AltFinanceDaily’s Top Five Stories of 2020
December 28, 2020DeBanked’s Top 10 most read stories of 2020 all involved the Payment Protection Program (PPP). It was by far the hottest topic in small business financial services for the year. As a result, we consolidated our most read stories into FIVE categories and this is what our readers consumed most in 2020!
1. PPP
The Payroll Protection Program saga boiled down to one major question early on in the pandemic: Who, if anybody, would be able to lend the money out on the government’s behalf? PPP Lender Requirements was the most read story on AltFinanceDaily in 2020, followed by the world being curious to find out who was the biggest PPP lender. On April 22, AltFinanceDaily was the first to spread the story that Ready Capital (Knight Capital‘s parent company) was the largest PPP lender in the US for Round 1.
2. NY’s Disclosure Bill
The biggest non-PPP story of the year was a bill passed in New York that was signed by the governor at Midnight on Christmas Eve. SB 5470, which some have dubbed “The Small Business Truth in Lending Act,” is slated to completely overhaul the non-bank small business lending market in the state. The bill was passed by the legislature in July.
3. OnDeck
It’s difficult to overstate how much of a rollercoaster it was for the stalwart fintech lender in 2020. OnDeck started the year with optimism, announcing a NASCAR sponsorship in March just as the company’s stock suddenly plummeted by 30%. By the time summer rolled around, the company was no longer engaged in non-PPP lending activities and was battling in a fight for its life with its creditors. In July, OnDeck was acquired by Enova, which led to shareholder lawsuits over the terms and disclosures tied to the deal. Somehow, by year-end, OnDeck managed to pull itself back together, thanks to its new parent company. It successfully originated $148M worth of loans in Q3.
Wow, just wow.
4. Covid-19
The impact of Covid was a close 4th on AltFinanceDaily’s top read list. In March, AltFinanceDaily published a writeup of How Small Business Funders [Were] Reacting, an interesting glimpse into the pandemic as it was just unfolding. At that time, attitudes ranged from confidence in being prepared to being convinced it was time to shut everything down. One notable takeaway from the commentary is that nobody surmised that the situation would persist for the entire rest of the year.
Capify CEO David Goldin made an early bold prediction, however. “I would not be surprised if we learn in the next few weeks that the President of the United States has it,” he said in an interview with AltFinanceDaily in mid-March. President Trump was diagnosed with Covid-19 less than six months later on October 6th.
5. Scandal
Three scandals were a near-tie for views in 2020 so we’re revisiting them all here.
Brendan Ross & Direct Lending Investments – Brendan Ross, the former CEO of a very popular fintech lending hedge fund, was indicted on August 11th. Federal officials including the SEC, say that Ross defrauded investors while managing more than $1 billion in assets. Ross’s “unwinding” began in 2019 when he suddenly resigned from the firm and wrongdoing was alleged.
Jonathan Braun – Jon Braun, made infamous by a Bloomberg Businessweek profile, checked into FCI Otisville earlier this year after having been sentenced the previous May for drug related offenses. Braun resurfaced in the news this summer when the FTC announced civil charges against him for alleged acts related to a company named Richmond Capital Group, LLC. The New York State Attorney General filed its own charges against Braun and affiliates at the same time.
Par Funding – A financial services firm based in Philadelphia generated major headlines this year after the SEC filed a lawsuit against the company that ultimately resulted in it being placed in receivership. A series of stunts and accidents got the SEC’s case off to a rocky start, but the likelihood of Par ever restarting its business has diminished to almost nothing.
The New Largest Merchant Cash Advance in History: $90 million +
September 9, 2020The largest merchant cash advance in history (at $40 million), first publicly disclosed in 2018, has been outdone. On Tuesday, the Receiver in the Par Funding SEC case revealed that its largest customer had outstanding purchased receivables of $91.3 million. The customer is an office and cleaning supply company based on Long Island. The amount is now the largest known merchant cash advance deal in history.
Par’s second largest customer had outstanding purchased receivables of $35 million.
Par’s total receivables are estimated to be $420 million. $228.8 million of it stems from just 10 customers including the two referenced above, according to a recently filed report.
MCA Reconciliation Can’t be Reviewed as “Illusory” if the Merchant Didn’t Even Engage in the Reconciliation Procedure
September 25, 2025In Apollo Funding Co v Dave Reilly Construction, LLC, The Appellate Division of the Second Department of the Supreme Court of New York, reversed the lower court’s denial of the plaintiff’s summary judgment motion. For background, Apollo purchased DRC’s future receivables, DRC breached the agreement, Apollo sued and moved for summary judgment, and DRC entered a defense that the agreement was actually an unlawful usurious loan. Based on DRC’s defense the lower court denied Apollo’s summary judgment motion.
Upon Apollo’s appeal in the Second Department, the Court found: “the plaintiff established that the transaction set forth in the agreement was not a loan. The terms of the agreement specifically provided for adjustments to the daily payments by DRC to the plaintiff based on changes to DRC’s daily receipts. Concomitantly, as the amount of the daily payments could change, the terms of the agreement were not finite, and because DRC did not engage in the agreement’s reconciliation procedure, our review of the claim that the process was illusory is precluded [emphasis ours]. Moreover, no contractual provision existed establishing that a declaration of bankruptcy would constitute an event of default.”
The Second Department ruled that Apollo had “otherwise established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the complaint, and the defendants failed to raise a triable issue of fact in opposition, the Supreme Court should have granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the complaint.”
The original case ID in the New York Supreme Court was 035156/2023. The Appellate Division’s Decision and Order was issued September 24, 2025.
AltFinanceDaily & Reliance Financial Sponsor Major Community Event in Jersey City
September 23, 2025AltFinanceDaily and Reliance Financial have teamed up to support and sponsor one of Jersey City’s signature community events, The Zombie Opera. Produced by local non-profit Undead Arts, The Zombie Opera, an outdoor Halloween-themed opera, is attended by 5,000 people each year in Downtown Jersey City. With the Opera known as a “phenomenal day of community and commerce” both AltFinanceDaily and Reliance Financial are proud to support it and the local business community. This year’s Zombie Opera will take place on October 25 between 6:30 – 8pm at Hamilton Park in Jersey City, NJ.
About AltFinanceDaily
AltFinanceDaily, founded in 2010, operates trade media and events for the small business finance and fintech industries. This is AltFinanceDaily’s 2nd year sponsoring the event.
About Reliance Financial
Reliance Financial is a U.S.-based provider of revenue-based financing solutions offering up to $5,000,000 per transaction. The company is committed to delivering fast, transparent, and flexible funding to growing businesses nationwide. Led by industry veteran Aryeh Miller, Reliance has helped thousands of companies unlock working capital without giving up equity or control.
If you’re interested in joining as a sponsor, email info@debanked.com.
Catching Up With Kalamata
September 18, 2025
Kalamata Capital Group is continuing to fund in Texas through one of its affiliated entities, the company confirms. Kalamata, which recently upsized its 2024 securitization by 25% with notes expandable up to $500 million, offers a variety of funding products to small businesses around the United States. A new law that recently went into effect in Texas has prompted Kalamata and companies like theirs to get the word out to their partners about any applicable adjustments.
More front and center for the company, however, is the introduction and evolution of Kalamata Cash, its in-house proprietary software.
“We went live with everything, including our syndicator profiles and access to the outside world as well, and that’s been a really exciting development for the company,” said Brandon Laks, co-president at Kalamata, “because instead of licensing software, which the software we were on was great before, it gives us the ability to roadmap exactly what we want to do.”
Kalamata, for example, is 100% broker-driven, and they can custom-tailor the process to best suit their relationships.
“Our brokers can come in and see live calculators,” Laks said, “so when they submit a deal and we send an offer, they can get a live view of what steps are outstanding, they can play around with the sliders and choose their offers.”
And there’s a lot more on the horizon that they’re integrating with and adding on.
Guggenheim Securities served as sole structuring advisor and the sole initial purchaser of the notes in the Kalamata securitization deal. At the time of the announcement, Laks said, “The access to additional capital will allow Kalamata to continue supporting Small Businesses and invest more capital in proprietary technology to stay at the forefront of the small business financing industry.”
Funders Comply With New Texas MCA Law
September 2, 2025As Texas implements the prohibition on ACH debits made by sales-based financing providers, here’s a working list of how funders are acting to comply:
Bitty: offering fixed-term installment loan. (see announcement)
CFG Merchant Solutions: offering fixed-term installment loan. (see announcement)
Merit Business Funding: Exempt from the law due to being a subsidiary of Meridian Bank. (See announcement)
Spartan Capital: offering fixed-term installment loan. (See announcement)
LCF Group: offering small business loans. (See announcement)
Backd Business Funding: offering term loans through their partnership with FinWise Bank.
If you are a sales-based or revenue-based financing provider that is continuing to fund in Texas and would like to be added here, email sean@debanked.com
Bitty Introduces New Small Business Loan Program
August 27, 2025Fort Lauderdale, FL – August 26, 2025 – Bitty is proud to unveil the launch of a new small business loan product designed to expand access to working capital for entrepreneurs, starting the rollout in Texas.
Beginning September 1, 2025, Bitty will offer a fixed-term, installment-style loan option. This program complements our existing revenue-based financing solutions while maintaining the fast, transparent, and business-friendly process that partners and merchants have come to expect from Bitty.
The new loan product is tailored to meet the needs of small business owners who prefer scheduled payments and fixed payoff timelines. By broadening our funding suite, Bitty continues to strengthen its commitment to empowering business growth through flexible and responsible capital solutions.
Further details about this program, along with operational updates, will be available on the Bitty website and official social media channels in the weeks ahead.
“This launch marks another exciting milestone for Bitty, our partners, and the thousands of small businesses we serve nationwide,” said Craig Hecker, CEO of Bitty.
For additional information, please contact our team directly.
Website: www.bittyadvance.com
PRESS CONTACT
Charlie Siegel
Director of Partner Relations
partners@bittyadvance.com
Business Finance Companies on Inc 5000 List in 2025
August 12, 2025Here’s where small business finance companies rank on the Inc 5000 list for 2025 (and if we’ve missed you, email info@debanked.com):
| Ranking | Company | 3-Year % Growth |
| 15 | Parafin | 9594 |
| 206 | businessloans.com | 1862 |
| 669 | Pinnacle Funding | 626 |
| 831 | SBG Funding | 508 |
| 1215 | Essential Funding Group | 359 |
| 1240 | Clara Capital | 352 |
| 1417 | Backd | 306 |
| 1705 | Kapitus | 256 |
| 1719 | Channel | 255 |
| 1756 | Fundible | 248 |
| 2027 | 4 Pillar Funding | 214 |
| 2117 | Biz2Credit | 203 |
| 2293 | Byzfunder | 187 |
| 2671 | Critical Financing | 156 |
| 3081 | Lendzi | 131 |
| 3226 | eCapital | 124 |
| 3508 | ApplePie Capital | 111 |
| 3545 | SellersFi | 109 |
| 3901 | Splash Advance | 95 |
| 3973 | Fora Financial | 92 |
| 3993 | Capital Infusion | 91 |
| 4076 | Expansion Capital Group | 88 |
| 4162 | Shore Funding Solutions | 85 |
| 4206 | Direct Funding Now | 83 |
| 4712 | ROK Financial | 63 |
