash back from the ATO for a share of eligible R&D spending. The ATO explains which companies qualify for the refundable versus non-refundable offset on its website.

The problem is timing. You spend the money across the financial year, register the R&D activities with the government program after the year ends, lodge your company tax return, and only then does the ATO start processing it. For a June year end, the refund often lands many months after the spending.

Fundsquire’s R&D loan fills that gap. It advances part of the expected refund as a receivables facility; when the refund arrives, it repays the facility. Some founders draw against the current year’s spending before the year has even closed, so the refund funds the next round of development rather than arriving after the runway is gone.

Why does the set fee matter?

Fundsquire describes its pricing as a simple set fee, regardless of how long repayment takes. That’s a useful feature for this kind of lending, because the borrower doesn’t control the timetable: the ATO does. The ATO can hold an income tax refund while it checks an R&D claim, and a refund that was expected in October may arrive in the new year.

With a fixed fee, that delay hurts your cash flow plan but not the cost of the facility. Still, model your cash runway on a late refund, not an early one, so a review doesn’t leave you short.

Running a startup that’s funding development out of pocket? Tell us about your R&D spend and someone can talk through what you might access, with no credit check at enquiry.

A worked example

Here’s an illustration only, not a Fundsquire quote. A Brisbane software company with turnover under $20 million spends about $600k on eligible R&D in the 2025–26 year, mostly developer wages. Its adviser estimates a refundable offset in the low hundreds of thousands. By March 2026 the founders can see a two-month gap before their next equity round closes.

Rather than raise a small bridge round at a low valuation, they take an R&D facility against the expected refund. The company registers its activities, lodges its return after year end, and when the ATO pays, the refund clears the facility and the set fee. The founders keep their equity, and the cost is a known dollar figure from the start.

The part to stress-test: what if the claim is reduced? If the ATO or the program administrator disallows some activities, the refund shrinks, but the facility still has to be repaid. A well-documented claim, prepared by an experienced adviser, is the real security here.

Questions to ask before signing

1. What share of my estimated refund will you advance, and how is it calculated?
2. What is the set fee in dollars, and is anything else charged?
3. What happens if my refund is smaller than estimated, or the ATO reviews the claim?
4. What security or guarantees do you take beyond the refund itself?
5. Can I draw during the year, or only after lodgement?

Who suits Fundsquire, and who should look elsewhere?

Fundsquire fits companies with a genuine, well-documented R&D program, turnover under the $20 million refundable threshold, and a cash gap before the refund or an approved grant arrives. Our guide to funding research and development sets out the wider options.

It’s not built for businesses without R&D claims, sole traders (the R&D tax incentive is for companies), or anyone needing general working capital unrelated to a refund or grant.

If you don’t fit, try these instead:

• Startups with recurring sales: revenue-based finance or our startup business loans guide.
• Tech companies with steady deposits: bank-statement lenders such as Prospa or Moula, once you’ve a year or more of trading.
• Weighing public money against borrowing: compare government grants vs business loans and debt vs equity funding.
• Founders with property: a property-secured loan isn’t tied to the size of any refund; see home equity business loans.

Is your refund still months away?

An R&D refund is a frustrating kind of money: you’ve earned it and spent it, but you can’t touch it yet. Fundsquire is one way to bring it forward. Depending on your trading history, your security and what you need the cash for, other options may cost less or reach further.

Finding out takes around sixty seconds. Asking the question leaves your credit history exactly as it was, and what you share is kept in-house rather than fired off to every lender we know. A person on our side looks over the details and rings you. Be accurate about your turnover, your R&D spend and when you expect the refund, so the first suggestion we make is a fit rather than a guess.

Ask about funding your next development stage →