Surprising Stats of 2023
December 27, 2023Remember when interest rates soared, banks collapsed, and experts began to prepare for the worst? Well, appearances can be deceiving.
Business loan origination volume at Square, Enova, Shopify, and Funding Circle are all on track to surpass 2022’s numbers. When it came to bad debt, PayPal was the only large tech lender to announce that it had become a problem this year. PayPal’s origination numbers are consequently also down year-over-year.
The S&P 500 was at 3,839.50 one year ago and closed at 4,774.75 yesterday, a gain of more than 24%.
Unemployment was 3.5% last December and had only modestly increased to 3.7% this November.
Inflation was 7.1% last November and only 3.1% this November.
Bitcoin is up by 150% year-over-year!
Anecdotal reports at smaller non-public small business funders, however, have hinted at bad debt increases all year and underwriting has generally become more conservative. Despite this, brokers are still brokering deals and funders are still funding. The predicted mass AI-induced layoffs have also not yet materialized. In the grand scheme of things, the argument could be made that 2023 was actually a pretty good year.
But 2024 could be dicey.
- The FCC closed the lead generator loophole.
- The first wave of small business finance companies will have to begin complying with new CFPB regulations.
- It will be a presidential election year like none ever experienced before.
- Americans are overleveraged. Forty percent of student loan borrowers failed to make a payment after the covid-era pause ended.
- General economic, societal, and political unease.
So what will happen? I guess we’ll find out. It could be terrible or awesome or anything in between.
Intuit’s SMB Loans Relatively Flat Year-over-Year
December 18, 2023
Intuit originated $279M worth of term loans to small business for the fiscal quarter ending October 31. This is down from the $314M originated over the same time period last year.
“As of October 31, 2023 and July 31, 2023, the allowances for loan losses on term loans to small businesses were not material,” the company wrote in its earnings report.
Further, Intuit said that “In August 2023, we entered into a forward flow arrangement with an institutional investor. Pursuant to this arrangement, we have a commitment to sell to the institutional investor a minimum of $250 million in participation interests in unsecured term loans purchased or made to small businesses over the next 18 months, subject to certain eligibility criteria.”
Intuit did not raise its term loan program on its earnings call nor did analysts ask about it.
Here’s how Intuit’s flat SMB loan originations stacks up against some of its direct competitors:
Square Loans – Steady
PayPal – Significant pullback
Shopify Capital – Significant increase
Originations Increased, Losses Decreased for Shopify Capital
November 2, 2023
Shopify Capital is still experiencing an increase in business loan and merchant cash advance originations, according to the company’s latest Q3 earnings report. The company recently stopped disclosing precisely how much it is they are originating, however. It used to give precise numbers but starting this year Shopify now only cites its loans and merchant cash advance receivables balance.
“Transaction and loan losses decreased for the three months ended September 30, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, primarily due to a decrease in losses related to Shopify Capital.”
So funding is up, losses are down, which is precisely the opposite situation that is going on at rival PayPal.
Shopify somewhat skimmed over its Shopify Capital business in its Q3 earnings announcements and on its official call except to state that it’s a strong segment that is growing.
Impact of ChatGPT Era Already Being Felt
May 16, 2023
Anyone that’s ever faced a coding hurdle has inevitably ended up on Stack Overflow, the go-to platform for developers to solicit answers from more experienced professionals about their challenges. Users typically explain what they’re trying to accomplish and paste a copy of the code that’s not achieving the desired result. That’s where the community chimes in, coming forth with their own solutions while other users upvote the best answers. The end result is not just a grateful user but an ever growing public database of questions and solutions available for public consumption. The sheer scope of what’s been compiled has opened up the door for other users to simply find a similar enough question that’s already been asked and copy the answer. It’s a very valuable tool.
Stack Overflow has been around for 15 years but from March to April of this year, traffic plummeted by 17.7%, according to SimilarWeb. Tech blog Gizmodo has suggested that a contributing cause is ChatGPT-4, the OpenAI chatbot technology that can write its own code, edit a user’s code, and even converse about what a user is trying to accomplish. A spokesperson for Stack Overflow confirmed to Gizmodo that ChatGPT was partially responsible for its loss of users. “However, our vision for community and AI coming together means the rise of GenAI is a big opportunity for Stack,” the spokesperson added.
But what’s a coding forum for nerds and brainiacs got to do with the lending industry? Well, for one thing borrowers were already flirting with asking virtual assistants for help with financial services products before ChatGPT even entered the ring. According to the most recent Smarter Loans survey, 16% of loan applicants surveyed said that they had at some point used Alexa, Siri, or other voice search tools to find information about financial services. None of those come even remotely close to what ChatGPT-4 is able to do. And AI is popular, so popular in fact that ChatGPT became the fastest growing app in history, crushing even the likes of TikTok in pace of growth. ChatGPT already had 100 million monthly users as of February, before its signature ChatGPT-4 model was released.
Therein lies the threat because not only is ChatGPT-4 incredibly adept at making coherent conversation but it is also ready to explain a concept or make a recommendation, just like a very knowledgeable friend would. For example, when asking it to make a list of the top small business funding companies, these were among the names it spit out:
- OnDeck
- American Express (Kabbage)
- Funding Circle
- Credibly
- Square Capital
- National Funding
- PayPal Working Capital
It’s not a vomit of names. ChatGPT-4 was familiar with their areas of expertise. When pressed further it said that OnDeck would help get the cash fast but working with Square Capital might work better if one is processing a high volume of credit card transactions. For strong credit and a large loan, it suggested Funding Circle. After expressing an interest in OnDeck, the AI provided instructions on how to apply via the OnDeck website and a phone # to call with questions. In this real-world example, the AI replaced both the online search and the role of a broker all in one and all within minutes. It can also read the contracts and alert borrowers to certain clauses. When pressed about an unusually high APR, for example, the AI even offers an encouraging explanation for how moving forward could still make sense.
“Be sure to also consider the potential return on investment from using the loan funds,” it said. “If the growth or savings you anticipate from using the loan funds exceeds the cost of the loan, it may still be a good decision despite a high APR.”
All Registered Sales-based Financing Providers in Virginia (As of 3-29-23)
April 2, 2023Is the revenue-based financing provider you do business with registered to operate in Virginia? On July 1, 2022, Virginia’s commercial financing disclosure law went into effect and with that the necessity to register one’s business. As of March 29, 2023, 101 companies had registered. This is the official list of registered sales-based financing providers as of that date (yellow means it has been added since our last update):
- Advance Servicing Inc.
- Accredited Business Solutions LLC dba The Accredited Group
- Advance Funds Network LLC dba Advance Funds Network
- AdvancePoint Capital LLC dba advancepoint
- Ally Merchant Services LLC
- Alpine Funding Partners, LLC
- Business Capital LLC
- Byzfunder NY LLC dba Tandem dba Nano-FI
- Bridge Capital Services, LLC
- CFG Merchant Solutions, LLC
- Clarify Capital II LLC dba Clarify Capital
- Cloudfund VA LLC dba Cloudfund LLC
- Capflow Funding Group Managers LLC
- Clear Finance Technology (U.S.) Corp. dba Clearco
- Coast Premier LLC dba Coast Funding
- Commercial Servicing Company, LLC
- Corporate Lodging Consultants, Inc.
- Crown Funding Source LLC dba Crown Funding Source
- Diesel Funding LLC
- Direct Capital Source Inc.
- Dealstruck Capital LLC
- EBF Holdings, LLC
- Essential Funding Group Inc
- Errant Ventures LLC
- FC Capital Holdings, LLC FundCanna
- Fidelity Funding Group LLC
- Front Capital LLC
- Finova Capital, LLC
- Fintegra, LLC
- First Data Merchant Services LLC
- First Path Capital Ventures LLC dba First Path Capital
- FleetCor Technologies Operating Company, LLC
- Flexibility Capital Inc.
- Fora Financial East LLC
- Forward Financing LLC
- Fox Capital Group Inc.
- Fundamental Capital LLC
- Funding Metrics, LLC dba Quick Fix Capital
- Good Funding, LLC
- Granite Merchant Funding, LLC
- Invision Funding LLC
- Itria Ventures LLC
- Jaydee Ventures, LLC dba 1 West Capital dba 1 West Commercial
- Kapitus LLC
- Knight Capital Funding III, LLC
- Lexington Capital Holdings Ltd
- LG Funding LLC
- Legend Advance Funding II, LLC dba Legend Funding
- Liberis US Inc.
- Libertas Funding, LLC
- Liquidibee 1 LLC dba Liquidibee LLC dba Altfunding.com
- Loanability, Inc.
- Millstone Funding Inc.
- National Funding, Inc.
- Nav Technologies, Inc.
- Orange Advance LLC
- Pearl Alpha Funding, LLC
- Pearl Beta Funding, LLC
- Pearl Delta Funding, LLC
- Proto Financial Corp.
- PWCC Marketplace, LLC
- Parafin, Inc.
- PayPal, Inc.
- Payability Commercial Factors, LLC
- Pinnacle Business Funding LLC dba Custom Capital USA dba EnN OD Capital
- Platform Funding LLC
- Prosperum Capital Partners LLC dba Arsenal Funding
- QFS Capital LLC
- RFG USA Inc.
- Rival Funding, LLC
- Riverpoint Financial Group Inc.
- Rocket Capital NY LLC
- ROKFI LLC
- Ruby Capital Group LLC
- Rapid Financial Services, LLC
- Reliant Services Group, LLC
- Retail Capital LLC dba Credibly
- Revenued LLC
- Rewards Network Establishment Services Inc.
- Secure Capital Solutions Inc.
- Sky Bridge Business Funding, LLC
- SMB Compass LLC dba SMB Compass
- Sunrise Funding LLC
- Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, LLC
- SellersFunding Corp.
- Sharpe Capital, LLC
- Shine Capital Group LLC
- Shopify Capital Inc.
- Shore Funding Solutions Inc.
- Streamline Funding, LLC
- Stripe Brokering, Inc.
- The LCF Group, Inc.
- Unique Funding Solutions LLC
- United Capital Source Inc.
- Upfront Rent Holdings LLC
- Upper Line Capital LLC
- Vader Servicing, LLC
- Velocity Capital Group LLC
- Vivian Capital Group LLC
- Vox Funding, LLC
- ZING Funding I, LLC
All Registered Sales-based Financing Providers in Virginia (List)
March 11, 2023Is the revenue-based financing provider you do business with registered to operate in Virginia? On July 1, 2022, Virginia’s commercial financing disclosure law went into effect and with that the necessity to register one’s business. As of March 8, 2023, this is the official list of registered sales-based financing providers:
- Advance Servicing Inc.
- Accredited Business Solutions LLC dba The Accredited Group
- Advance Funds Network LLC dba Advance Funds Network
- AdvancePoint Capital LLC dba advancepoint
- Ally Merchant Services LLC
- Alpine Funding Partners, LLC
- Business Capital LLC
- Byzfunder NY LLC dba Tandem dba Nano-FI
- Bridge Capital Services, LLC
- CFG Merchant Solutions, LLC
- Clarify Capital II LLC dba Clarify Capital
- Cloudfund VA LLC dba Cloudfund LLC
- Capflow Funding Group Managers LLC
- Clear Finance Technology (U.S.) Corp. dba Clearco
- Coast Premier LLC dba Coast Funding
- Commercial Servicing Company, LLC
- Corporate Lodging Consultants, Inc.
- Crown Funding Source LLC dba Crown Funding Source
- Diesel Funding LLC
- Direct Capital Source Inc.
- Dealstruck Capital LLC
- EBF Holdings, LLC
- Essential Funding Group Inc
- Errant Ventures LLC
- FC Capital Holdings, LLC FundCanna
- Fidelity Funding Group LLC
- Front Capital LLC
- Finova Capital, LLC
- Fintegra, LLC
- First Data Merchant Services LLC
- FleetCor Technologies Operating Company, LLC
- Flexibility Capital Inc.
- Fora Financial East LLC
- Forward Financing LLC
- Fox Capital Group Inc.
- Fundamental Capital LLC
- Funding Metrics, LLC dba Quick Fix Capital
- Good Funding, LLC
- Granite Merchant Funding, LLC
- Invision Funding LLC
- Itria Ventures LLC
- Jaydee Ventures, LLC dba 1 West Capital dba 1 West Commercial
- Kapitus LLC
- Knight Capital Funding III, LLC
- Lexington Capital Holdings Ltd
- LG Funding LLC
- Legend Advance Funding II, LLC dba Legend Funding
- Liberis US Inc.
- Libertas Funding, LLC
- Liquidibee 1 LLC dba Liquidibee LLC dba Altfunding.com
- Loanability, Inc.
- Millstone Funding Inc.
- National Funding, Inc.
- Nav Technologies, Inc.
- Pearl Alpha Funding, LLC
- Pearl Beta Funding, LLC
- Pearl Delta Funding, LLC
- Proto Financial Corp.
- PWCC Marketplace, LLC
- Parafin, Inc.
- PayPal, Inc.
- Payability Commercial Factors, LLC
- Pinnacle Business Funding LLC dba Custom Capital USA dba EnN OD Capital
- Platform Funding LLC
- Prosperum Capital Partners LLC dba Arsenal Funding
- QFS Capital LLC
- RFG USA Inc.
- Rival Funding, LLC
- Riverpoint Financial Group Inc.
- Rocket Capital NY LLC
- ROKFI LLC
- Ruby Capital Group LLC
- Rapid Financial Services, LLC
- Reliant Services Group, LLC
- Retail Capital LLC dba Credibly
- Revenued LLC
- Rewards Network Establishment Services Inc.
- Secure Capital Solutions Inc.
- Sky Bridge Business Funding, LLC
- SMB Compass LLC dba SMB Compass
- Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, LLC
- SellersFunding Corp.
- Sharpe Capital, LLC
- Shine Capital Group LLC
- Shopify Capital Inc.
- Shore Funding Solutions Inc.
- Streamline Funding, LLC
- Stripe Brokering, Inc.
- The LCF Group, Inc.
- United Capital Source Inc.
- Upfront Rent Holdings LLC
- Upper Line Capital LLC
- Vader Servicing, LLC
- Velocity Capital Group LLC
- Vivian Capital Group LLC
- Vox Funding, LLC
- ZING Funding I, LLC
Large Fintech Companies Helping to Normalize Revenue Based Financing
May 6, 2022
With business increasing for wide-reaching financial technology companies like Square, Paypal, and Shopify, this has brought more attention to revenue-based financing products like the ones they offer. Henry Abenaim, Founder and CEO of Fundingo, said that it brings more businesses to the table.
“…you sometimes think it’s a small world or small group of merchants, and you really come to realize that it’s huge,” he told AltFinanceDaily. “And the more they’re serviced, the more they need, the more they grow. So it just feels like there’s just more awareness of the product, and then more merchants that are going to come in demand and ask for it, as well as these bigger players are always going to service only a subset of the businesses.”
At the same time, a greater public awareness of options could tighten margins for certain funding providers. “I think it’s going to make the merchants that are way more bankable… get lower price deals, so it’s going to hurt the margins, it’s going to hurt the profits,” Abenaim commented.
John Bulnes, Vice President of Business Development at Fenix Capital Funding, expressed how it is not yet determined what kind of effect the larger mainstream companies will have on the industry. “I do think it’s something that the larger first position MCA companies may feel the effects of first, because they’re going to be competing more or so with taking away clients from those companies first, as opposed to the companies that are smaller that are doing shorter term deals.”
As these big companies operate with larger capital bases, it may indeed become more difficult for smaller companies to compete.
“… it’s going to be something that’s going to constantly adapt and fluctuate as time goes, but I do see it as an expanding industry… it’s kind of a sign that when you see more commercials and we see these bigger companies jumping into the space, that it is something that’s going to continue to grow,” said Bulnes.
And commercials and ads are definitely increasing. One of the largest online small business lenders in the country was asked about their TV and radio campaigns during their recent quarterly earnings call.
“We’ve definitely been ramping [commercials up] hopefully with a little bit more diligence than OnDeck was running ads three or four years ago,” said David Fisher, CEO of Enova. “But we’ve definitely jump back into kind of broader base advertising in that business and it’s been working really well.”
New Domain Name Gold Rush Sets Up Possible Battle for Future of SMB Finance
April 25, 2022
If you could have businessloan.com or businessloans.com as your website, would you jump on the opportunity to get it?
It’s evident that the market for keyword-based domains has evolved over time. Couldn’t get the .com? You could’ve tried to get the less coveted .net or .org. Don’t like those? Today, you can get the .business, .deals, .financial, .loan, .loans, or hundreds of other customized tlds. With so many to choose from, most experts in the field would advise that if you don’t own the .com version, to not even bother getting cute with customizations for your brand or keyword because customers will just get confused.
But recently, another domain name market has quietly been gaining steam. It’s for something called a .eth, an Ethereum blockchain-based crypto address shortener by the Ethereum Name Service. It’s not necessarily something one could use to build a website with, at least not yet. Originally envisioned as a way to condense long impossible-to-remember crypto wallet addresses into memorable words, users have started to buy up a bunch of keywords that may be familiar to AltFinanceDaily readers. Just to name a few:
- businessloan.eth
- businessloans.eth
- smbloans.eth
- merchantcashadvance.eth
- ach.eth
- syndication.eth
- lending.eth
- ppploan.eth
- underwriting.eth
- brokers.eth
- loanbroker.eth
- mca.eth
- factoring.eth
- funding.eth
- backdoored.eth
At face-value, this might appear to be a vanity crypto play, one in which one could send crypto to your-name-here.eth instead of trying to type out a long address like: 0x64233eAa064ef0d54ff1A963933D0D2d46ab5829. But an ENS domain name holds much more potential than just that. It’s moving towards becoming the backbone of one’s identity in the upcoming era of the web called web 3.0 (web3 for short). Instead of having to remember passwords for hundreds of websites, identity can be validated through one’s digital wallet. Such a concept is not theoretical. It’s already being used.
Take seanmurray.eth for example. You could send eth, bitcoin, litecoin, or dogecoin to it, but at the same time it’s connected to an email address and a url (this one). Plus it’s linked to an NFT avatar (broker #7 from The Broker NFT collection) which is in that wallet. I can use it to do an e-commerce online checkout in 5 seconds without ever needing to enter any payment information even if I’ve never visited the site before. It’s faster than PayPal and with less steps involved. I can connect it to my twitter account, OpenSea, or use it to vote in an official poll without ever having to create an account on something. The wallet is the identity verification. The .eth name, therefore, has the potential to become the defining baseline of who or what one is on the internet. Not theoretically. It’s already happening.
Crypto is already starting to creep into the small business finance industry. In August, a funding company announced that it would begin offering commissions and fundings in crypto because of the speed potential. Far from being a gimmick, brokers started to choose crypto payments over ACH or a wire because of how fast it would be. There’s also no chargeback risk with crypto.
Currently, the owner of mca.eth has listed the domain for sale on OpenSea at a price of 20 eth (approximately $60,000). That’s less than what MerchantCashInAdvance.com sold for in 2011. Perhaps the value of an Ethereum Name Service domain holds less promise than a website that ranked well on Google in 2011. But then again, being well ranked on Google is not as important as it used to be. It’s impossible to say what, if any impact web3 will have on the small business finance industry long term, but for now there are those out there quietly buying up names like ach and funding and syndication on the chance that they will become something.
