Paragon and Zeti team up on green finance

Paragon Bank’s SME Lending division has expanded its partnership with fintech Zeti, opening up new green finance pathways to help UK SMEs invest in renewable energy technologies and accelerate their transition to net zero.

The enhanced agreement formally appoints Zeti as Paragon’s fintech partner, giving the bank access to ZetiOS – Zeti’s cloud-based platform for financing and managing transport and energy assets. Through ZetiOS, Paragon will gain real-time asset data including financial reporting, emissions tracking and asset health monitoring, enabling more automated processes, richer ESG insight and faster, better-informed lending decisions for customers.

The collaboration builds on work that began in 2023 via Paragon’s relationship with Otto Car, Europe’s largest private hire fleet provider. Using ZetiOS, the partners introduced innovative pay-per-use finance for low-emission vehicles. To date, the scheme has funded 75 vehicles, delivered an estimated 226,000kg of CO₂ savings (equivalent to the annual energy use of around 28 homes), avoided 65.5kg of NOx emissions – comparable to the yearly output of 15–20 average diesel cars – and enabled more than 1.27 million zero- or low-emission miles.

Under the expanded partnership, Paragon and Zeti will support financing for a broader mix of renewable energy assets, including rooftop solar, combined heat and power systems and small-scale wind. By building on established Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) models, the approach is designed to let SMEs fund equipment in line with actual energy production and usage, helping to cut energy costs while supporting the UK’s decarbonisation and energy resilience goals.

Matt Bass, Head of Specialist Finance in Paragon’s SME Lending division, said: “As a FTSE 250 lender working with more than 16,000 UK SMEs, Paragon is committed to funding a greener future for SMEs and the UK economy. We want to make a meaningful difference by providing simple and modern finance solutions which enable SMEs to have assets that reduce emissions and provide energy certainty. Zeti’s team is entirely aligned with these goals and their tech expertise enables us to do exactly that. This partnership allows us to deliver smarter, data-driven outcomes for our customers at scale.”

Dave Kennon, Commercial Director at Zeti, added: “This partnership is a great example of what happens when deep finance experience meets genuinely innovative technology. By using ZetiOS across portfolio management, Paragon can reach a broader range of customers and asset classes, helping clients access flexible finance that delivers long-term energy security at lower cost, while supporting net zero ambitions across transport, energy and beyond.”

Dan Saunders, Founder and CEO of Zeti, said: “ZetiOS was built to modernise how capital connects with real-world assets. Bringing together data, insight and automation gives lenders the confidence to finance more customers, more efficiently, across a much wider set of asset and infrastructure use cases. Partnering with Paragon demonstrates how banks can move beyond traditional models and use software to support everything from vehicle finance to complex renewable and energy infrastructure assets.”