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ROK Financial Announces Cannabis Banking Partnership with BNB Bank
January 14, 2021Great River, NY: ROK Financial, a leader in the alternative and commercial lending space is excited to announce their newest partnership with BNB Bank’s Cannabis division. This new partnership allows for ROK Financial to offer direct checking and savings to Cannabis businesses through BNB Bank.
“This new partnership is truly filling a void within the Cannabis industry” says James Webster, CEO of ROK Financial “Federal regulations make it near to impossible for Cannabis related businesses to utilize traditional banking methods. We’re proud to partner with a financial institution that sees the value and need within the industry.”
BNB Bank, headquartered in Bridgehampton, NY has 39 locations from Manhattan to Montauk. BNB Bank provides the resources of a strong financial institution, exceptional customer service, and access to a suite of leading-edge money management tools. They are publicly traded on Nasdaq (BDGE) and have a 5-star rating (Bauer Financial). Peter Su, Vice President – Private Banking BNB says: “This new relationship with ROK Financial allows us to service a wider variety of clientele. We’re excited to work with ROK Financials existing Cannabis clients as well as attracting new relationships through this partnership.”
A large majority of traditional institutions tend to shy away to offering traditional banking to the industry as a whole due to the lack of regulations and financial risk they may face. Banks also risk losing their master account with the Federal Reserve due to the ‘risk’ of the industry. “BNB Bank has a board approved Cannabis Banking Policy that we strictly abide to, and have established a compliance monitoring program providing seed to sale regulatory support to ensure we all are in compliance” says Su “We are happy to help provide needed resources to these thriving businesses.”
About ROK Financial
ROK Financial’s team committed to establishing ROK solid relationships with our clients, lenders, and partners. By providing the best financing solutions available to business owners while creating a positive association with business financing. Through our streamlined process, revolutionary technology and educated team of experts, we support business owner’s ability to create new opportunities. ROK Financial is proud to empower the heartbeat of our country, our small businesses.
Megan Capobianco
3500 Sunrise Highway
Building 100, Suite 201
Great River, NY 11739
833-337-6534
press@rok.biz
www.rok.biz
ROK Financial Announces Direct SBA Loan Access
November 23, 2020
Over the past several months the state of the economy has been by no doubt uncertain. With unemployment hitting record highs and Coronavirus cases still on the rise, business owners all across the country have been faced with many difficult decisions regarding their livelihood.
Finding business financing options during these uncertain times can be challenging and risky to not only business owners, but the banks and lenders they choose to work with.
ROK Financial truly understands the uncertainty a business owner feels during these current times. Having derived themselves from a company split back in August, the team is helping other business owners just like them navigate these unchartered waters.
“We have been working tirelessly with our lenders and partners over the past several months discussing different ways we can continue to better service our clients.” Says CRO, Patrick Manning of ROK Financial “The relationships we have built over the years allows us to become quite versatile with our product offering, in turn allowing us to better serve our business owners. That is why we are extremely excited to announce our exclusive partnership with Doug Hood, SBA Loan Consultant LLC. This unique partnership opens up direct SBA access to clients for SBA products $350,000 and above.”
Doug Hood has been facilitating SBA Loans for more than 35 years, resulting in more than $20 million in SBA Loans distributed to business owners annually. Hood said he connected with ROK via LinkedIn, “I’m on Linkedin way more than I should be, we connected at 10 or 11 o’clock at night, and we hit it off.” Says Hood. Excited at the fact that ROK offers short term financing that Doug himself would now be able to leverage in addition to his SBA Loan offerings for his clients was a win-win.
Doug now sits as the official SBA Loan Consultant under the ROK Financial umbrella for deals $350,000 and above. This unique relationship provides greater opportunities for business owners from purchasing existing businesses, refinancing existing debt, starting a business and much more.
“The worlds of Fintech and SBA have collided for the greater good” says Manning, “streamlining and modernizing a once antiquated process, which eliminates the frustration that comes along with long-term lending.”
—————
Megan Capobianco
press@rokfi.com www.rokfi.com
3500 Sunrise Highway
Building 100, Suite 201
Great River, NY 11739
833-337-6534
Heron Expands into SMB Credit Broker Market with Full Deal Flow Automation
January 15, 2026New York, NY – January 2026 – Heron Data, an AI platform that helps fintechs automate document-heavy workflows, today announced its expansion into the SMB credit broker market with the launch of Heron Broker Suite — an end-to-end solution that automates the entire broker deal flow from application intake to CRM.
The launch marks Heron’s entry into a market where manual work has long been the standard. Leading brokerages including Big Think Capital and TFS Financial are already using Heron Broker Suite in production, reporting processing cost reductions of up to 80%, offer-to-rep response times under 60 seconds, and teams refocused from data entry to revenue-generating work.
The Challenge
For most brokers, the daily workflow is manual and repetitive: scrub bank statements, match deals to funders, fill out portals, then dig through hundreds of emails to find approvals. The workload adds up fast:
- 5-20 minutes per application on bank statement scrubbing and light underwriting
- 10-15 minutes to match each deal to lenders based on internal policies
- 3-5 minutes per funder portal × 50+ submissions per day
- Hundreds of decision emails daily — approvals buried alongside declines, spam, and stips
Most brokerages spend $10K-$20K/month on offshore or data entry teams just to keep up — and even then, deals slip through the cracks, growth stalls without adding more headcount, margins shrink, and top performers burn out on doing data entry.
The Solution
Heron Broker Suite automates the entire workflow in four steps:
| 1. Scrub Bank Statements → Extracts revenue, positions, NSFs, and fraud signals in seconds |
| 2. Smart Lender Matching → Routes each deal to the right funders based on broker-defined criteria |
| 3. Auto-Fill Funder Portals → Submits applications via portal, email, or API — however each funder requires |
| 4. Process Funder Offers → Reads decision emails and syncs approvals, declines, and pending status to CRM instantly |
The moment a funder responds, reps see it. What used to take all day now happens in minutes — faster responses, more deals closed, and a business that scales without adding headcount.
The Impact
Brokers using Heron are seeing immediate, measurable results:
- Up to 80% reduction in processing costs
- Offer-to-rep response in seconds, not hours
- Zero missed approvals — every decision synced automatically
- 2-3x volume capacity with the same team
- Teams refocused on deal strategy and lender relationships
Big Think Capital, a high-volume New York brokerage managing over 5,000 decision emails per day, cut offer-to-rep response time by 98% — from over 30 minutes to under 60 seconds.
“The first broker to get the best approval is the one that’s going to win the deal. If you’re not able to use AI to automate manual workflows, you’ll end up falling further and further behind your competition.”
— Chris Forsberg, VP of Operations, Big Think Capital
TFS Financial automated over 4,000 monthly decisions — eliminating the equivalent of two full-time employees’ worth of manual data entry.
“Rather than uploading decisions all day, my team can now focus on making sure the right applications get to the right lenders — and that we’re getting approvals back faster for our customers.”
— Sydney Stewart, Manager of Broker Desk, TFS Financial
Heron’s Expansion into the Broker Market
Heron has spent years helping funders and fintechs automate bank statement analysis and underwriting workflows, processing over 500,000 files per week for more than 150 customers.
Brokers face the same challenge on the other side of the deal — and now have access to the same automation.
“Brokers didn’t build their businesses to fill out portals and babysit inboxes. They built them to help small businesses get funded. We’re giving them their time back.”
— Johannes Jaeckle, CEO, Heron Data
Heron Broker Suite is built for fast growing brokerages looking to scale with AI from day one—turning automation into a competitive advantage as they grow. Every Heron product is designed to keep humans in control, so teams stay focused on the work they do best.
Moreover, Heron integrates directly into existing workflows and broker systems—including Salesforce, CloudSquare, LendSaaS, and more—so brokerages can automate operations without disrupting how they work today.
With this expansion into the broker market, Heron expects to help brokers reclaim thousands of hours each year—transforming what was once an operational bottleneck into an advantage.
About Heron Data
Heron Data is an AI solution that eliminates repetitive, manual work in lending, insurance, and finance. The company processes over 500,000 files per week for more than 150 customers, including FDIC-insured banks and leading insurance companies. Heron raised $16.5M in Series A funding in 2025, led by Insight Partners with participation from Y Combinator.
Learn more at herondata.io
How a Mother-Daughter Broker Shop Persevered and is Positioned for Growth
January 15, 2026Sharpe Capital facilitated nearly $5 million in funding to small businesses across the United States in 2025. Next year, they hope to double it. What makes the company unique is that it operates as a mother-daughter team, one of the very few in the industry to be structured that way. But how Wendy Rivera and her mother, Sonia Alvelo, got there is a story of circumstances and perseverance.
Alvelo is a known entrepreneur in the space through her own small business finance brokerage Latin Financial, but technically she was also associated with another brokerage at the same time, Sharpe Capital. Her business partner and life partner, Brendan Lynch, co-founded Sharpe with her more than a decade ago, but Lynch primarily ran Sharpe while Alvelo ran Latin, sister companies of sorts but with separate operations. The two celebrated a grand opening of a big joint office in Wethersfield, CT in 2022, which was attended by deBanked and a slate of local politicians. The Sharpe team wore green shirts and the Latin team wore blue.
Sadly, Lynch passed away in December 2024 from cancer at only 45 years old, but not before he could finally tie the knot with Alvelo, making her known as Alvelo-Lynch once and for all. Lynch’s last interview with deBanked happened four months before he passed and one of his final messages he had hoped to get out through us was a reminder for people to remember to take care of their health.
In the challenging time afterward, Alvelo took the reins of Sharpe and eventually her daughter, Wendy Rivera, emerged as a key reason the company continues to be successful.
Rivera, Connecticut-born and raised, had originally been working in retail when she became curious about her mother’s and Lynch’s business in 2018. When working for them became a possible next step for Rivera, they didn’t give in to nepotism and made her interview as a candidate just like anyone else. But she turned it around on them.
“They would tell you that I interviewed them in regards to what the company was and everything like that, but I asked the right questions,” Rivera told deBanked. “Everything was moving smoothly, and I decided to move forward.”
It started off as a part-time gig and eventually became full-time. Her role was to bring in deals and work closely under the tutelage of Lynch, who had a natural knack for connecting with people, particularly small business owners.
“They had a special place for him in their hearts,” Rivera said. “Brendan has taught me so much. He pretty much taught me this industry. I’ve worked with him side by side for the past seven-plus years.”
Rivera obviously learned from her mother as well, but Alvelo’s typical Latin Financial client was primarily from within the Spanish-speaking community while Sharpe’s was much more broad. To give some perspective on that, Alvelo, for example, says that today 80% of her entire Latin Financial customer base resides in Puerto Rico.
So Rivera spent her time on Sharpe and now she’s the primary person responsible for its operations. In what was a transitional year fraught with grief and challenges, the two revamped everything to focus on efficiency. Now they’re finally getting back to thinking about how to expand.
Along the way, Rivera realized that relationships in this business have a tremendous impact and can serve as its own form of marketing.
“Honestly, what’s been working for us is word of mouth,” Rivera said when it comes to acquiring customers. “Really. It sounds very old school but it really works. Once you take care of one merchant, they’ll tell their friends or whoever the case may be, and then they’ll reach out to us, and it just keeps growing that way.”
But those referrals wouldn’t come if they didn’t have the right funders in place to help them out. That means they have to know and trust who they are doing business with on the other side. Coincidentally, attending deBanked events, which Rivera has done, has been an eye-opening experience for her in getting to see who they are working with.
“I feel like once you actually meet the person, I don’t even think a phone call will do enough, you get a feel for what kind of person they are, and if they are in the industry for the right reasons,” Rivera said.
And in all those meetings, another thing she’s realized is that being part of a purely mother-daughter team is unique even within the family business segment of the industry which tends to lean toward father-son. But the two talk business just like any other shop: during work, after work, even during dinner they talk about deals.
Though it’s been a lot and Rivera says she’s overdue for a vacation, she says it’s a job she really enjoys.
“If you love numbers, if you love people, if you love helping people, I think it’s definitely a great position to be in,” Rivera said of working in the industry. “But you have to also be in love with the job as well. Because if you’re not in love with it, there’s going to be a lot of things that’ll hold you back.”
The motivation now is just to pick back up and have an even bigger 2026.
“Brendan and my mom had different ways of running their companies, Sharpe and Latin Financial, and so I feel like [Brendan] kind of taught me his kind of ways for Sharpe Capital and also maybe leaving an open door for opportunities down the road as well,” Rivera said. “And now that I’m in that spot, I can see that.”
‘Face-to-Face is a Must In This Industry’: How Julian Hernandez of Idea Financial Earned a Trophy Along The Way
November 24, 2025
“Face-to-face interactions are a must in our industry, and not only through conferences but even though we’re based out of Miami, I’m very familiar with the Long Island Railroad,” said Julian Hernandez, Director of Revenue at Idea Financial.
On multiple occasions, Hernandez has gone from New York City to eastern Long Island and then back again to meet with referral partners. It’s part of his job, meeting face-to-face with ISOs, and working with them to maximize the spread of Idea’s business line of credit products. He says through this experience he’s actually become “best buddies” with the LIRR.
“It’s good for morale, it’s good for relationships. It’s good not only for the reps internally on my end, but I’m sure for the reps on [the ISOs’] end to see and put a face to the lender that they’re always working with,” he said.
Hernandez will go wherever it’s necessary. Just last month that initiative placed him on the opposite side of the country, in a room full of ISOs and competitors that had gathered to play poker on the eve of the big B2B Finance Expo at the Wynn in Las Vegas. For Hernandez, who was born and raised in Colombia and only ever plays poker in a casual setting with friends, he had not gone in with any expectation of winning the friendly tournament. He wanted to network.
“That’s probably one of the main reasons why I wanted to join the tournament,” Hernandez said. “It’s just an opportunity for us, for anyone really that goes to the conference, to connect with either people that they know from the industry, or branch out or meet with new faces in an environment that isn’t so corporate.”
As the cards were dealt and the hands played, Hernandez found himself at the final table of the night and walked away with 2nd place overall, a title that garnered him a trophy and a small prize.
While he was happy to earn the rank of #2, it was the social setting of it all that he felt was the best part.
“It’s more of a relaxed environment where people are just having a good time, playing a game, having a drink, and really just getting to know each other on a personal level,” Hernandez said. “That’s the best kind of way to make relationships, right? It’s kind of like when people always say the best kind of business is made on a golf course.”
But in the two days that followed at B2B Finance Expo, Hernandez and the Idea team that was there along with him were in business mode.
“97% of our business is through ISO channels and through all the relationships we’ve established with brokers in our industry, and we’re looking to expand that further,” Hernandez said, noting that there are big growth plans in the works for 2026.
Idea’s line of credit is not like an MCA or the term loans commonly found around the industry. It’s a true revolving line. After every payment made, it replenishes the line. The process to get approved is quick and easy. Hernandez said that some brokers are shocked by how good it is and that larger businesses, ones that tend to be the most rate sensitive, find it very attractive.
When deBanked first covered Idea Financial in 2019, Hernandez had not yet joined the company. He came on board the following year during covid and started in an entry level position. He’s since moved up the ranks and now oversees the entire sales and marketing department, which includes anything from ISO relations to marketing. He cites the team and the structure of how it operates as being the key to success. One of the things he first learned when he started was that Idea Financial was always looking to help businesses one way or another.
“I found my way to Idea Financial and have loved it ever since,” Hernandez said.
And while business and networking are important parts of the job, regardless of where that takes him, he is proud of how well he did in that poker tournament at B2B Finance Expo.
“I was happy with my 2nd place trophy,” Hernandez said. “It’s actually right there,” he exclaimed while pointing at it. “It’s back in my office!”
Idea Financial Hits Milestone, Will Still Fund in Texas
July 9, 2025
Idea Financial, a nationwide small business lender, recently surpassed $1 billion in funding since inception.
“This is a historic milestone,” said Larry Bassuk, president and co-founder of Idea Financial. “Only a few years ago, this company was just a concept with potential. Like many of the small businesses we serve, we started with confidence, grit, and the unyielding belief that we would succeed. Today, I can proudly announce that Idea Financial’s impact on the small business lending community is significant and positive. This moment belongs to our team, past and present, whose dedication has gotten us here.”
Because the company does term loans and lines of credit, it is not impacted by the recently-passed sales-based financing legislation in Texas and will continue to fund there like normal.
For background, Bassuk and Idea Financial CEO Justin Leto, actually started out in the legal profession as attorneys before taking a risk in small business lending. When deBanked first interviewed the duo in 2019, they said, “We’re not from the finance space, we’re not from the alternative lending space either, we came at this opportunity with a different approach.”
At that time, Idea had only funded $50 million since inception. Much of Idea’s growth since then can be attributed to their broker business, which it is still growing.
“Brokers and referral partners are critical to Idea’s success,” the company said. “While our borrowers are our clients, we also consider brokers and referral partners as clients by our team. We value their business and have made it a focus to develop close, mutually beneficial relationships with them.”
“We have been so fortunate to work with such a talented team, all of whom have contributed to the incredible growth of Idea,” said Leto. “We identified a problem with small business funding when we embarked on this journey, and we are so proud to have played a role in providing the solution that has fueled so many Main Street success stories.”
Cloudsquare Launches IntelliParse to Automate Application Intake and Financial Analysis—powered by Heron
April 9, 2025Los Angeles, CA – April 9, 2025 – Cloudsquare, a leading provider of cloud-based lending platforms, today announced the launch of IntelliParse, a proprietary AI engine built to eliminate manual document processing and accelerate deal flow. Now integrated into Cloudsquare’s Origination Module, IntelliParse streamlines borrower intake, automates data extraction, and delivers real-time financial analysis—making underwriting faster, intelligent, and more scalable.
To enhance its financial parsing capabilities, IntelliParse integrates directly with Heron Data, a pioneer in AI-powered workflow automation. Heron’s platform uses advanced machine learning and large language models to automate document-heavy workflows—transforming how businesses extract, enrich, and sync financial data at a scale.
“IntelliParse is built for funders who need speed, precision, and automation across the entire intake process—without breaking the bank,” said Jeffrey Morgenstein, CEO of Cloudsquare. “Heron isn’t just a parsing tool; it’s one of the most trusted and continuously evolving AI/ML technologies in space. Heron has a deep understanding of the MCA industry and the key data points that funders need with over 130 funding customers, making them a powerful and reliable solution for funders who demand both accuracy and affordability.”
IntelliParse Unlocks Major Efficiency Gains for Funders and Brokers:
AI-Powered Application Parsing
IntelliParse dramatically reduces intake time by automatically extracting key borrower information—including business name, requested amount, entity type, and contact details—from scanned PDFs and email attachments. Using advanced OCR and machine learning, it instantly syncs all data into the Cloudsquare platform. This enables teams to process more submissions in less time, eliminate costly manual errors, and accelerate approvals without increasing headcount.
Bank Statement Analysis
Integrated with Heron Data’s industry-leading transaction intelligence, IntelliParse transforms static bank statements into real-time financial insight. It analyzes cash flow patterns, flags NSFs, detects potential fraud and uncovers actual revenue — all without requiring manual effort. The system also identifies recurring payments—revealing hidden debts and financial obligations that enhance underwriting accuracy and reduce risk.
Unlike standalone solutions that require teams to build custom dashboards or workflows, IntelliParse comes ready to use within the Cloudsquare platform. A pre-built, intuitive dashboard gives customers immediate access to actionable insights—eliminating technical lift and accelerating time to value.
“We’re proud to support IntelliParse by bringing Heron’s real-time financial intelligence into Cloudsquare’s platform,” said Johannes Jaeckle, CEO of Heron Data. “Our mission is to remove repetitive, manual work so teams can focus on smarter decisions—and this integration does exactly that.”
For more information or to schedule a demo, visit our website.
Media Contact – Cloudsquare
Cloudsquare Marketing Email: marketing@cloudsquare.io
https://cloudsquare.io/
Media Contact – Heron Data
Byron Henry
Product Owner – SMB Lending
byron@herondata.io
www.herondata.io
James Webster to Speak at Broker Fair 2025
March 31, 2025
James Webster, Founder and Executive Chairman of ROK Financial, will be a guest speaker at Broker Fair in New York City on May 19th.
James brings a passionate and innovative mindset to the businesses he and his company help grow on a daily basis. Since the age of 18, James has managed multiple sales floors, which allowed him to develop a strong business understanding and a passion for small business.
With nearly two decades of experience in financing and commercial lending, James and his team have helped thousands of business owners secure nearly $2 Billion in business financing, created thousands of new relationships with partners and strengthened their lender relationships, making them a true leader within the landscape. James and the team pride themselves on helping businesses identify their strengths and weaknesses, as well as educate them on the ways they can build on their successes by creating perpetual opportunities with business financing.
In addition to his role at ROK, James sits as the co-chairman of the Small Business Financing Association Broker Council, a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that small businesses can access financing solutions that are clear, secure, and fair. In this role, James establishes responsible and transparent practices for alternative lending brokers while also educating policymakers and regulators about the technology-driven platforms that have emerged in the small business lending market.
James was born and raised on Long Island where he currently lives with his wife, Melissa, and their two children, Lilyanna and Jameson. He is an active member of the Long Island community and feels a special connection to local businesses. Philanthropy plays a big role in James’ personal and business life. ROK’s main philanthropic initiative includes donating 50 meals for every deal that funds with ROK Financial, with the hope of helping end hunger in America.
When not at the office, You will either find James on a golf course or enjoying his other interests such as skiing, fishing, boating, traveling, live sporting & music events but, most of all, spending time with his family!
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