Rapid Capital Funding Acquires American Finance Solutions

Miami, Florida-based Rapid Capital Funding will acquire Anaheim, California-based American Finance Solutions today in perhaps one of the most significant deals in merchant cash advance history.

Rapid Capital Funding, not to be confused with RapidAdvance, is led by the company’s founder Craig Hecker. Hecker and AFS’s CEO Scott Griest broke the news to me on a call together. “It’s a roll-up,” Griest said. AFS will continue to operate under their brand name for the time being and Griest will remain a leader in the company.

Meanwhile, the operations of the two companies will begin to merge, with Hecker confirming already that their head underwriter, Andrew Hernandez, was in California getting up to speed on AFS’s operations.

The news comes less than five months after American Finance Solutions struck an equity deal with CapFin partners. I am unsure if CapFin is still involved in the company.

Griest and Hecker were both excited about working together. “Griest has done a great job managing the sales partner channel,” Hecker said. Griest will continue to develop those relationships for the company.

This is the first major merger in the industry. Historically, just about all of the equity deals in merchant cash advance have been acquisitions by institutional investment groups. This is a consolidation.

RCF, while based in Miami, has an office in New York City. The AFS deal puts them on the ground in the 3rd major industry hub.

The two executives hinted that this deal was just the beginning.

Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.