Breakout Capital Finance Acquires HomeZen, Inc. Technology
July 3, 2018McLean, Va. (July 3, 2018) – Breakout Capital Finance (“Breakout Capital”), a leading technology innovator and small business lending company, announced today that it has acquired HomeZen’s technology. HomeZen is a real estate technology company providing powerful software tools for home sellers using technology to more efficiently and effectively sell their homes.
HomeZen’s innovative core technology enables users to source and evaluate offers in order to achieve the best possible outcome. This technology, which includes calculators and other user tools, will be used by Breakout Capital to empower small businesses searching for working capital solutions. The company plans to unveil a new website incorporating these features later this year.
“Since its inception, Breakout Capital has prioritized being a customer-focused disruptor, seeking out ways to better serve our customers,” said Carl Fairbank, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Breakout Capital. “HomeZen’s technology is incredibly innovative, and it will not only help us improve the way small businesses search and evaluate their options to access working capital, but will also help to empower entrepreneurs to do more with their already limited time.”
“At HomeZen we use technology to empower home sellers with the information and tools they need to easily and cheaply sell their homes,” added Kevin Bennett, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HomeZen. “I’m excited that Breakout Capital will be able to use our technology to simplify what can be a stressful, complicated process for small business owners.”
This is another milestone in the fast growth of Breakout Capital. Throughout 2018, Breakout Capital has rapidly grown loan originations, repeatedly breaking records for new funding volume. In parallel, it has continued to innovate its technology platforms, with notable advances in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the use of blockchain to support lending operations.
Breakout Capital also recently closed on a substantial new credit facility with Medalist Partners and expanded its headquarters in McLean, Virginia.
About Breakout Capital Finance
Breakout Capital Finance is a leading financial technology company that uses best-in-class technology to provide a wide range of credit solutions to small businesses across the country. Built on the three pillars of transparency, education and advocacy for small business, the company is one of the fastest-growing direct lenders in the space and leads a world-class technology innovation effort. Breakout Capital Finance is a Principal Member of the Innovative Lending Platform Association and is an original advocate for the SmartBoxTM standard for transparency and cost disclosure.
To learn more about Breakout Capital Finance, please visit www.breakoutfinance.com.
Kalamata Capital Merges with Kings Cash Group
June 28, 2018
Kalamata Capital announced today that it has entered into an agreement to merge with Kings Cash Group, effective July 1. The new entity will be called Kalamata Capital Group, or KCG, retaining the Kalamata Capital brand. Together, the new entity and its affiliates will provide approximately $300 million of capital annually to over 5,000 small businesses.
Michael Jaffe and Albert Gahfi have been designated the co-Presidents of Kalamata Capital Group LLC, the direct funding and operating entity, and they will run the day-to-day operations. Steven Mandis, Brandon Laks, Carlos Max, and Connor Phillips will be the Chairman, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Credit Officer, respectively, of the holding company, Kalamata Holdings LLC. All are members of the Executive Committee of Kalamata Holdings LLC.
“With this partnership we become the preeminent one stop solution for merchants and strategic partners in the industry,” Gahfi said. “Strategic partners can submit one application, and we will quickly develop competitive, actionable solutions.”
Laks, Chief Operating Officer of KCG told AltFinanceDaily that employees of both companies will be retained and the former Kalamata Capital offices, both in Bethesda and New York, will remain in place. The Manhattan office of Kings Cash Group will also remain and all products that the two companies used to offer separately, will now be offered by KCG, including small business loans, SBA loans, factoring, equipment leasing and merchant cash advance, among others. Kalamata Capital offered all of these products while Kings Cash Group focused on merchant cash advance.
“With no debt, Kalamata Capital has one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry,” Jaffe, co-President of the newly formed KCG said. “Their Chairman Steven Mandis worked at Goldman Sachs, was a Senior Advisor to McKinsey, has a PhD from Columbia University and teaches at Columbia Business School. He has utilized that experience to build a distinctive partnership culture, established brand, and institutional-grade processes and procedures.”
Mandis, Chairman of KCG, said: “We know and value KCG’s technology platform and people, and we believe their talent and capabilities will further strengthen our overall merchant value proposition. The partnership will enable us to better serve more small businesses by enhancing our underwriting capabilities to provide access to affordable business financing solutions to help them and their communities grow and thrive.”
Usury Argument in Merchant Cash Advance Suit Backfires Horribly
June 25, 2018
A New York Supreme Court judge in Erie County, New York has had enough with attorneys trying to argue that merchant cash advances are loans. In Yellowstone Capital, LLC v. Central USA Wireless, LLC et al (Index No: 811837-2017), the Honorable Timothy J. Walker balked at the defendants’ argument that the MCA agreement was usurious.
“The only ‘proof’ that Defendants submit in support of their usury claim are self-serving misconstructions of cherry-picked provisions of the merchant agreement, and an outright disregard for contrary provisions contained in that document,” he opined.
Citing dozens of trial court decisions in merchant cash advance cases and binding precedent established by Champion Auto Sales, the judge not only shot the usury argument down but also awarded the recovery of attorney fees to the MCA company for having to defend themselves against something so frivolous.
“The Court determines, in light of the history of these litigated matters and known binding precedent, Plaintiff is entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in defending the Motion [..],” he ordered.
Triumph Business Capital Completes Acquisition of Factoring Assets
June 14, 2018Triumph Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TBK) recently announced the closing of the acquisition of the transportation factoring assets of Interstate Capital Corporation by Advance Business Capital, also known as Triumph Business Capital.
Triumph Business Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of TBK Bank, SSB, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Triumph Bancorp. The assets acquired include all of the accounts receivable and transportation factoring assets and operations of Interstate Capital Corporation (ICC) and certain of its affiliates. Following the closing [of ICC], the acquired operations will continue to be conducted under the ICC brand name.
Triumph initially announced its agreement to acquire the transportation factoring assets of ICC on April 9, 2018, but the acquisition was made final at the beginning of the month. Triumph Bancorp, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with a diversified line of community banking and commercial finance activities.
Settling Up: Debt Settlement Companies Paid Yellowstone Capital and Everest Business Funding a Half Million Dollars to End Lawsuit
June 12, 2018
A group of debt settlement companies and ISOs have entered into a settlement they’re unlikely to forget. A lawsuit that accused Corporate Bailout, Protection Legal Group, Mark Mancino, Michael Hamill and others of tortious interference with merchant cash advance contracts has led to a settlement in which the defendants agreed to pay Yellowstone Capital and Everest Business Funding $500,000. They also agreed not to offer any services to Yellowstone or Everest merchants in the future, AltFinanceDaily has learned.
The original complaint alleged that ISOs had partnered with companies that purport to offer debt relief services to merchants with MCAs. In practice, the complaint said, debt relief was a code word for deceiving merchants to breach their existing agreements so that they could pay fees instead to the debt relief companies.
When asked to comment, Yellowstone Capital CEO Isaac Stern said that there were companies that offer this kind of service the right way but that was not the case here. “The way they’re going about it is really wrong,” he said.
Of note is that the bound parties were not just debt settlement companies but also ISOs and a law firm (Mark D. Guidubaldi & Associates, LLC dba Protection Legal Group).
Additional companies not named in the original complaint but nonetheless bound to the settlement are Mainstream Marketing Group and Corporate Client Services LLC. Websites for both companies say that they offer small business debt relief services.
Coast to Coast Funding LLC, who the defendants represented they had no control of, did not participate in the deal.
The settled matter is not the first of its kind. Everest and Yellowstone have been hammering debt settlement companies with lawsuits this year, according to court records examined by AltFinanceDaily. In January, Everest sued MCA Helpline and Todd Fisch for tortious interference, and just last month Yellowstone filed a Petition to recover funds that were allegedly fraudulently transferred by Settle My Cash Advance.
In the latter case with Settle My Cash Advance, the defendants are alleged to have actively coached a merchant to hide his money in new bank accounts and hide the paper trail rather than pay the money owed to Yellowstone.
Speaking about no case in particular, Stern said “Imagine getting a commission on a deal [where you help a small business get funding] and then sending it to a debt settlement company. If there are ISOs that are doing that, we’re going to come after you hard.”
$15 Million Facility Allows for Growth of Breakout Capital Factoring Program
June 1, 2018
Breakout Capital announced that it obtained a $15 million facility on Wednesday, with a fund managed by Medalist Partners. While the facility is not earmarked for any single product, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer James Mendelsohn told AltFinanceDaily that the facility will certainly help fund the company’s relatively new and popular FactorAdvantage product.
“With the [FactorAdvantage] program, we work in concert with the factor and the small business to maximize the small business’s access to capital,” Mendelsohn said. “We work with factors to enable a factoring relationship with a small business.”
Introduced in January of this year, Mendelsohn said that the FactorAdvantage program generally works in one of two ways, depending on the client. If the client is new to a factoring company and the client has a tax lien or something that prevents the factor from working with that client, FactorAdvantage will come in and help finance a consolidation or whatever it is to prepare the client to work with the factor.
The other common use of the FactorAdvantage product is for existing clients of the factoring company that want access to more capital. Factors will sometimes provide additional capital in what is called an overadvance. But when the factor is not able to, or not able to provide enough capital, FactorAdvantage will provide that additional capital.
“The access to more capital [will allow] us to grow,” Mendelsohn said. “We’ve had February, March, April and now May – each month, we’ve broken our own record for origination volume. We want to break that record every month going forward, so this [facility] will help us have plenty of dry powder.”
Mendelsohn also said that a boon of the FactorAdvantage program is that “the tickets are much bigger.” The maximum financing on Breakout Capital’s other products is $250,000, while the maximum for the FactorAdvantage product is $500,000. Breakout Capital was founded in May of 2015 and also provides Business loans, SBA loans, Lines of credit, Equipment leasing and Merchant cash advance, among other financing products. The bulk of the company’s volume comes from their distribution partners, including brokers, ISOs, and more recently, factoring companies.
Based in McLean, VA, Breakout Capital employs almost 50 people.
Breakout Capital Announces New $15MM Credit Facility with Medalist Partners
May 30, 2018Leading innovative fintech lender announces $15MM credit facility to further fuel its growth in small business lending
McLean, VA May 30, 2018 – Breakout Capital, a technology-enabled small business lender, announced today the launch of a new, $15MM credit facility with a fund managed by Medalist Partners. The new facility will enable Breakout Capital to continue the rapid expansion of its small business lending programs, including the award-winning FactorAdvantage℠ program, across the country.
“Medalist is an ideal partner to support our growth,” said Carl Fairbank, Founder & CEO of Breakout Capital. “They appreciate the tremendous value that FinTech lenders offer to small businesses through timely access to capital, and its vital role as a growth engine for our entire economy. And just as importantly, they are aligned with our values of innovation, transparency, and advocacy for small business.”
The facility will support Breakout Capital’s growth across traditional business loans, Breakout Bridge loans, and FactorAdvantage℠ program loans. In the patent-pending FactorAdvantage℠ program, Breakout Capital complements traditional A/R factoring with a hybrid business loan, enabling consolidations or overadvances.
“We believe the combination of strong underwriting, product innovation, and a top-notch management team is a great recipe for success,” said John Slonieski, Director of Private Credit for Medalist Partners. “We are excited to add this credit facility to our portfolio of high quality asset-based lending programs.”
Throughout 2018, Breakout Capital has continued to grow its origination volume, breaking records each month for new funding volume. In parallel, the company has continued to innovate in its technology program, with notable advances in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and use of the blockchain to support lending operations.
“We are privileged to have Medalist as a partner on our growth journey,” said Fairbank. “This new credit facility is key to our bringing more of our great products, together with our partners, to more small businesses.”
About Breakout Capital
Breakout Capital is a leading financial technology company, leveraging best-in-class technology to provide a wide range of credit solutions to small businesses across the country. Built on three pillars of transparency, education, and advocacy for small business, the company is one of the fastest-growing direct lenders in the space, and leads a world-class technology innovation effort. Breakout Capital is a Principal Member of the Innovative Lending Platform Association and an original advocate for the SmartBox™ standard for transparency and cost disclosure.
To learn more about Breakout Capital, please visit www.breakoutfinance.com.
About Medalist Partners
Medalist Partners is an SEC registered investment manager with approximately $900 million of assets under management as of May 1, 2018. The New York based firm manages strategies in specialty finance and structured credit. The business and track record was started within Credit Suisse and Candlewood Investment Group, LP prior to being spun-out as an independent, partner-owned firm in 2018.
To learn more about Medalist Partners, please visit www.medalistpartners.com.
Uplyft Capital Launches New Brand Identity, Putting its Business Friendly Technology Capabilities at the Forefront
May 29, 2018
Uplyft Capital, a technology-focused cash advance company today announced the launch of its new brand identity. The redesign emphasizes the company’s utilization of business-friendly technology solutions to improve communication, underwriting and servicing for its clients.
“Cash Advance companies in the US are broken and inefficient. We launched Uplyft in 2012 with one simple strategy in mind – to actually make receiving working capital simple, intuitive and human. We stand with our small business clients and we believe that technology can significantly improve the funding process. As we transition from a strictly human-based approach to a hybrid AI-driven model we believe we can service both Clients and Sales Partners more efficiently. Uplyft Capital is now better positioned to serve our growing and diverse client base,” said Michael Massa, Uplyft Capital CEO and Founder.
“The small business funding marketplace is changing quickly and we knew that we needed to transform with it. As we continue to grow, we want to provide improved capabilities for our trusted consumers, sales partners, and investors.
Uplyft Capital’s new logo visually exhibits the changed brand. Using a soft purple as its base for the icon, the lowercase “uplyft capital” wordmark is a more minimal and modern than the previous design. Uplyft Capital’s new icon plays with the “arrow in upwards growth” for small businesses, looking to get out of the current box they are in, a playful hearkening to Uplyft Capital’s mission to help the growth potential of each client.
“Uplyft Capital’s remarkable new identity is a product of focused research, strategy, and execution. We believe it perfectly conveys the foundational brand values of a modern, technologically-focused company adept and capable of tackling the future of small business funding, ” said Mr. Massa.
With the announcement of the rebrand, Uplyft Capital’s has also redesigned its consumer-facing user experience to better help customers and partners stay organized and efficient. With this redesign, users will find an improved user experience, particularly on mobile, with more natural and easy-to-use features with overall better reporting and tracking tools.
