The State of Washington Launches a Revenue Based Financing Business
May 25, 2025
The State of Washington is getting in to the revenue based financing business. Coinciding with Broker Fair 2025 on May 19th, the Washington State Department of Commerce announced it was launching the Revenue-Based Financing Fund (RBF) loan program for small businesses. Its administered by Grow America.
“This is one of the most innovative loan programs we’ve ever launched,” said Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn. “It’s not a typical business loan. It’s a Pay-As-You-Earn loan that works with the reality of running a small business. Instead of fixed monthly payments, businesses repay based on what they actually make. So if sales slow down, payments stay low. If business picks up, payments adjust. It’s flexible, it’s fair, and it’s the kind of practical solution we need to support small businesses across Washington.”
$13M in funding has been allocated to this program so far. Funding works similar to a business loan from Square or PayPal where there is technically a term and minimum monthly payment required, but the repayment system is based on a percentage of sales, namely 20% of them.
“At Grow America, we’re excited to launch the Washington Revenue-Based Financing Fund,” said Daniel Marsh III, Grow America president. “This program offers flexible capital, empowering Washington’s small businesses, especially entrepreneurs, to scale operations and achieve sustainable success.”
“Revenue-based financing provides you with flexible upfront capital, and its payback terms are customized to your cash flow and fluctuate based on your revenue,” the marketing materials state. “It’s ideal for small businesses that are seasonal, may not have a consistent income, or require an alternative to a traditional loan.”
Top Online Small Business Lenders of 2024
March 7, 2025Below is a list of the top online small business lenders in 2024 for those that disclose their data:
| Company | 2024 Origination Volume |
| Square Loans | $5.7B |
| Enova | $3.98B |
| Bankers Healthcare Group | $3.7B |
| Shopify Capital | $3B |
| PayPal | $3B |
| QuickBooks Capital | $1.8B |
| North Mill Equipment Finance | $654M |
How Cesar Valero Won The Tournament And Gets Deals Done
October 2, 2024
When Cesar Valero, Business Development Executive at Spartan Capital, sat down at one of the starting poker tables late last month to participate in the kick-off tournament for B2B Finance Expo, it had been almost exactly a year since he last played. His colleague Ryan Capella had finished second that time, which coincidentally had also been for a business event in Las Vegas. But here at B2B in 2024, the Spartan team was competing against a mix of players eager to show off their skills, some of whom play semi-professionally on the side.
According to Valero, they didn’t do any kind of practice ahead of time. “Frank [the CEO] just said ‘make sure you represent,'” he said. And after two and a half hours of impressive play that’s exactly what he did. The dealer and a hired pit boss keeping an eye on all the cards declared Valero the winner where he took home the grand prize gold bracelet and other goodies.
“We were actually really happy because we noticed that–obviously we celebrated a little bit–and then noticed after we’re like, ‘of the top four positions of the last two years, we [Spartan] have two’ that’s pretty good,” Valero said.
But more importantly, at the industry’s largest conference of the year, everyone suddenly knew who Valero was if they didn’t before.
“You can flat out tell them the best marketing at B2B was to win the poker tournament,” Valero said. People came up to him throughout the next two days calling him out by name. “Hey, Cesar!” they shouted, after having heard about his win.
And being the guy everybody wants to talk to is pretty much his job anyway. Spartan Capital provides revenue based financing and works with a large number of referral partners. Valero’s day-to-day is typically spent communicating with ISOs, whether it be phone calls or Zoom calls or in-office meetings, he is catering to what they need and trying to get deals funded. When asked if having a relationship with an ISO is an important part of the job, he said it’s the whole job.
“We’re a fair funder,” he said of Spartan. “We really don’t snub anybody out. Whether you’re the biggest guy in the space or the smallest guy in the space, we’re going to do our best to give you the best customer service we can. Our reps, pretty much nobody is a brand new rep. Everybody’s got experience. They know what they’re talking about.”
“Most deals are pretty straightforward,” he said, “but you always have that 10,15,20% that need a little more love…so it’s a fast paced environment and just try to keep up with it, make sure we’re doing the right service to our customers whether it be an ISO or a [merchant].”
Overall, Valero feels like the industry is on a strong trajectory, especially with tech and e-commerce platforms having rushed in to offer similar funding products to their customers.
“If they’re in it, they see the demand right?” he exclaimed, “and if they’re putting out billions of dollars like I see every quarter in press releases from Amazon or from PayPal or from one of the big players, they’re out there and they’re creating buzz… so better quality borrowers will be flowing in because the need is there across the board.”
Valero isn’t exaggerating about the fast pace. After having gone from the flow of deals to Vegas to even more deals, he couldn’t afford to let our interview about his big win go over the allotted time.
“I got about an hour and 15 minutes to the wire cut-off,” he said emphatically while thanking me for the call. “Let me see if I can do a couple more deals!”
eBay Brings Back Revenue Based Financing Product
July 12, 2024eBay announced that Liberis had been onboarded as one of its “Seller Capital” partners this week, making it the second official partner after Funding Circle (which was recently acquired). Liberis, homegrown in the UK, expanded to the US in 2020 and offers a revenue based financing product described by eBay as a “Business Cash Advance.” While eBay has partnered with similar companies in the UK for years, eBay customers in the US have seen this before.
In 2010, for example, Kabbage was arguably the first company to offer revenue based financing to eBay customers, which AltFinanceDaily first covered 13 years ago. And they had it all to themselves until PayPal began to muscle its way in with a similar product starting in 2013. Given that eBay owned PayPal, PayPal held a distinct advantage until the two companies split in 2015. Still, PayPal continued to be the default payment service for eBay until 2018.
Kabbage continued to thrive anyway, evolving beyond the platform at least until covid when Kabbage suddenly imploded and was sold to American Express. PayPal’s working capital product also continued to thrive at least until 2023 when it announced a dramatic pullback after elevated charge-offs.
The result is that in 2024, eBay sellers can now look toward getting funding via Liberis.
“As a pioneer in ecommerce and the home to small businesses in more than 190 markets, eBay understands the challenges small businesses encounter in securing fast, flexible and transparent financing,” said Avritti Khandurie Mittal, VP & General Manager of Global Payments and Financial Services at eBay in the official announcement. “eBay Seller Capital is aimed at fueling our sellers’ growth by providing them with tailored financing solutions that meet the unique needs of their businesses. The addition of Business Cash Advance to our suite of offerings in partnership with Liberis enables us to expand capital availability for our sellers on flexible terms – when they need it the most.”
“We understand the unique challenges eBay sellers face when securing financing through traditional means,” adds Rob Straathof, CEO of Liberis. “Through eBay Seller Capital, Liberis will empower sellers with access to fast and responsible financing. We’re thrilled to partner with eBay to support eBay sellers to operate and grow their businesses.”
Dragin Technologies and Ocrolus Announce Strategic Partnership: Enabling the Next Generation of Application Process Automation for Small Business Financing
May 20, 2024
New York, NY – 05/20/24 – Dragin.io, a machine learning process automation tech firm, is thrilled to announce a product integration and strategic partnership with Ocrolus, a leader in AI-driven financial document analysis. This collaboration aims to combine Dragin’s cutting-edge process automation technology with the industry-leading bank statement automation and cash flow analytics products offered by Ocrolus. Together, the new solution offers clients in small business financing unmatched speed, accuracy, compliance, and a robust fraud detection system, providing them with confidence and security in their financial operations.
Mark Ross, CEO of Dragin, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership: “This is incredibly exciting for the future of the small business financing industry. Dragin specializes in automation solutions that help our clients deliver their offers faster than anyone else in the industry. Partnering with Ocrolus enables us to achieve technological advancements in business financing sooner than expected.”
Dragin’s AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms enable sophisticated data processing, providing actionable insights for offer creation and customization in the business funding deal cycle. This technology empowers underwriters to make informed decisions smarter and more quickly.
This partnership will enable powerful solutions for providers of small business financing, offering:
- Speed and Efficiency: Clients can rapidly analyze bank statement data, accelerating decision-making and reducing the time required for underwriting approvals.
- Compliance and Fraud Detection: Ocrolus’ technology performs comprehensive, AI-driven fraud detection, safeguarding clients against potential risks.
- Accuracy and Reliability: The partnership guarantees high levels of accuracy in data extraction and analysis, minimizing errors and enhancing the reliability of financial assessments.
- A.I. & Machine Learning: Dragin has developed advanced AI and ML models that can parse and classify nearly all document types and fill in missing fields such as industry, leading to a more robust auto-decline system. Integrating Ocrolus’ AI-driven document automation and analytics will bolster Dragin’s overall capabilities in lead prequalification.
“We are incredibly optimistic about this partnership with Dragin,” remarked Sam Bobley, CEO of Ocrolus. “Their focus on improving the efficiency of small business funding processes and commitment to client satisfaction makes them an ideal partner for Ocrolus. We look forward to a successful collaboration that will provide customers with the trusted and accurate data, fraud detection, and analytics they need to confidently make important financial decisions.”
About Dragin
Dragin is a leading fintech solutions provider dedicated to delivering innovative and efficient services to its clients. Founded with a mission to simplify and streamline financial processes, Dragin has developed cutting-edge technology, including A.I. and machine learning, to streamline processing automation which creates actionable insights for offer creation and customization. For more information about Dragin and its automation solutions, please visit https://www.dragin.io
About Ocrolus
Ocrolus is a document AI platform that enables faster and more accurate financial decision-making. The company analyzes documents with over 99% accuracy, regardless of format or quality, supporting hundreds of document types including bank statements, pay stubs, and tax forms. Ocrolus provides a trusted solution to detect fraud, analyze cash flows and income, and streamline decisions for 500+ clients across a number of use cases. Customers such as Enova, PayPal, Rapid Finance, Bluevine, National Funding, and Kapitus leverage Ocrolus automation to build delightful user experiences. To learn more, visit Ocrolus.com.
What Big Publicly Traded Companies Say About Merchant Cash Advances
March 13, 2024AltFinanceDaily examined the public messaging from some of the largest publicly traded merchant cash advance facilitators in the US and this is what it found:
SHOPIFY
A merchant cash advance is a purchase of your future sales, also known as receivables. If your application for funding is accepted, then Shopify provides you a lump sum of money for a fixed fee. Under the Shopify capital agreement, this lump sum is known as the amount advanced, and the total to remit is the amount advanced plus the fixed fee. In return, you pay Shopify Capital a percentage of your daily sales until Shopify receives the total to remit. The percentage of your daily sales that you must remit to Shopify is known as the remittance rate. The amount advanced and the remittance rate depend on your risk profile.
For example, Shopify Capital might advance you 5,000 USD for 5,650 USD paid from your store’s future sales, with a remittance rate of 10%. The 5,000 USD amount that you receive is transferred to your business bank account specified in your admin, and Shopify Capital receives 10% of your store’s gross daily sales until the full 5,650 USD total to remit has been remitted. You have the option, at any time, to remit any outstanding balance in a single lump sum.
There is no deadline for remitting the total to Shopify Capital. The daily remittance amount in USD is determined by your store’s daily sales, because the remittance rate is a percentage of your store’s daily sales. The remittance amount is automatically debited from your business bank account.
DOORDASH
DoorDash Capital is a cash advance, not a loan. With a cash advance, the offer is based on your sales and account history, and includes a simple, transparent one-time fee that you’ll know before you decide to accept the offer. A loan operates using interest, which can compound over time, and often includes other fees in addition to the stated interest rate.
LIGHTSPEED
AMAZON
A [merchant cash advance is a] non-revolving sum of funding with flexible payment, no personal collateral required and no late fees. With flexible payment, no personal collateral required and no late fees, a merchant cash advance provides sellers funding to help run and grow their business. Unlike interest-bearing loans, the advance ties payment to a portion of a seller’s future sales for a fixed capital fee, there are no additional fees or interest charged.
NERDWALLET
Fixed withdrawals from a bank account
Merchant cash advance companies can also withdraw funds directly from your business bank account. In this case, fixed repayments are made daily or weekly from your account regardless of how much you earn in sales, and the fixed repayment amount is determined based on an estimate of your monthly revenue.
PAYPAL
A merchant cash advance is not a loan, but rather a type of financing that business owners pay back with a percentage of their future sales.
The Biggest Small Business Funders
February 21, 2024Although all of the specific data isn’t entirely available, we’ve compiled a short list of who the largest small business funders were in 2023:
1. Square
2. Enova
3. PayPal
4. Shopify
5. Amazon
6. Intuit
7. Parafin
The Top Small Business Funders Now Vs. Then
January 11, 2024Top Small Business Funders By Year
| 2008 | 2014 | 2023 |
| AdvanceMe (CAN Capital) | OnDeck | Square |
| First Funds | CAN Capital | Enova (OnDeck / Headway) |
| Merchant Cash and Capital (BizFi) | Kabbage | Shopify |
| BFS | Kapitus | PayPal |
| AmeriMerchant | Rapid Finance | Amazon |
| GBR Funding | National Funding | Intuit |
Many people look at 2023 vs 2008 and arrive at the conclusion that the fintechs rose to the top, but if one were to narrow down the definition of those players a little further, they’d notice that PayPal and Square are payment companies, Shopify and Amazon are e-commerce companies, and Intuit owns the Quickbooks accounting software. These are actually older companies that took an old idea (split-funding) and made it new again with some key changes. Although in the present moment it may feel like some of them cannot be beat (which is how the industry felt about the top funders in 2008), much can change over the course of this decade.
Keep your eye on:
- AI
- Blockchain (as payment rails, record-keeping)
- Regulation
