Lendio raises $55 million
Lendio , “the nation’s largest marketplace for small business loans,” announced it has secured $55 million in capital, including $31 million in equity led by Mercato Partners’ Traverse Fund and a $24 million debt facility from Signature Bank. The equity round was oversubscribed by existing investors including Napier Park Financial Partners, Comcast Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Stereo Capital and Runa Capital.
Over the past two years, Lendio’s year-over-year growth rate has averaged 75%. The company has grown to be the largest small business financing marketplace in the United States – facilitating more than 100,000 loans totaling $2 billion. To apply, small business owners complete a 15-minute online loan application that is processed by Lendio’s machine learning algorithms and matched with a pool of suitable lenders. Lendio’s team of loan experts reviews these options with the business owners and facilitates the chosen loan, often within 24 hours.
Aside from helping small businesses secure loans, Lendio also offers a bookkeeping platform. The platform, Sunrise by Lendion, allows businesses to manage their cash flow and visualize their financial health. By further integrating its Sunrise bookkeeping and loan marketplace platforms, Lendio will be able to proactively meet the capital needs of this growing number of business owners.
Additionally, Lendio will tap the funding for enhancements across its lender services division. Based on a SaaS partnership model, the lender services division provides banks, credit unions and online lenders access to a custom, white-labeled online application that allows the financial institution to accept loan applications online. In addition, lenders are now outsourcing the customer-facing sales function to Lendio, harnessing Lendio’s knowledge of loan products and small business needs, as well as its ability to increase customer conversion rates.
“Lendio’s ability to combine data analytics with the human touch to connect small businesses quickly and precisely with ideal lending partners has made all the difference in its success. Lendio uniquely solves the problem of inefficient capital for small businesses by bridging lenders and borrowers. They are able to connect both sides and facilitate loans faster and more effectively between small business owners and lending institutions. Lendio’s impressive growth is a result of its technology-backed personalized service which has created a loyal and growing following in the industry.” – Ryan Sanders, senior investor at Mercato Partners Traverse Fund.
“This $55 million round is a significant milestone in Lendio’s mission to fuel the American dream as a financial matchmaker that brings high-tech, high-touch capital to the small business economy. With these funds, we are strongly positioned to grow our existing platform as a trusted loan facilitator that supports both lenders and borrowers, while building out a range of new integrated lending services that get the right loans into the right hands at the right time. We are grateful for the continued support and trust of our investors who believe in our growth strategy.” – Brock Blake, CEO and cofounder of Lendio.
Bottom Line: Competing with Bluevine .
