Digital SMB Lenders

Lending to small- and mid-sized businesses (SMB/SME) is further along than many fintech services. While there were a few players in the early 2000s (just 4 remain), the market exploded after the 2007/2008 financial crisis with 10 companies founded from 2007 to 2011 and another 13 from 2012 to 2015. The pace slowed with about 1 new company per year since then. 

Businesses constantly need capital and smaller businesses have fewer options. So most digital fintech lenders are so-called alt-lenders, meaning they are an alternative to traditional financial institutions.

By using different underwriting techniques alt-lenders are able to lend to a much more diverse segment of businesses. This generally comes at substantially higher interest rates. But the comparison to legacy banks is meaningless. All that matters to the business is they make an acceptable risk-adjusted return on the borrowed funds. And to survive, alt-lenders make sure they only lend on terms that borrowers can make a profit on. 

Small Business Lender of the Month*

Here are the biggest digital SMB lenders in the United States:

The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.

Company Overview	Learn More	FAB Score*	Founded	Funding $M		HQ	Review Date	Rank	Visitors (Nov '21)	Funding Last 12 Months	Previous Funding	App Downloads	Citations	Twitter	# Employees	TrustPilot	Score	iOS	Score	Type
	National Business Capital	Ad	2007	$120,000	Apply	NYC
	Capchase	488	2020	$950	Apply	NYC			12000
	Kabbage	362	2008	2500	Apply	Atlanta	11 May 2021	1	360000	0	2500	4600	530	23000	500	6643	4.8	8303	4.9
	CLEARCO	309	2015	699	Apply	Toronto			260000
	BlueVine	282	2013	$768	Apply	SF	11 May 2021	2	870000	75	693		79	2390	312	1390	4.6	9	4.6
	Pipe	199	2019	$323	Apply	Miami, FL			110,000
	OnDeck	197	2007	$1,200	Apply	NYC	11 May 2021	5	100,000	0	1200		548	11900	587	2405	4.9	10	2.3
	Nav	182	2012	$92	Apply	Utah	11 May 2021	7	850000	0	99
	Camino Financial	177	2014	$170	Apply	LA	11 May 2021	11	280000	0	20.4		6	722	103	28	1.8
	Fundbox	145	2013	$554	Apply	SF	31 Mar 2020	10	180000	0	434	378	73	7720	277	1740	5	781	4.9
	Can Capital	128	1998	$1,002	Apply	Atlanta	11 May 2021	8	12000	0	1002		92	2110	200	695	4.5
	Lendio	106	2011	$109	Apply	Utah	11 May 2021	4	400,000	0	109		100	11600	350	2292	4.9
	Arc	101	2021	181	Apply	SF
	Biz2Credit	89	2007	$387	Apply	NYC	18 May 2021	6	200,000	0	387
	Fundera	87	2013	$19	Apply	NYC	11 May 2021	9	600,000	0	18.9		55	28600	96	628	4.8			Lead gen
	Nuula	67	2021	$120	Apply	Toronto	9 Sep 2021		3,600
	Novel Partners	62	2018	$115	Apply	Overland Park, KS
	Lighter Capital	59	2010	$116	Apply	Seattle	12 May 2021	13	81,000		16
	Lendistry	56	2015	94.8	Apply	LA (Brea)	11 May 2021	12	43000	$1.5	0
	Fund that Flip	41	2014	$33	Apply	NYC	11 May 2021	15	100,000	0	13.2		8	3730	41
	SmartBiz	18	2009	$37	Apply	SF	11 May 2021	3	85,000	0	37		12	1015	71	1015	4.8
	IOU Financial	16	2011	$132	Apply	Atlanta	11 May 2021	25	43,000	2.1	30		3	1310	50	408	4.6
	SMBX	13	2016	$15	Apply	SF	11 May 2021	21	26,000	2.5	1.2		3	173	16			18	4.7		Small Business Bonds Marketplace
	Bizfi	13	2005	$160	Apply	NYC	11 May 2021	14	1,200	0	160		207	5890	181	439	4.4				Acquired by WBL in 2017
	Credibly	10	2010	$77	Apply	Detroit	11 May 2021	16	12,000	0	77		4	5870	155	428	4.5
	Honeycomb Credit	10	2017	$10.5	Apply	Pittsburgh, PA	12 May 2021	17	22,000	1.8	1.3
	ForwardLine	8	2003	$120	Apply	SF	11 May 2021	23	7,700	0	120
	Patch Lending	7	2013	$55	Apply	LA	11 May 2021	22	4,100	0	24.9		34	51000	36	15	4.4
	Float Financial	7	2021	$1.3	Apply	Honolulu
	SnapCap (LendingTree)	6	2012	Unknown	Apply	Charleston, SC			65000
	Salaryo	4	2017	$12	Apply	NYC	11 May 2021	18	1,700	5.8	6.3		15		10
	P2B Investor	2	2012	$33	Apply	Denver	11 May 2021	24	1,400	0	33.3		25	2720	14
	Channel Partners	2	2009	$50	Apply	Minneapolis, MN			1,400
	Lendr	0	2011	$25	Apply	Chicago	11 May 2021	29	1,200	0	25		1	613	39
	Lendinero	0	2014	$0	Apply	Miami	11 May 2021	28	500	0	0.03		9	960	28	7	4.3
	Rapid Finance	0	2005	Unknown	Apply	Wash DC (Bethesda)			60,000
	Lendvo	0	2015	$1.3	Apply	Wash DC	11 May 2021	26	4,200	0	1.3

Source: FintechLabs, 3 Feb 2022 from Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, SEMrush and other news sources

*FAB SCORE:  The FAB score, Fintech Attention Barometer, is a proxy for the overall size of a private company since they typically do not release traditional metrics (# customers, deposits, AUM, etc). The score is based on VC funding, website traffic, mobile downloads, and the number of employees. It's a work in progress, so expect changes in the formula.

Definition: To qualify, challengers don't need to originate loans themselves or be regulated as a financial institution. Startups must focus on small-business credit/debt (eliminates Paypal, Amazon, Square) delivered digitally (rules out Wells Fargo, BofA, and the majority of traditional banks). We will include divisions of traditional FIs if they operate under a separate autonomous brand, such as American Express's Kabbage unit.