Kabbage Introduces Customized Short Term Loans
February 4, 2020
Today Kabbage, the Atlanta-based fintech company that has been funding businesses since 2009, announced its latest product: customized short-term loans that are a result of the combination of Kabbage Payments and Kabbage Funding.
The loans, which run for the length of 3-45 days, are best suited to those businesses who need funding to cover issues in cash flow caused by the unpredictability of revenue, says Kabbage’s Head of Income Products Abraham Williams. “Rent and payroll are on set days every month, but getting paid is variable. We’ve done loans for 6, 12, and 18 months, and we’ve seen that people pay those off sooner, so we saw a need to have a short-term loan to fill gaps in cash flow.”
The terms of such loans will be decided upon by making use of the aggregate data that Kabbage has access to. With its customers providing a number of data points, such as their Amazon account, banking details, payment processes, and social media accounts, Kabbage is in “a really unique position because of the way that we make decisions on loans for small businesses,” notes Williams. “We can really see a very complete picture of a business, which can be different than how other people are essentially underwriting and assessing risk for loans.”
Two options are available for repayment: a traditional balloon payment to be paid at the end of the 45-day period, or a percentage of each sale made using Kabbage Payments going towards repayment. The latter of these provides more flexibility, with merchants being able to choose the percentage of each sale that is to go toward Kabbage and, as well as this, the fee attached to the Kabbage Payments option is smaller.
With the fee’s amount and terms being dictated by aggregated data, Kabbage is describing them as “dynamic,” providing individualized offers. Fees begin at 0.1% with the minimum amount to be borrowed being $500 and the maximum set at 10% of a merchant’s available line of credit for the short-term.
Goldman Sachs-Amazon Deal to Offer Small Business Loans in the Works
February 3, 2020
Tech giant Amazon is reportedly in talks with Goldman Sachs to offer business loans to those small and medium sized merchants operating on its marketplace, according to sources that the FT describes as “two people briefed on the discussions with the online retailer.” One of these sources said that it could launch as soon as March.
The news comes after CEO David Soloman spoke at the bank’s Investor Day recently, explaining that Goldman would be pursuing a “banking-as-a-service” model this year that would see the bank white labeling their products for third parties to use. As well as this, Solomon commented on a shareholders call last week that the bank is seeking to increase revenues from new channels such as consumer banking and wealth management.
One such channel is Goldman’s partnership with Apple last summer that saw the launch of Apple Card, a credit card solely available to Apple’s +100 million users in the US. The card’s launch was lauded by Solomon; and according to Business Insider, cardholders had $736 million in loan balances by the end of September, one month after the card was released to the public.
The Apple and Amazon deals highlight how Wall Street banks are employing and partnering with Big Tech to leverage advantage over fintechs, and ultimately gain access into markets that are historically not domains of the uber rich. Traditionally a bank that catered to elites, Goldman Sachs has been edging its way into consumer and small business banking ever since the launch of Marcus, its personal banking platform.
Amazon has been offering loans to merchants on its platform since 2011, using algorithms to determine which sellers would be best positioned to receive and repay a loan. Having previously partnered with Bank of America to finance such loans, the terms of these were for 12 months or less, with amounts funded ranging from $1,000 to $750,000. According to the FT, Amazon had $863 million in outstanding SMB loans on its balance sheet as of the end of 2019.
The digital nature of Amazon’s marketplace would accommodate Goldman Sachs’ neglect of brick-and-mortars stores, which have historically been a waypoint for small- and medium-sized businesses seeking finance.
LendIt Chairman and Co-founder Peter Renton described Goldman’s progression in the fintech space as “impressive,” noting that the speed at which it has been operating isn’t to be overlooked: “I thought something like this would happen but not in such a short space of time. Apple Card was only six months ago.”
As well as this, Renton was wary of how expansive the deal would be, admitting skepticism of it being a large project for either company. Given how both Amazon and Goldman have shown themselves to be selective in who they provide financing for, this assessment may prove correct.
Liberis Secures $42 Million in Funding, Plans American Expansion
February 3, 2020
Liberis, the London-based small business finance provider, secured £32 million ($42 million) in capital late last month following a round of equity fundraising. The firm, which has funded businesses through cash advances since 2007, has now raised a total of over £150 million ($197 million) via debt and equity.
Having already entered Nordic markets, Liberis looks to use this funding to further expand into Europe as well as make their mark in America. Speaking to AltFinanceDaily, Liberis CEO Rob Straathof explained that the company would be working with its North American partner, Worldpay, to spread itself across all 50 states. Beyond Worldpay, Liberis is planning to create more partnerships with merchant acquirers, those payment platforms which serve merchants, or “SME champions,” as Straathof calls them.
Liberis will not be using brokers to provide cash advances to business owners in the States, the reason being that the company prefers to work with its affiliated partners. “We purely rely on our partners and integrating with our partners,” explained Straathof. “In the UK we still do brokers, but that’s kind of a legacy. It works very well for us and we have a great relationship with brokers. It’s a good channel for us, but we have no intention at this point to launch that in the US.”
The company will also use the funding to increase its staff by 30% in 2020, hiring around 50 people to bolster its 165-person workforce across their four offices in London, Dublin, Stockholm, and Denver.
Pacific Equity And Loan Acquires Emerald Capital Funding
January 12, 2020
This week Pacific Equity & Loan, a hard money lender based in Washington state, acquired Emerald Capital Funding. Done to “provide more resources and investment opportunity to real estate investors in the Washington market,” according to a statement from PEL, the merger will see all of ECF’s staff move over to PEL.
“The move comes amid a rapidly evolving mortgage industry in specifically the private money and hard money lending sector,” ECF’s President and Founder Christopher Robinson commented. “We need to stay ahead of the curve and assure that our customer receive the best value, the best technology, and continue to work with a trusted local lender.”
Speaking to AltFinanceDaily, Sang Yoon, PEL’s Director of Business Development and Co-founder said that he was excited to move forward, noting that it’s a “two heads are better than one situation. By merging or acquiring a company, we are better able to service our customers.”
For ISOs Only — How To Develop Your Factoring Brokerage Business (Part 3)
January 9, 2020
CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have finally made the decision to quit “stepping over” those hundred-dollar bills and establish a factoring brokerage business!
But here’s the problem. With literally THOUSANDS of hundred-dollar bills spread all over, WHERE and HOW do you start picking them up?
To be sure, you need a GAME PLAN for doing so, right? Well, today’s your lucky day because that’s exactly what Part 3 of our series is about; “HOW TO establish a GAME PLAN for establishing your factoring brokerage business”.
But first, a couple things to keep in mind. The first is that the closing and funding cycle for factoring is much longer than an MCA, and typically takes from a few days to a couple weeks. However, once your merchant is set up, they will typically fund invoices EVERY MONTH.
What that means to YOU it’s like getting an automatic renewal every month, because you’re GETTING PAID for the life of the factoring relationship. And that automatic monthly paycheck will keep getting bigger and bigger with every new factoring merchant! True “residual income”.
The second thing to consider is that you will need to identify the “mix” of factoring funders to do business with and get set up with as a broker.
While we touched on the topic of finding factoring funders in Part 2, we could actually do a series on this subject alone. Keep in mind that funders specialize by industry, i.e. construction, medical, trucking, etc., while others are generalists, and fund a broad range of industries both domestically and internationally.
OK. So, let’s get started. It’s basically a 2 step process. (Don’t worry. We’ll teach you how to dance.)
STEP 1: Take A Look in The Mirror
3 things you want to look at:
- The first is the size and structure of your existing ISO organization. What size is it? Are you a one-man shop? How many ISOs do you have in-house? How many in the field? Do ISOs in the field work under your umbrella or do they work under their own? Who makes the decision on which MCA funder to use?
This is important because the size and structure of your ISO organization will help you in determining which GAME PLAN OPTION is the BEST FIT. More on that later…
- The second thing you want to look at is how your existing merchant database is organized. This could range from a box of index cards to a computerized database where you can pull up contact info for every prospect, merchants funded, funding date, funded amount, commission, renewal date, and maybe even blood type. (Don’t laugh. Some guys are anal like that).
This is important because, regardless of how or where you keep this info, your existing files are where you’re going to find “low hanging fruit”.
More specifically, these are YOUR merchants who sell B2B with receivables RIGHT NOW! Plus, most are generating new invoices every month, and are PERPETUALLY WAITING to get paid. But let’s face it, you can’t sell the guy a new position every month (even though you might like to) because they obviously can’t sustain it. But now you have a solution that will.
- The last thing you want to look at is how you do your marketing; i.e., telemarketing, lead purchase, direct mail, email marketing, door to door, media advertising, etc. This is important because to be successful with integrating factoring into your existing business, you will need to integrate it into your existing marketing medium and message as well.
There are several ways to do this, but it essentially boils down to 3 simple questions:
- Do you sell B2B? Even restaurants who offer commercial catering could do more business if they didn’t have to wait 30 days or more to get paid.
- Roughly how much do you have outstanding in receivables?
- Would you be interested in looking at how to convert your invoices into cash with no payments?
Why Do We Need to Look in The Mirror?
REGARDLESS of how you operate your business, the purpose of this exercise is NOT for you to be judgmental (it is what it is), but simply to help you determine which GAME PLAN OPTION you feel is the BEST FIT for you. But to do so you have to be honest with what you see. That’s what “LOOKING IN THE MIRROR” is all about.
In starting a new year, we ALL would like to do better. And as much as we might consider making radical changes to our business model and even our personal lives, (i.e. losing 200 lbs. in 3 weeks), the changes that have a better chance of sticking are those we gradually integrate into our lives and business over time.
In other words, establish realistic goals for your new factoring brokerage business, establish a GAME PLAN for doing so, and over time you will gradually, and consistently generate positive results. Now, where’s that pie?
2. Select Your GAME PLAN Option
Once you’ve taken stock of where you are, the next step is to look at options for integrating factoring into your day-to-day operations.
Below are 3 GAME PLAN OPTIONS to consider;
OPTION 1: “Limited Service” Broker/Referral Agent
This option which might appeal to small ISO organizations or one-man shops. Once you have identified a factoring prospect and they have expressed interest in moving forward, make the introduction to your selected factoring funder, and for the most part, step back from the process.
HOW you do the introduction is totally up to you and can range from a three-way call, email, or even text in some cases. Regardless of how you do it, you want to make sure your Factoring Funder knows the referral came from you in order to get paid.
The funder will typically keep you posted as your merchant moves through the process. However, don’t forget. It’s YOUR merchant and YOUR money. So, don’t hesitate to follow-up with both.
This is essentially what I refer to as a “low touch” approach, designed for ISOs who want to start picking up one hundred-dollar bills, but have limited time or resources for doing so. At a minimum, it gets them in the game and launches a “new profit center”.
OPTION 2: “Full Service” Broker/Referral Agent
The full-service referral broker operates much like a traditional ISO does for MCAs. You work with the merchant to compile their factoring app package and submit it to the funder. In addition, as questions arise during underwriting, the funder may reach out and in some instances seek your help in addressing them.
Depending on the size and structure of your ISO organization, you might want to consider establishing an in-house Factoring Desk. This would be an individual designated as the point of contact between the referring ISO, the merchant, and the factoring funder.
There are multiple benefits for taking this approach. For one, you centralize the decision-making on the factoring funder best suited for the merchant. In so doing, your Factoring Desk should be familiar with each funder, their doc requirements, approval criteria, rates, terms, timing, etc.
Second, establishing an in-house Factoring Desk will limit the number of ISOs reaching out directly to your factoring funder. This is important because you don’t want an ISO to suggest, demand, or work outside the scope of your broker relationship and agreement with the funder.
Finally, establishing a Factoring Desk will facilitate a rapid response to getting your factoring deals done. The last thing you need is for a deal to be “stuck on someone’s desk,” simply because they shifted attention to work on something else.
OPTION 3: Broker/ Referral Partner Relationship
This option involves establishing a broker/referral relationship with an established entity which specializes in factoring and other forms of asset-based lending. This relationship can also be blended with Option 1 or 2.
For this arrangement to make sense, the broker/ referral partner should be well established and bring several things to the table including;
- Extensive and detail knowledge of the underwriting, due diligence, documentation, closing and funding process.
- Established relationships and history with a diverse mix of funders.
- Experience in addressing one of the fastest growing issues factoring funders are facing, which is resolving UCC filing issues, particularly within the MCA industry.
- Relationships with factoring funders who fund in “second position” behind other secured parties, including traditional bank financing.
- Knowledge and experience of other forms of financing including purchase order financing, material supply financing, etc.
To be sure, the right relationship will enable you to accelerate the funding process for your merchants while learning from their experience as well.
By the way, in Part 2 of the series, I mentioned a client who needed funding for 63 purchase orders to 63 different locations, of which half were expired. Well, I am pleased to announce they were funded!
The Scoop Behind The Primary Capital / Infinity Capital Funding Acquisition
January 6, 2020
This morning, Primary Capital announced that it had acquired the merchant cash advance division of Infinity Capital Funding. Infinity, which has been operating from California since 2006, began as an MCA company before expanding to offer small business loans as well. The acquisition will see Infinity’s thirteen years of data, technology, and merchant portfolios pass onto Primary.
Speaking on the acquisition, Primary Capital Managing Member David Korchak said that “anything that you can acquire with that much time behind it and that much experience behind it is excellent, and for us with what we’re trying to do it’s tremendous. It’s a big, massive help for us.”
As well as the intangible assets that will be conferred to Primary, Isaiah Kenigsberg will be joining their team. Having served as Infinity’s Financial Controller, Kenigsberg is now CFO at Primary.
The decision to acquire Infinity’s book came after Primary noticed that it was winding down its MCA operations, Korchak told AltFinanceDaily. Seeing the value in obtaining such a trove of data proved too enticing to pass the Managing Member said, and Primary has been digging into the information obtained for the last three months.
For Korchak, something that has stood out from this analysis is the patterns that have emerged in the portfolio. “The thing that’s remarkable for these companies that have been around as long as them, is everyone seems to have clients that have taken 30 advances from them. They have clients that started back in ’07, ’08, that are still active merchants which is remarkable.
“The only difficulty is trying to analyze and say, ‘Why is this merchant after 30 different cash advances over a 12-year period still taking cash?’ And that’s really our model. And our goal for this year is to try and help subprime borrowers get out from having to take toxic debt like cash advances for their business. Ultimately, the data that we’re acquiring from ICF and this acquisition is going to help us study a lot of the transitions that MCA merchants have made since the beginning and see which ones have actually been able to get out of it.”
Asked whether there are any more acquisitions in the pipeline, Korchak responded, “Absolutely, we’re heavily data and service-driven for this year specifically, and we have a lot more to come.”
Online Small Business Borrowing Decisions Not Driven By Costs or Disclosures, Fed Study Finds
December 23, 2019
A new study on transparency conducted by the Federal Reserve on non-bank small business finance providers indicates that borrowers are not driven by costs or disclosures. The #1 reason for a business to apply with an online lender was the speed of the process, the study showed. #2 was the likelihood of being funded. Cost ranked near the bottom of the list.
While a focus group pointed out many areas that are ripe for improvement, the Fed was left to conclude that “clearer information—in the form of standardized disclosures—will not necessarily alter the decisions of some small business borrowers about whether and where to obtain financing.”
The Fed further commented that some loan applicants revealed that they had already “committed the expected loan proceeds” before a lender could even present rates and terms. Others borrowers wished they could know their approved rate and terms before even providing a lender with any data. These findings seem to undermine the potential value of enhanced uniformity in disclosures.
The report, which attempts to paint a bleak picture of online lending in spite of the data, seems to validate what online lenders have been saying all along, that speed is supreme. Even where transparency is lacking, it cannot be overstated that big banks scored lower on transparency than online lenders did.
Uncertain Terms: What Small Business Borrowers Find When Browsing Online Lender Websites evaluated BFS Capital, CAN Capital, Credibly, Fundation, Funding Circle, Kabbage, Lending Club, National Funding, OnDeck, Rapid Finance, PayPal Working Capital, and Square Capital.
For ISOs Only — How To Develop Your Factoring Brokerage Business (Part 2)
December 12, 2019In Part 2, we’re going to focus on 3 major areas:
(1) What is Factoring and How Does it Work?
(2) What Are the Costs?
(3) How Do You Qualify?
We’re also going to touch on HOW TO find factoring funders.
What is Factoring and How Does it Work?
Factoring actually dates back to 2000 BC but got going in the US during the 1600s when colonists sought “advance payments” on tobacco, cotton, etc., shipped across the Atlantic to England. Today, it’s a TRILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY worldwide, involving commercial banks, asset-based lenders, Fintech companies, and private hedge funds all over the world. And a million years later the purpose of factoring is the same; speed up cash flow by leveraging receivables, while waiting to get paid.
In a nutshell, much like an MCA, factoring is an advance against “future invoice proceeds.”
However, unlike an MCA where the advance is largely based on bank statements, with factoring, advances are based on the number of confirmed invoices the merchant has outstanding with their approved B2B customers. The invoice(s), which is the asset, serves as COLLATERAL.
So, while an MCA funder “looks backwards” at bank statements to help determine eligible amount, the factoring funder “looks forward” to determine eligible amount based on approved invoices.
Factoring advance rates typically range from 70% to 90% of the invoice face value, and are based on volume, industry type, etc.
There are two major elements required for factoring to work. The first is the merchant must be doing business with a credit-worthy B2B customer. Approval isn’t based on the financial strength of the merchant, but on their customer, i.e. the company paying the bill.
The second major element is that, in addition to being credit-worthy, the customer must agree to send invoice payments DIRECTLY to the funder. This provides the funder with an assurance of payment and substantially reduces the risk of re-payment or default.
So, unlike an MCA where payment is on a daily or weekly basis, the factoring advance has NO PAYMENTS, and actually pays itself off once the invoice has been paid. The funder then deducts the advance along with their fee and wires the balance to the merchant.
With no payments and invoice proceeds automatically paying off the advance, I refer to this as a “SELF LIQUIDATING LOAN”. It’s also “ELASTIC”, which means the more confirmed invoices the merchant has outstanding, the more funding they are eligible to draw. It’s like having a revolving LOC with no payments………of course unless the customer doesn’t pay, right? Good question!
So, here’s the answer: There’s actually two types of factoring; (1) RECOURSE FACTORING, which means if a customer doesn’t pay the invoice, the Merchant is financially responsible for the advance, and (2) NON-RECOURSE FACTORING, which means they’re not.
Here’s the process in a nutshell: Merchant submits app and doc checklist for preliminary underwriting approval. Funder issues term sheet, and if accepted by Merchant, underwriting and due diligence is completed. A closing and funding docs package are submitted to the merchant, and upon execution, the funder is prepared to start confirming and funding invoices.
How long does it take from start to finish? Depends on how much hair there is on the file. A clean file can take as little as 5 to 7 business days. A file with a lot of hair can take much longer. We actually had a $13 million file funded in 48 hours! That guy was pretty happy and so was I. It was an acquisition with a deadline. So, here’s what to tell your merchants with regards to timing: “funding is not calendar-related, but event related”. In other words, once the required events are completed then funding can occur.”
What Are the Costs?
There are several major factors that determine cost, rate, terms. volume, invoice size and funding frequency, industry type, risk, etc. Every funder has their own respective rate and fee schedule. Some charge application/due diligence fees while others don’t. Some charge origination and/or admin fees, while others don’t.
Some funders base their pricing on APR, with rates as low as Prime + 3 to 5%, while others have all-in rates typically ranging from 1.5% to 3% per month. After the first 30 days, monthly rates are typically broken down in 10 or 15 day increments (pro-rating). As a result, the ACTUAL COST of factoring in dollars and cents, is based on the amount of time the advance is outstanding, from the funding date to the date the invoice payment is received by the funder.
Here’s an alternative perspective on cost: Factoring is like “renting money on a daily basis,” where the funder essentially takes “equity in the transaction” versus equity in the business. Comparing the bottom-line cost with the bottom-line benefits is the key. But at the end of the day, “the highest price you pay for money is the price you pay for the LACK of it”.
Just like with MCAs, make sure you understand the rate structure, terms, and fees charged by your factoring funder, and how to calculate the cost in dollars and cents as well.
How Do You Qualify?
Factoring approvals have 3 components: The first is the merchant. Again, every funder has their own approval criteria and document checklist. Some require minimal info, while others ask for EVERYTHING including a pint of blood. While most only require one month bank, approval is not based on deposits, or how well they manage their account. Remember their primary focus is on assessing the quality of the receivables, determining if they have sufficient gross profit margins, ensure they are in good standing, and address any “deal killers”, i.e. tax liens, judgments, or UCC filings in first position, which is where they need to be, in most cases. (We actually have funding partners who will factor in second and third positions)
The second factoring approval is the merchant’s customer(s), typically referred to as the debtor. This is determined by the funder who looks at things like D&B, PAYDEX Scores, and other proprietary industry databases. In some instances, a lack of secondary financial/credit information on the customer can be offset through their payment history with the merchant. In other instances, the funder may require bank and trade references if no history exists. Candidly speaking, best practices by the merchant says they should already be doing the same thing; i.e. credit qualifying their customers, whether they need funding or not, unless it’s a large, well established company or government agency. The fact is, extending terms to someone you don’t know can be risky because ‘all businesses may not be good businesses.’ Let’s face it, it’s all about getting paid, right?
Ever heard this horror story; “I need an MCA because I got burned by one of my customers who strung me out and never paid me!” Too bad. They should have picked up that $100 bill off the street! Just kidding!
The third factoring approval is on the deal itself, i.e. the purchase order or contract the merchant has with the debtor. There are over 15 different things the funder will look at to identify existing or potential funding issues. Here’s an example. I recently got a referral for a client who had 63 different purchase orders going to 63 different locations for the same large customer, but BEFORE he started shipping, half the orders had already passed the CANCELLATION DATE! What do you think the chances are of the deal being approved for funding? Don’t know yet. Will let you know when I get to part 3 of the series. Keep your fingers crossed and so will I.
Typical things the funder looks at are payment terms, default clauses, customer signature, offset clauses, just to name a few. If you’d like a complete list, just shoot me over an email.
How to Find Funders
Finding factoring funders is easy. Just google FACTORING and you’ll get a whole bunch. What’s NOT so easy is determining the “best fit” for YOUR merchant because one size does not fit all. Over the years, some of the biggest horror stories I’ve heard from both funders and clients was a relationship that went bad because it was not the best fit. But remember this; “just because you picked the wrong spouse doesn’t mean getting married is a bad idea.” Determining the best fit is one of the key functions for your factoring brokerage business.
Some funders you will find specialize by industry, i.e. transportation, medical, staffing, construction, while others don’t. Some can move quickly while others take two weeks. Some are more flexible than others. Some focus on A-credit Merchants and have the lower rates, while others work with start-ups. Always find out UPFRONT their approval criteria and constraints. Shoot over an email and I’ll send our list of the Top 10 Questions to Ask Before Selecting a Factoring Funder.
