Archive for 2021
deBanked Celebrates 4,000 Days Since Inception
June 13, 2021
It’s been 4,000 days since deBanked first came online as a blog, originally as MerchantProcessingResource.com in 2010.
I did not anticipate on Day 1 that I would still be here more than 10 years later, but here I am!
Thanks to everyone that has been reading, watching, following along, and attending our events. It has made the journey thus far very enjoyable.
I look forward to seeing you all again in person at Broker Fair 2021 in New York City.
Balboa Capital Closes $50 Million Corp. Note Financing
June 9, 2021
Equipment financer, SMB, and franchise financier Balboa Capital, closed a $50 million corporate note financing from a “consortium of prominent, U.S.-based institutional investors.” The firm said it plans to use the financing to refinance a portion of corporate debt, and to fund working capital.
“This transaction demonstrates the strength of our business and our investors’ support for our strategy and growth potential in 2021 and beyond,” CFO Heather Parker said. “We are well-positioned as one of the largest independent financing companies in the United States and will continue to play a meaningful role in the nation’s economic recovery by helping small businesses access growth capital.”
Brean Capital, LLC served as Balboa Capital’s Exclusive Advisor and Placement Agent in connection with this transaction.
Last October, the firm secured its seventh equipment asset-backed securitization valued at $201 million. “This is another step toward our key business objectives, which are to increase our financial flexibility, continue our growth, and maintain sufficient capital during any economic condition,” Parker said.
Marqeta Goes Public on The NASDAQ
June 9, 2021
Marqeta went public on the Nasdaq this afternoon, raising $1.2 billion and pricing higher than expectations. The firm priced 45.5 million shares at $27, and prices rose to over $30 a share.
Marqeta sells payment tech designed to detect fraud by issuing physical cards to independent contractor firms like DoorDash and Instacart. Contractors use Marqeta cards at point-of-sale in restaurants and supermarkets. Marqeta also enables Square’s Cash App debit card and Buy Now Pay Later fintech firms Affirm and Klarna to move money.
The firm applied for a public offering on May 15th, posting an annualized first quarter 2021 revenue growth of 123% to $108 million and a 2020 annual revenue that had doubled to $290.3 million.
FBI Seizes 84% of Colonial Pipeline Bitcoin Ransom
June 8, 2021
A month after hackers shut down the Colonial Pipeline for a ransom of $4 million in bitcoin, the FBI got the majority of the money back.
Bitcoin, the digital currency idolized as free and far from the reaches of the government, was confiscated (some theorized “hacked”) this past week. The FBI took back $2.3M: half of the pipeline ransom. The Bureau followed the 75 bitcoins via the blockchain and, according to an affidavit uploaded by ABC News, seized the private key to the bitcoin account and took 63.7 bitcoin. Though the FBI secured 84.9% of the ransom in BTC, the crypto’s price is down to nearly half last month’s value.
Now, bitcoin enthusiasts like the editors at Decrypt will swear that there is no way the FBI could hack a private account that without the private key and account number, both long strings of numbers, the encryption makes it impossible to get in. But law enforcement could confiscate Bitcoin through other methods.
The blockchain is a ledger going back to the first block mined with all transactions perfectly traceable. With enough computer power, an agency can retrace steps hackers take and force the address owner to comply.
April Falcon Doss, executive director of the Institute for Technology Law and Policy at Georgetown Law, told NPR that while unlikely, there is even a theoretical possibility that the FBI outright hacked the private key.
But “The idea that the FBI would have, through some brute-force decryption activity, figured out the private key seems to be the least likely scenario,” She said. Still, a currency that is supposed to be “the future of finance” dropped more than 8% after the news that digital terrorists couldn’t rely on bitcoin for illegal activity.
SEAA: 1,000+ Attendees In Atlanta Next year, Thanks deBanked
June 8, 2021
1,000 people registered at the Southeast Acquirers Association 20th-anniversary conference Bonita Springs Florida: a smash hit in part due to the hybrid presentation model and deBanked’s video coverage, the executive board members of SEAA said. Treasurer John McCormick said next year in Atlanta would be even bigger, following a hybrid in-person venue with recordings and live streams that would pack over 1,000 participants in the show.
“To have our biggest show on the West Coast of Florida was really gratifying,” he said. “We registered over 1,000 and were just shy of that number with check-ins. I think we’ll [surpass that] next year in Atlanta, which will be a great celebration for our board and advisory committee.”
McCormick helped co-found the organization along with Audrey Blackmon and Judy Foster in 2001. In March, he talked with deBanked, describing the difficult choice to go back in person full capacity, a decision that turned into a major win. Derek Vowels, director of partner solutions at Aliaswire and SEAA board member, thanked Cypress Planning Group for the venue support and deBanked for helping produce the in-person and online hybrid model.
Everyone rose to the occasion, Vowels told Green Sheet, thanking Sean Murray, deBanked chief editor, publisher, and deBanked reporter Johny Fernandez, who conducted live interviews at the conference. “Attendees can view every breakout session, presentation, and popular CBD panel on the app and web portal for the rest of the calendar year,” he said. “Going forward, hybrid events that combine face-to-face meetings with recordings will be the norm.”
Alongside live streaming from the show floor on May 25th from 9 am to after 6 pm, Sean and Johny pored through interviews with industry experts.
Sam Schapiro, leader of funding application platform Fundomate, talked with Johny about the resilience of the human species, American small businesses, and funding slowdown.
Shawn Smith, the CEO of Dedicated Commercial Recovery, met with Sean to talk about the new post-covid environment in the B2B space and Florida golf.
Aviv Baron, the founder of Direct Payment Group, talked with Sean about changes in merchant spending, payment processing, cannabis, and drop shipping trends in the past year.
And automated accounts receivable fintech CEO Garima Shah talked with Johny about her firm Biller Genie, and the world opening for business after a year of covid.
deBanked is looking forward to the new year as covid restrictions lift and events come back in person.
FTC Tries Hand With Gramm-Leach-Bliley
June 7, 2021
Following a pivotal loss of power for the FTC, the agency is hoping for a do-over on at least one case it had originally brought under Section 13(b). In FTC v. RCG Advances, et al, the FTC filed a motion to amend the complaint it had originally brought in June 2020 to include new claims under Gramm-Leach-Bliley. Without doing this, the original case was essentially doomed, thanks to a recent SCOTUS decision.
Such claims could be pursued criminally but the DOJ informed the FTC that it did not wish to involve itself in this matter.
The FTC filed its motion to amend on May 14th.
Unsurprisingly, the defendants are unhappy by the sudden divergence of claims.
“If the FTC had a credible cause of action against the Defendants under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6801 (the “GLB Act”) it was incumbent upon them to propound it a year ago when they initiated this action – not now amid the disingenuous pretext that they just purportedly realized it,” they wrote in a response to the motion.
Defendants argue that as a 13(b) case, over 50,000 pages of documents had already been exchanged in discovery and more than two dozen subpoenas issued.
“Despite the sheer volume and nature of such discovery already conducted in the instant matter, granting the FTC leave to amend the Complaint would essentially trigger a reset of the entire case,” they say.
They have asked for the Court to deny the FTC’s motion to amend at this late hour.
Forward Financing Gets $250M to Grow
June 4, 2021
Forward Financing announced a $250 million credit facility from one of their current capital providers.
“This is a big win for our business and a testament to our strong financial performance throughout this difficult past year,” said Eugene Wong, Vice President of Strategy and Finance. “The increased facility gives us the flexible capital we need to grow and expand so that we can support the small business economy as it recovers on the other side of the COVID pandemic.”
Forward said it reported growing 60% in the past six months and expected to double the employee headcount in the coming year. The numbers back this up: the firm originated a total of $165,826,203 across 6,142 advances in 2020, a representative said. Forward reached a total of $1B in funding as of March 2021 since the firm was founded in 2012.
Live Stream With Oz Konar
June 2, 2021I will be speaking with Oz Konar, the founder of Business Lending Blueprint, at 12:15pm ET on deBanked TV.
Konar teaches people how to build successful home-based businesses in the alternative finance industry and has a highly popular youtube channel.
Tune in at 12:15 on deBanked TV.
