Cleaning out some (paper!) files over the weekend, I ran across an Online Banking Report article I wrote in 1997 about Bank of Montreal's pioneering online mortgage application. It was the first time anyone had put a mortgage app online and one of the first online credit apps of any kind.** Naturally, we were excited about it, naming it the biggest innovation of the year.
Unfortunately, we didn't track when the first business loan application went online, but it was likely a few years later, let's call it 2000/2001. So, the capability has existed for 20+ years. But as you can see from the chart below, the digital SMB lenders began in earnest during and immediately after the 2007/2008 financial crash. Thirteen of the 30 largest were started in the 2007 to 2012 period.
Digital Lenders: Year Founded
Prior to 2007 >>> 4
2007 to 2011 >>> 10
2012 to 2015 >>> 13
2016 to 2018 >>> 3
2019 to 2021 >>> 3
Small Business Lender of the Month
National Funding | HQ: San Diego | Founded: 1999 | Raised: $105M | Website traffic: 70,000/mo | Employees: 150 | Linkedin follwers: 6,800 | Trustpilot score: 4.8 (1,500 reviews)
NEW: Looking for digital banks, lenders, payment providers, insurance or digital accounting for small businesses? Check out our latest lists: SMB online lenders (33) | SMB challenger banks (12) | SMB insurers (15) | SMB charge cards/expense management (16) | Billpay & invoicing (16)| Payment processors (7) | Subscription processors (7) | SMB digital accounting/bookkeeping (21)
The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.
Digital Lenders Ranked by our FAB* score (updated 29 July 2022)
| Rank | Company | FAB Score | Founded | HQ | Funding $M | Visits (May 22) |
| Ad | National Funding | **** | 1999 | San Diego | 105 | 70,000 |
| 1 | Capchase | 481 | 2020 | NYC | 945 | 28,000 |
| 2 | Kabbage (AmEx) | 428 | 2008 | Atlanta | 2500 | 380,000 |
| 3 | Clearco | 364 | 2015 | Toronto | 682 | 350,000 |
| 4 | Pipe | 349 | 2019 | Miami | 566 | 340,000 |
| 5 | Nav | 230 | 2012 | Utah | 92 | 1,100,000 |
| 6 | BlueVine | 228 | 2013 | SF | 768 | 600,000 |
| 7 | OnDeck | 191 | 2007 | NYC | 1200 | 140,000 |
| 8 | Camino Financial | 177 | 2014 | LA | 170 | 500,000 |
| 9 | FundBox | 139 | 2013 | SF | 554 | 130,000 |
| 10 | CAN Capital | 128 | 1998 | Atlanta | 1002 | 9,500 |
| 11 | Fundera (NerdWallet) | 93 | 2013 | NYC | 19 | 460,000 |
| 12 | Biz2Credit | 89 | 2007 | NYC | 387 | 210,000 |
| 13 | Lendio | 82 | 2011 | Utah | 109 | 350,000 |
| 14 | Nuula | 76 | 2021 | Toronto | 120 | 52,000 |
| 15 | Lighter Capital | 64 | 2010 | Seattle | 116 | 84,000 |
| 16 | Fund that Flip | 41 | 2014 | NYC | 33 | 150,000 |
| 17 | IOU Financial | 35 | 2011 | Atlanta | 132 | 100,000 |
| 18 | Credibly | 15 | 2010 | Detroit | 77 | 45,000 |
| 18 | SmartBiz Loans | 15 | 2009 | SF | 37 | 78,000 |
| 20 | BizFI | 13 | 2005 | NYC | 160 | 1,900 |
| 21 | Lendistry | 10 | 2015 | Brea, CA | 1.5 | 50,000 |
| 21 | SMBX | 10 | 2016 | SF | 15 | 14,000 |
| 23 | Patch Lending | 7 | 2013 | LA | 55 | 7,700 |
| 23 | Forward Line | 7 | 2003 | SF | 120 | 7,100 |
| 25 | HoneyComb Credit | 6 | 2017 | Pittsburgh | 3.2 | 13,100 |
| 26 | Salaryo | 4 | 2017 | NYC | 12 | 1,800 |
| 27 | SnapCap (LendingTree) | 2 | 2012 | Charlston, SC | 0 | 23,000 |
| 27 | P2Binvestor | 2 | 2012 | Denver | 33 | 0 |
| 27 | Channel Partners | 2 | 2009 | Minneapolis | 50 | 5,200 |
| 30 | Lendvo | 1 | 2015 | Wash DC | 1.3 | 3,200 |
| 31 | Lendinero | 0 | 2014 | Miami | 0.03 | 0 |
| 31 | Rapid Finance | -3 | 2005 | Bethesda, MD | 0 | 34,000 |
| 31 | Lendr | 0 | 2011 | Chicago | 25 | 0 |
Source: Compiled by FintechLabs, 29 July 2022, from Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, SEMRush data
*(As nerds do) We have developed a proprietary score measuring the adoption of private digital financial services companies that do not release traditional metrics (# customers, loans, orginations, etc). We are calling it the FAB score, standing for Fintech Attention Barometer. It’s a work in progress, so expect changes in the formula.
**A defunct Canadian bank, Bayshore Trust, launched the first online loan application in March 1996.
***Several lenders pay Fintech Labs a referral fee for funded loans. Those fees may impact placement on our website.
****Not applicable because National Funding is not venture-backed.
Top 30 Alt-Lenders (Digital) Lending to Small-to-Medium Businesses (SMB) in the United States (as of 29 July 2022)
Rank (by FAB score)
1. Capchase
FAB Score = 481
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2020
– Raised: $950M (including $945M in 2021 & 2022) (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 28,000 (SimilarWeb, May 2022)
– Employees: 115 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 36 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 8,300 followers (144 employees)
– Twitter: 2,300 followers
– Trustpilot: NA
2. Kabbage (acquired by American Express)
FAB Score = 428
– HQ: Atlanta
– Founded: 2008
– Raised: $2.5B (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 380,000 (SimilarWeb, May 2022)
– Employees: 188 (Pitchbook)
– Citations: 614 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 39,000 followers (248 employees)
– Twitter: 26,400 followers
– Trustpilot: 3.3 (6,800 reviews)
3. Clearco (formerly Clearbanc; updated 16 June 2022)
FAB Score = 364
– HQ: Toronto
– Founded: 2015
– Raised: $682M (including $550M in 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Valuation: $2.0 billion (based on April 2021 round)
– Website visits: 350,000 (SimilarWeb, May 2022)
– Employees: 619 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 91 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 39,500 followers (579 employees)
– Twitter: 9,000 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.3 (292 reviews)
4. Pipe
FAB Score = 349
– HQ: Miami
– Founded: 2019
– Raised: $316M (including $300M in 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Valuation: $2B (based on March 2022 round)
– Website visits: 340,000 (SimilarWeb, May 2022)
– Employees: 180 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 65 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 14,100 followers (198 employees)
– Twitter: 32,000 followers
– Trustpilot: NA
5. Nav
FAB Score = 230
– HQ: Utah
– Founded: 2012
– Raised: $92M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 1.1M (May 2022, SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 150 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 176 (Crunchbase)
– Twitter: 3,500 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.6 (188 reviews)
6. Bluevine
FAB Score = 228
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2013
– Raised: $768M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Valuation: $1B+ (estimate)
– Website visits: 600,000 (SimilarWeb, May 2022)
– Employees: 500 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 109 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 49,000 followers (544 employees)
– Twitter: 4,500 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.4 (7,000 reviews)
7. OnDeck (acquired by Enova Oct 2020)
FAB Score = 191
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2007
– Raised: $1.2B prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Acquired by Enova in Oct 2020 for $120M
– Website visits: 140,000 (May 2022, SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 50 (Pitchbook)
– Citations: 590 (Crunchbase)
– Twitter: 12,300 followers
– Linkedin: 25,400 followers (299 employees)
– Trustpilot: 4.7 (3,500 reviews)
8. Camino Financial
FAB Score = 177
– HQ: LA
– Founded: 2014
– Raised: $170M including $150M in 2022 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 500,000 (Apr 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 144 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 22 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 10,400 followers (168 employees)
– Twitter: 1,500 followers
– Trustpilot: 3.8 (76 reviews)
9. Fundbox
FAB Score = 139
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2013
– Raised: $554M including $100M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visitors: 130,000 (May 2022, SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 333 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 112 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 16,700 followers (356 employees)
– Twitter: 8,000 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.8 (3,500 reviews)
10. CAN Capital
FAB Score = 128
– HQ: Atlanta
– Founded: 1998
– Raised: $1.0B prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 9,500 (June 2022, SEMRush)
– Employees: 395 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 92 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 12,700 followers (249 employees)
– Twitter: 2,000 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.9 (857 reviews)
11. Fundera (acquired by NerdWallet in Nov 2020))
FAB Score = 93
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2013
– Raised: $18.9M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visitors: 460,000 (May 2022, SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 200 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 66 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 6,800 followers (51 employees)
– Twitter: 26,500 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.7 (854 reviews)
– Linkedin: 16,400 followers (581 employees)
– Trustpilot: 4.8 (19,400 reviews)
12. Biz2Credit
FAB Score = 89
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2007
– Raised: $387M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 210,000 (May 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 376 (Pitchbook)
– Citations: 152 (Crunchbase)
– Twitter: 14,500 followers
– Linkedin: 29,100 followers (487 employees)
– Trustpilot: 4.6 (14,300 reviews)
13. Lendio
FAB Score = 82
– HQ: Salt Lake City, Utah
– Founded: 2011 (though it was originally founded in 2006 as FundingUtah).
– Raised: $109M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 350,000 (May 2022, SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 593 (Pitchbook)
– Citations: 127 (Crunchbase)
– Twitter: 13,800 followers
14. Nuula
FAB Score = 76
– HQ: Toronto
– Founded: 2020
– Raised: $120M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 52,000 (April 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 61 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 17 (Crunchbase)
– Twitter: 61 followers
– Linkedin: 4,600 followers (63 employees)
– Trustpilot: NA
15. Lighter Capital
FAB Score = 64
– HQ: Seattle
– Founded: 2010
– Raised: $116M including $100M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visitors: 84,000 (May 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 42 (Pitchbook)
– Citations: 115 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 15,400 followers (43 empolyees)
– Twitter: 13,200 followers
– Trustpilot: NA
16. Fund that Flip
FAB Score = 41
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2014
– Raised: $33.2M including $20M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 150,000 (May 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 182 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 14 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 4,100 followers (236 employees)
– Twitter: 3,700 followers
– Trustpilot: NA (1 review)
17. IOU Financial
FAB Score = 35
– HQ: Atlanta
– Founded: 2011
– Raised: $132.3M (including $200k in 2021) (Crunchbase)
– Public: TSXV:IOU
– Website visits: 100,000 (June 2022; SEMRush)
– Employees: 45 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 12 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 2,900 followers (81 employees)
– Twitter: 1,330 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.7 (636 reviews)
18(t). Credibly
FAB Score = 15
– HQ: Detroit
– Founded: 2010
– Raised: $77M prior to 2020 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 45,000 (May 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 146 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 4 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 6,400 followers (160 employees)
– Twitter: 5,500 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.8 (1,040 reviews)
18(t). SmartBiz Loans (formerly BillFloat)
FAB Score = 15
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2009 (originally as BillFloat)
– Raised: $37M prior to 2014 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 78,000 (Apr 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 153 (Pitchbook)
– Citations: 15 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 6,100 followers (189 employees)
– Twitter: 2,600 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.6 (16,400 reviews)
20. BizFI (acquired by World Business Lenders 2017)
FAB Score = 13
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2005
– Raised: $160M prior to 2017 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 1,900 (May 2022; SEMRush)
– Employees: 30 (Linkedin)
– Citations: 207 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 1,100 followers (30 employees)
– Twitter: 5,500 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.6 (440 reviews)
21(t). SMBX
FAB Score = 10
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2016
– Raised: $15.2M including $11.5M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visitors: 14,000 (June 2022; SEMRush)
– Employees: 30 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 12 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 2,200 followers (41 employees)
– Twitter: 431 followers
– Trustpilot: NA
21 (tie). Lendistry
FAB Score = 10
– HQ: Brea, CA
– Founded: 2015
– Raised: $1.5M prior to 2020 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 59,000 (April 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 261 (Linkedin)
– Articles: 23 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 11,100 followers (261 employees)
– Twitter: 1,910 followers
– BBB: 4.7 (1,291 reviews)
23(t). Patch Lending (formerly Patch of Land; acquired by Cloverhill July 2021)
FAB Score = 7
– HQ: LA
– Founded: 2013
– Raised: $54.9M prior to 2018 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 7,700 (Apr 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 46 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 36 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 4,100 followers (49 employees)
– Twitter: 47,000 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.1 (28 reviews)
23(t). ForwardLine
FAB Score = 7
– HQ: LA
– Founded: 2003
– Raised: $120M prior to 2020 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 7,100 (June 2022; SEMRush)
– Employees: 62 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 2 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 2,800 followers (65 employees)
– Twitter: 649 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.6 (224 reviews)
25. Honeycomb Credit
FAB Score = 6
– HQ: Pittsburgh
– Founded: 2017
– Raised: $3.2M including $1.9M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visitors: 13,100 (May 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 27 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 24 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 2,000 followers (25 employees)
– Twitter: 680 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.6 (48 reviews)
26. Salaryo
FAB Score = 5
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2017
– Raised: $12.1M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 1,800 (June 2022; SEMRush)
– Employees: 9 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 20 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 939 followers (10 employees)
– Twitter: 233 followers
– Trustpilot: NA
27(t). SnapCap (division of LendingTree)
FAB Score = 2
– HQ: Charleston, SC
– Founded: 2012
– Raised: INA (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 23,000 (May 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 21 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 2 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 2,900 followers (26 employees)
– Twitter: 719 followers
– Trustpilot: 4.9 (592 reviews)
27(t). P2Binvestor
FAB Score = 2
– HQ: Denver
– Founded: 2012
– Raised: $33.3M prior to 2019 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: Unknown (June 2022; SEMRush)
– Employees: 11 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 25 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 906 followers (3 employees)
– Twitter: 2,510 followers (last tweet April 2020)
– Trustpilot: NA
30. Lendvo
FAB Score = 1
– HQ: Washington DC
– Founded: 2015
– Raised: $1.3M prior to 2016 (Crunchbase)
– Website visitors: 3,200 (June 2022; SEMRush)
– Employees: 2 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 0 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 57 followers
– Twitter: NA
– Trustpilot: NA
