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Vision for Growth: Shade Station unlocks £1.35m with NatWest’s innovative intellectual property-backed loan

Shade Station, a leading online retailer of prescription glasses and designer sunglasses, has secured a £1.35 million loan from NatWest, utilising the bank’s IP-backed lending proposition.

  • Manchester-based online eyewear retailer Shade Station secures £1.35m through NatWest’s innovative IP-backed loan
  • Funding to support global expansion, AI-powered technology development, and launch of smart eyewear e-commerce platform
  • NatWest’s High Growth IP loan enables fast-growing businesses to unlock finance using intellectual property as collateral

 

Shade Station, a leading online retailer of prescription glasses and designer sunglasses, has secured a £1.35 million loan from NatWest, utilising the bank’s IP-backed lending proposition. The funding will support Shade Station’s international expansion, as well as the development of AI-driven e-commerce features and the launch of a new smart eyewear platform, offering glasses capable of displaying digital information directly onto lenses. As part of their ambitious development plans, Shade Station aim to make this ‘next-generation’ eyewear - currently only available via a number of specialist retailers – more readily available to consumers via their innovative portal development.

The smart eyewear platform is expected to undergo a phased launch throughout 2026, initially in the UK and Ireland, before expanding into selected European markets including the Nordics and DACH region. The platform will focus on making next-generation smart glasses accessible to everyday consumers, with features such as heads-up notifications, navigation prompts, real-time translation, fitness and activity insights, and seamless smartphone integration, all delivered through lightweight, everyday eyewear designs.

Early interest from suppliers and brand partners has been strong, with the company already seeing significant inbound demand from manufacturers keen to distribute smart eyewear through a trusted, high-volume e-commerce channel.

Based in Manchester, Shade Station has grown rapidly under its current management team, increasing its annual turnover from £4 million to £22 million. The business is now leveraging its proprietary software and registered trademarks as collateral for NatWest’s High Growth IP-backed loan. Developed in partnership with IP valuation specialists Inngot, this type of loan is enabling businesses to secure finance against their intellectual property, rather than traditional tangible assets. Since its launch in January 2024, the bank has unlocked over £27 million in funding using IP-backed loans, underlining its commitment to supporting the UK’s most innovative scale-ups.

 

Jon Walden, Chief Operating Officer at Shade Station, commented:

“As an IP-rich business, we have been able to reduce our interest costs by nearly 50% with NatWest’s High Growth IP-backed loan, creating a far more efficient funding structure and delivering meaningful savings for the business.

“This funding allows us to accelerate our international expansion, invest further in our AI-driven platform, and move faster to bring smart eyewear to a much broader audience through a best-in-class e-commerce experience.”

 

Neil Bellamy, Head of TMT & Services, UK Corporate Coverage at NatWest, said:

“Through NatWest’s High Growth IP-backed loan, customers have the potential to turbo-charge their growth. We revalue IP on an annual basis and have found that our lending has enabled our portfolio of firms to invest in further IP and add greater value to their business - meaning that for every £1 lent by the bank, the value of the underlying IP has increased by £1.32 (132%).”

 

Guy Boxall, Relationship Director North West Commercial Mid-Market at NatWest, said:

“We were very happy with the IP value that Inngot’s platform found. It enabled us to provide Shade Station with sufficient funding for investment and to reduce the outstanding loan as well. The new management team has been in place for two years, and they have done a great job growing both brand recognition and turnover.”

About NatWest

NatWest Group serves 20 million customers across retail, commercial and private banking, across the UK. We help people, families, and businesses build financial confidence and thrive - whether that’s opening a first account, buying a home, growing a business, or planning for the future. Alongside a wide range of banking services, we provide specialist sector expertise and entrepreneurial support helping our business customers turn possibilities into progress.

 

About Shade Station

Founded in Manchester, Shade Station is one of the UK’s leading online retailers of prescription glasses and designer sunglasses, serving customers across the UK and internationally. The company combines a broad range of leading eyewear brands with its own proprietary e-commerce and prescription technology to deliver a fast, reliable and customer-focused online experience, backed by over 28,000 five-star Trustpilot reviews and a reputation for rapid, next-day delivery on a wide range of prescription orders.

With a strong focus on innovation and customer service, Shade Station continues to invest in AI-driven tools, advanced optical technology and next-generation smart eyewear, with the ambition of making high-quality eyewear more accessible, more personalised, and easier to buy online.

 

About Inngot

Inngot has been providing IP valuation tools and services since 2010, with a particular focus on helping companies establish the value of their IP and intangible assets to support equity and debt fundraising. Its online platform, developed with SMEs in mind, offers a consistent, cost-effective and scalable way to identify and value these otherwise ‘hidden’ company-owned intangibles.

Inngot’s toolkit, including a custom-built tool to provide banks with an accurate base-line figure for the recovery value of IP taken as collateral, is at the heart of the NatWest High Growth IP-backed loan. The toolkit has also been used by other banks and by hundreds of early-stage and scale-up companies - mainly to support fund-raising.

Inngot also provides customised IP strategy services for larger companies and has advised NGOs, government agencies and innovation networks on IP identification and monetisation policy.

The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for journalists and media and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions. Terms and conditions apply to any products or services mentioned in our press releases.

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