Related Headlines
| 03/01/2022 | Expansion Capital Group sues SBA |
| 07/07/2021 | Expansion Capital Group surpasses $500M |
| 01/17/2020 | Expansion Capital Group appoints new CFO |
| 06/28/2019 | Expansion Capital Group names new COO |
| 09/04/2018 | Expansion Capital Group adds $60M debt |
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Expansion Capital Group Announces $1 Billion Funding Milestone — Supporting the Expansion of U.S. Small Businesses
December 13, 2023
L-R: Herk Christie, Chief Operating Officer; Brittney Newell, Chief Financial Officer; Vincent Ney, Chief Executive Officer;
Tim Mages, Chief Strategy Officer; Mike Beattie, Chief Technology Officer
Photo Credit: Reistroffer Design
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA—Expansion Capital Group, LLC (“ECG”) is pleased to announce its billionth dollar in funding, reinforcing its mission to support the “Expansion” of America’s Small Businesses with simple and efficient capital. Since inception in 2013, ECG has provided services to over 20,000 small businesses across multiple industries nationwide. ECG’s core solution, a six to 11 month working capital product, meets the needs of small business owners that are not in a position to wait for a traditional bank loan.
Tim Mages, Chief Strategy Officer of ECG said, “The ECG team is proud of its efforts to fulfill the capital needs of small business owners. Capital challenges have been magnified since COVID and the recent muted lending environment by regional and community banks. During the last three years, inflationary pressures have negatively impacted many hardworking small business owners. ECG has continued to be a reliable partner and a key resource as business owners navigate these headwinds.”
He continued, “In the last two years, we’ve seen accelerated growth of our platform. This growth is being driven by two key factors. First, our industry-leading Partner Portal is designed to create a transparent and seamless process for our referral partners. Second, investments in new technology and data sources have positioned ECG to provide underwritten approvals in less than an hour. These innovations would not have been possible without the trust of our valued customers and dedication of our 85+ team members.”
ECG’s Chief Operating Officer, Herk Christie, said, “Paramount to our success is the support from our referral partners. Since inception, we’ve also seen over one million applications from small business owners. Our financing alternatives provide business owners with more options and availability, so they can successfully execute their business objectives.”
As an on-balance sheet working capital provider, ECG is committed to providing customized solutions for small businesses. ECG works directly with small business owners and with hundreds of referral partners who are trying to meet their clients needs. ECG utilizes proprietary data, analytics, and systems to provide access and capital in a timely manner. Its robust underwriting models and flexible Partner Portal platform allows business owners to compare options and select a product that fits their needs.
Brittney Newell, ECG’s Chief Financial Officer added, “We hope to continue this growth in the coming years and appreciate the support of our long-time capital provider Bastion Management. As many market participants have tightened lending standards throughout 2023, ECG is committed to continuing to meet the increased demand for our services and offerings.”
PR Contact: tamara@tamaraedwards.co
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Expansion Capital Group is headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD and operates as a technology-driven specialty lender harnessing data and analytics to offer tailor-made solutions for small business enterprises. The company primarily serves small businesses across the United States with annual revenues of less than $10 million. For more information, please visit www.ecg.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Recent ECG News
Sioux Falls Business Journal: Fast but careful money: Sioux Falls firm offers new kind of capital
Inc. 5000: Financial services firm partnering with small business owners to provide working capital solutions with speed, simplicity and service.
Expansion Capital Group Names Herk Christie Chief Operating Officer
June 28, 2019
Sioux Falls, SD — Expansion Capital Group ECG) today announced the appointment of Herk Christie from VP of Operations to Chief Operating Officer. Christie will oversee the company’s underwriting, IT, analytics, and merchant support and services departments. Christie, has been with ECG since March 2016 and has played a critical role in the growth of ECG and its many successes.
ECG, headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD, is a technology-enabled specialty lender that leverages data and analytics to offer customized solutions to small businesses.
Since inception, ECG has connected over 12,000 small businesses nationwide to approximately $350 million in capital. Christie’s appointment comes as ECG continues to see increased growth in its small business lending platform that utilizes technology, data, and analytics to drive user experience and increase access to capital. Christie will lead ECG’s internal operational infrastructure to meet the growing demand for its expanded services.
“ECG continues to put Sioux Falls on the map for financial technology innovation by creating products and solutions that have won the hearts and minds of our customers,” said Christie. “I am incredibly energized to help lead the company to its next phase of innovation and operational excellence as we expand product options to suit the evolving needs of small businesses across America.”
Vincent Ney, CEO of ECG, said, “Herk understands how to create a culture and environment where our hardworking employees have the opportunity to maximize their growth potential within a range of businesses opportunities. Herk’s leadership in our operational strategy has been a key driver in ECG’s growth and success.”
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About Expansion Capital Group
Expansion Capital Group (“ECG”) is headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD with an additional office in Wilmington, DE. ECG is a technology-enabled specialty lender that leverages data and analytics to offer customized solutions to small businesses. Since inception in 2013, ECG has provided approximately $350 million in working capital to small businesses throughout the United States. Continued investment in its lead referral partnerships, technology platform, people, and its proprietary risk-based analytics modeling platform has positioned ECG to increase its origination volume by approximately forty percent since 2018. This investment and growth has led ECG to be recently recognized as the 802nd Fastest Growing Private Company in America and the 2nd Fastest in South Dakota by Inc. 5000, as well as the Best FinTech to Work by SourceMedia.
For business inquiries, please contact newpartners@expansioncapitalgroup.com.
For job inquiries, please contact khillberg@expansioncapitalgroup.com.
More
DeBanked: Thanks to ECG, South Dakota is on the Alternative Lending Map
Argus Leader: Here are the South Dakota firms honored on Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing businesses
Consumer Affairs: Best Business Loan Companies
Fora Financial & Expansion Capital Group Partner with Ocrolus to Automate Underwriting Legwork
October 8, 2018
New York, NY — Ocrolus, the emerging leader in analyzing loan documents, today announced integrations with Fora Financial and Expansion Capital Group, two of the fastest-growing online small business lenders. Enabling quicker and more precise loan decisions, Ocrolus has seen rapid adoption since its debut in the small business lending world with flagship customer Strategic Funding Source in May 2017. Following its Series A round highlighted by QED Investors, Ocrolus is quickly growing its customer base and team with laser-focus on the lending space.
Ocrolus employs crowdsourcing and artificial intelligence to drive efficiencies in the origination process, from document collection to calculating credit model inputs. The Company’s simple API ingests and analyzes bank statements and other loan files, returning actionable data and risk analytics, with 99+% accuracy.
Fora Financial, one of the most prominent New York City-based online lenders, has partnered with Ocrolus to automate bank statement reviews, resulting in a faster, more accurate end-to-end underwriting workflow. The benefits of automation have become increasingly important as Fora Financial accelerated growth after its June 2018 acquisition of US Business Funding. Leveraging Ocrolus to parallelize underwriting tasks, Fora Financial is poised to eclipse $400 million in annual originations over the next year.
“We are excited to automate an additional step in our underwriting process that has historically been very laborious, requiring additional staffing as we grew originations,” said Dan Smith, Co-founder and President of Fora Financial. “As a tech-enabled SMB lender, we rely on our technology to achieve scale while delivering a frictionless process for small businesses to access capital.”
Expansion Capital Group (ECG), recently honored on the 2018 Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, has also partnered with Ocrolus to enhance its underwriting process. ECG sought a loan automation partner to facilitate ambitious growth objectives while improving risk management capabilities. With Ocrolus now handling its document analysis work, ECG, who has grown 627% over the past three years, looks forward to scaling its operation to new heights, thanks to its leaner, technology-enabled infrastructure.
Herk Christie, Head of Operations at ECG says, “Using Ocrolus solutions, we have been able to create a lean, smart and tech-enabled underwriting infrastructure that focuses on quality without sacrificing speed. The level of data Ocrolus provides will continue to feed the growth of our statistical models, further benefiting our clients and partners alike.”
Growing beyond online small business lending, into online personal lending and traditional banking, Ocrolus has added a couple of prominent lending executives to its team. Matt Burton, former CEO of Orchard Platform has joined Ocrolus as a Board Advisor. Kevin Bailey, former Senior Advisor at the US Department of Treasury, has joined Ocrolus as Head of Growth.
As CEO of Orchard Platform (acquired by Kabbage), Matt Burton became a cornerstone of the online lending community. Orchard’s Online Lending Meetup events regularly brought together industry thought leaders from all over the world, helping to shape the next generation of financial services. As an Advisor to Ocrolus, Mr. Burton is continuing his mission to grow online lending into an efficient, transparent, and global financial market.
A former White House and Treasury official, Kevin Bailey brings more than fifteen years of experience as a financial services and public policy professional. Prior to joining Ocrolus, Kevin was the Director of Business Development & Capital Markets at CommonBond, a leading marketplace student lender. Mr. Bailey is a graduate of Rice University and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. At Ocrolus, Mr. Bailey is leading growth efforts as the Company expands beyond its core online small business lending market, into online personal lending and traditional banking.
Visit www.ocrolus.com for more information.
About Ocrolus
Ocrolus is a RegTech company that automates data verification and analysis for bank statements and other loan documents. The Company analyzes e-statements, scans, and cell phone images of documents from any financial institution with over 99% accuracy, and rigorous process documentation. By replacing tedious, imperfect human audits with sharp, AI-driven analyses, Ocrolus modernizes financial review processes in lending with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
Media Inquiries:
media@ocrolus.com
Thanks to Expansion Capital Group, South Dakota is On The Alternative Lending Map
September 11, 2018
Expansion Capital Group (ECG), which secured new financing at the beginning of the month for a total senior debt capacity of nearly $60 million, is based in Sioux Falls. That’s in South Dakota. With most alternative lenders based in New York, Florida or California, ECG is definitely unique geographically. But the company’s CFO Tim Mages told deBanked that despite the relative obscurity of the city, with a respectable population of 183,000, the city is a very good place to start a business. Particularly in the finance sector.
According to a 2017 survey conducted by CNBC and SurveyMonkey, Sioux Falls is among the top 15 American cities optimal for starting a business. Why? Because South Dakota has no individual or corporate income tax and business costs are more than 20 percent below the national average. As one of the fastest-growing areas in the country, Sioux Falls has a rate of population growth that’s nearly four times the national average, according to the survey.
Also, Wells Fargo and Citibank both have a significant presence there, so there is an existing pool of talent in the lending space.
In addition to ECG’s unusual geography, the way it obtains the bulk of its business is also uncommon. Mages said that 50% of its business comes from other lenders who either turn down the applications or don’t have enough capital to lend to merchants. Mages said they can “turn coal into diamond.” The company primary funds B- to C- paper deals and services a variety of industries with the bulk coming from transportation/trucking, construction and business services. ECG provides loan products, which compose about 80% of the business, as well as merchant cash advance, which makes up the remaining 20%.
Mages expressed a lot of enthusiasm for the company’s technology, which he said is very helpful because it can save a lot of time. For instance, he said their system auto-declines 25 to 30% of the applications they receive, which can be between 3,000 and 7,000 a month.
“We then want to get as competitive as we can [for the right applications,]” Mages said.
ECG ranked #802 on 2018’s Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing U.S. privates companies. Founded in 2013, ECG now employs 65 people. According to Mages, there are 23 underwriters and 11 internal salespeople, plus in-house legal and regulations team, a marketing team and a merchant support team. There is a tiny office of two people in Delaware.
Expansion Capital Group Announces New Executive Management Team
October 25, 2016SIOUX FALLS, S.D., October 25, 2016 – Expansion Capital Group (ECG), a provider of small business loans, is pleased to announce several changes to its executive management team.
Effective immediately, Mr. Vincent Ney (ECG’s majority shareholder) is CEO and will focus on further developing the foundation built by the Expansion Capital team. In addition to an impressive combination of leadership and operational experience, Mr. Ney brings a passion for building financial services businesses with a focus on meeting the needs of its strategic partners and its customers. Most recently, he was involved in the online consumer lending sector where he was instrumental in building a business to $100 million in revenue.
As part of Mr. Ney’s early initiatives, Expansion Capital Group has begun testing and implementing new loan term and pricing options to provide broader and more advantageous solutions for borrowers.
Additionally, Mr. Marc Helman has joined Expansion Capital Group as Director of Strategic Partnerships. In this role, Mr. Helman is responsible for driving originations across the Company’s Funding Partner and Partnership channels. Before joining ECG, Mr. Helman spent over ten years in investment banking and venture capital, providing financing to both private and publicly traded small businesses. Mr. Helman stated, “I am incredibly excited to join Expansion Capital Group’s growing team. As our product offerings and platform continue to expand, we look forward to serving the capital needs of a wider variety of small businesses.”
Mr. Ney and Mr. Helman add to other members of the executive team that joined earlier in 2016. Mr. Herk Christie joined ECG’s operations team in March after experience and tenure with Resurgent Capital Services and Capital One. Mr. Tim Mages joined in February as CFO to assist ECG with its financial analysis and Capital Markets initiatives.
Dusty Wasmund, ECG’s VP of Business Development and Channel Partnerships, stated “During the past six months, ECG has broadened its executive management team to build a sustainable business that enables small business owners to access capital quickly to capitalize on their objectives. Our combined team brings a variety of experiences and perspectives to better serve our customer’s needs. This team has collaborated extensively during the past 60 days to strategically bring two new product innovations to market, which provide our borrowers greater financing options tailored to their specific needs. I am very excited about our revised positioning and look forward to working with many of our strategic partners during 2017 as we continue to grow our platform.”
As part of these changes, ECG also recently executed a partial equity recapitalization by ECG’s existing two family office investors. This additional equity, along with its $25 million credit facility closed in partnership with Northlight Financial and Bastion Management during the fourth quarter of 2015, provides ECG with enhanced capital resources to facilitate future growth. With this additional equity base and more flexible product alternatives, ECG will look to significantly expand its origination partners and loan volume.
About Expansion Capital Group:
Since 2013, Expansion Capital Group has provided over 5,000 small businesses with capital exceeding $130 million. Expansion Capital Group has developed a platform based on data aggregation and predictive modeling, which enables it to service this target market cost-effectively. Expansion Capital Group uses a broad array of both traditional and nontraditional data sources to predict individual performance and cash flow of each small business.
For general inquiries, please contact:
Tim Mages
CFO
(605) 877-3910
For sales, lead generation, or channel partner inquiries, please contact:
Mr. Dusty Wasmund
VP of Sales and Channel Partnerships
(605) 351-5833
Mr. Marc Helman
Director of Strategic Partnerships
(605) 681-6400
Expansion Capital Group Joins The $100 Million Club
May 13, 2016
Expansion Capital Group has officially lent its one hundred millionth dollar since inception. In an e-mail, the Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based lender said they’re proud of the small businesses they’ve helped along the way. And they’re helping them at increasing speed, records indicate. The company celebrated its $50 million milestone less than 9 months ago, which means they’re lending more than $50 million a year.
In November, the company announced the closing of a $25 Million credit facility through Northlight Financial and Bastion Management to support their rapid growth.
Expansion Capital Group Crosses $50 Million Milestone
August 27, 2015Move over New York and Silicon Valley, Expansion Capital Group (ECG), a young Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based business lender is quickly rising up the ranks. Founded just two years ago, a company representative has confirmed to deBanked that they’ve already funded more than $50 million to small businesses nationwide.
While South Dakota might be better known as the home state of Mount Rushmore, they have made a name for themselves in an industry largely centered around New York, California, and South Florida.
Jay Larson, ECG’s COO, shared with deBanked, “We are definitely excited to cross the $50 million deployment milestone. First and foremost, we’d like to thank all of our industry partners for all their help and support in getting us here. Second, this is only the beginning of ECG’s journey [and] as such we’re looking forward to reaching the $100M milestone in a much shorter period of time.”
On the industry leaderboard, ECG is not that far behind competitors that have been in the industry for much longer. Credibly, for example, has reportedly funded more than $140 million since inception but that’s spread out over a period of more than four years.
The Biggest Expansion Period of Our Lifetime? The Non-Bank Finance Industry Says Full Steam Ahead
July 8, 2021
Erez Stamler, Managing Director of Fresh Funding, said that the events of the past year has been an up and down ride, from the initial shutdown shock to rushes in demand. Now that the world is back, those that survived are here to stay and need capital to grow.
“At first the system was in shock, then a phase where we saw a strong spike in submissions [where] the owners were probably looking for some sort of PPP-type solution, and that was not available by us,” Stamler said. “Going into 2022 we believe there’s a lot of demand out there. A lot of businesses have demonstrated growth during Covid and hopefully will continue that into 2022. As far as we can see right now, we’re going strong this year for sure.”
Alex Vasilakos, who tracks online interest in alt finance as the director of marketing for Finance Marketing Group, said there had been an increase in online searches for non-bank financing solutions in the past year because banks weren’t sure how the pandemic would pan out.
“We are back in the office, and we are seeing a large uptick in digital advertising since Covid, and it is continuing to increase,” Vasilakos said in an email. “I am seeing and predicting that people will be leveraging more online sources for financing than they have in the past.”
Amotz Segal, a startup co-founder of Edge Funder, said that if the Covid spikes and black swan events are over, there is no limit to demand, and the hybrid model is here to stay. Edge Funder uses lead generation and AI underwriting to make SMB deal-making easier, Segal said.
“I think nobody’s really bullish enough, I think we’re facing the beginning of the biggest expansion period of our lifetime,” Segal said. “Our team based in New York City will hopefully gradually go back to the office this fall. That being said, I don’t think that we will ever see a one-hundred percent office-space environment. I think what the pandemic did is accelerated a trend that already began of people working from home, working remotely, and not having to attend the office daily.”
Segal has grounds to be bullish: Edge was just acquired by Yes Lender after only a year of development.
James Lee, CEO and co-founder of Julius Technologies, said that people had definitely gotten a feel for remote work, but virtual does not replace in-person communication. Julius is a startup that creates cost-effective back-end infrastructure for fintechs, building efficient data analytics for credit underwriting.
“We will see some shift. People got a taste of what it’s like to work from home; the hybrid model is a possibility in the short term,” Lee said. “In the long term we’ll see if Covid comes back in the fall with people working closely together. Hybrid works, but face-to-face time is irreplaceable and very difficult to replace in a virtual sense.”
Lee said that in-person interaction is vital for networking, mentorship, and even random, spur-of-the-moment conversations that bring a team together. Lee recently completed the Techstars incubator program fully virtually. Everything but launch day was virtual in a process that is usually hands-on.
Some firms are back in the office full time. Samuel Yakubov, director of ISO Relations at Maverick Funding, said he was already working in the office in June and had high hopes for 2022.
Tyler Deters, president and CEO of Paradigm Equipment Finance in Utah, said his business was back indoors and on track.
“We are optimistic for the future,” Deters said. “Our staff has all returned to the office, and we are full steam ahead.”
Joe Lustberg from Upwise Capital couldn’t agree more and said his team had been working in the office through the shutdown. Lustberg is confident that the post-pandemic world will be great for business, and Upwise has been doing well servicing PPP, equipment and trucking financing, and niche cannabis industry funding. Upwise also took advantage of the dip in real estate to snag an office in Manhattan and “never looked back.”
“We made sure that everybody was vaccinated, and before the vaccination was available we were still in the office. We were getting tested monthly and my guys had the option to work from home,” Lustberg said. “To be honest, most of them want to be around the company culture, the show floor. It’s much easier for them to walk in my office and ask me a question than FaceTime. It’s good New York is coming back.”
Six or seven months ago, it might have been a market full of PPP loans, but MCA is coming back strong, Lustberg said. With government funds exhausted, he said even firms that had never taken an advance before are looking for funding.
Steven Hunter would agree the industry is back. As a consultant that works best coaching underwriting teams in person, however, the work from the home model has been a drag. He said hybrid may work for relaxed work environments, but to get ahead, in-person is the way it has always been and always will be.
“I think the fact that we have proven we can, in most situations, work remotely has made [funding shops] think: ‘well you know airfare, hotel, meals and Ubers.. you know it adds up.’ So, I think I think a lot of people are going to be cost-sensitive to travel in a way they weren’t before,” Hunter said. “But if you want to make it in this industry as a startup funder, and you want ISOs to give you deals, you cannot do that by the phone and you cannot do that via Zoom call. You have got to show respect for the good shops.”
Hunter said in the actual MCA business, you don’t win deals by calling them 100 times. You get deals from the best of the best by selling face to face.
“You get deals from [top brokers] by putting your ass on a plane and flying into LaGuardia, taking a cab to their office and camping out there for three days, and talking to them looking them in the eye and saying this is what I’m going to do for you,” Hunter said. “Sales is always going to be boots on the ground. You got to put people out there.”
See Post... expansion capital group, kalamata capital group, knight capital funding, lg funding, mulligan funding, nextwave funding, pearl capital, rapidfinance, rdm capital funding, , bfs capital, principis capital - no new originations, quicksilver capital, the smarter merchant - mixed sen... |
See Post... expansion capital group, kalamata capital group, knight capital funding, lg funding, mulligan funding, nextwave funding, pearl capital, rapidfinance, rdm capital funding, , bfs capital, principis capital - no new originations, quicksilver capital, the smarter merchant - mixed sentiment whether or not t... |
See Post... expansion capital group, kalamata capital group, lg funding, mulligan funding, nextwave funding, pearl capital, rapidfinance, rdm capital funding, , , bfs capital, principis capital - no new originations, knight capital funding - no weekly due to covid, q... |
