Articles by deBanked Staff
NerdWallet: Organic Search Result Leads for SMB Financing Still Down, LLM-Generated Leads Converting Better
November 7, 2025This quarter, NerdWallet repeated that its SMB financing deal flow continues to lag significantly below last year’s levels because of changes in organic search. Similarly, the company reiterated that the conversion rate of leads coming from LLMs has looked very promising. During the Q3 earnings call, analysts finally asked if LLM traffic meant ChatGPT.
“I’d say the primary driver to think about is actually AI overviews within Google Search,” said NerdWallet CEO Tim Chen. “So because search is becoming more useful, people are searching a lot more. And so we are seeing traffic come through from AI overviews. ChatGPT and Gemini are also driving an increase there. So those are kind of the 2 major drivers in terms of the LLM traffic. When people come through that way, they’re really high intent typically, they’re really held in on finding something in a marketplace, for example. So I think that’s what’s driving some of the higher transaction rates there.”
Though, LLM conversions are promising, they are currently not enough to replace the organic search conversions they were previously generating. CFO John Lee said they expect a continued degradation in SMB in Q4.
Square Loans: Also Repeat Originations Performance Quarter over Quarter
November 7, 2025Square Loans put up $1.7B in originations in Q3 2025. That’s “up” from $1.68B in the prior quarter. In context this is not an unusual lull in growth as Square Loans originations from Q2 to Q3 in 2024 actually dipped by 4%.
Square also put in the footnotes of its earnings that it actually recast its quarterly origination figures going back to Q3 2024 because they had introduced a new short term loan product that was not previously reported in included figures.
Square Loans is the largest online small business lender that deBanked tracks volume for.
Square Loans is a subsidiary of Block so its commercial lending program rarely warrants discussion on its earnings calls since the focus is on payments, Square, and Cash App.
The editor of deBanked has previously theorized that Block CEO Jack Dorsey is the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin but that has not been proven. Block reported $1.96B in Bitcoin revenue in Q3 but the margins on this are extremely slim as it represents Block acquiring Bitcoin on the open market and selling it to buyers on Cash App.
Shopify Capital: Repeat Originations Performance Quarter over Quarter
November 4, 2025
Shopify Capital originated ~$1B in business loans and merchant cash advances in Q3, the same as the previous quarter. The total for the first nine months of 2025 now sits at ~$2.8B, which means they will surpass 2024’s total of $3B. deBanked has been tracking originations of more than a dozen of the largest online small business lenders since 2014.
Shopify Capital is not limited to the US and in Q3 it added Ireland and Spain to the list of countries it funds in.
Technically speaking, “Certain loans and merchant cash advances are facilitated by the Company and originated by a bank partner, from whom the Company then purchases the loans and merchant cash advances obtaining all rights, title and interest or discount,” the company explains in its SEC documents.
A snapshot of payment status from their Q3 report:
PayPal: Business Loan and Working Capital Originations of $600M in Q3
November 3, 2025PayPal originated approximately $600M in business loans and working capital loans in the third quarter. A financial institution makes the loans to their clients and PayPal purchases the receivables and services the portfolio. Under this basis the company has purchased $1.6B worth of receivables for the first nine months of 2025.
“The allowance for credit losses at September 30, 2025 for our merchant receivable portfolio was $163 million, an increase from $113 million at December 31, 2024,” PayPal stated in its earnings report. “The increase in allowance for credit losses was related to a decline in credit quality of merchant loans outstanding primarily from modifications in acceptable risk parameters in 2024, which included broadened eligibility. In the second quarter of 2025, we updated our expected credit loss model for all portfolios to utilize multiple economic scenarios rather than the single scenario previously utilized. These changes did not have a material impact on our allowance for credit losses in the period.”
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October 31, 2025
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Enova: $1.4B in Small Business Loans in Q3 2025
October 30, 2025Enova continued to set a new internal quarterly record for small business loan originations with $1.4 billion in Q3.
“Since our acquisition of OnDeck five years ago, we’ve not only maintained our strong profit margins, we’ve done so while cutting our consolidated net charge-off rate in half,” said Enova CFO Steven Cunningham during the recent earnings call. Cunningham is scheduled to replace David Fisher in the CEO role this coming January.
Meanwhile, all the major indicators they review continue to show that small businesses are doing well.
“Insights from internal and external sources reflect solid underlying trends for small businesses,” said Fisher. “In conjunction with Ocrolus, we released the eighth iteration of our small business cash flow trend report earlier this week. This offers key insights into the state of small businesses and highlights ongoing trends observed over the past year. Small business confidence is high, as tariffs remain manageable and the economy, and in particular consumer spending, remained strong.”
OppFi: ‘Bitty is a Great Partner’
October 29, 2025Bitty generated $1.4 million in equity income for OppFi in Q3. OppFi, publicly traded, owns a 35% stake in Bitty.
“Bitty is a great partner that we have enjoyed working with and learning from in the SMB space,” said OppFi CEO Todd Schwartz during the company’s Q3 earnings call. “The company shares OppFi’s business principles and corporate values and consistently uses technology to enhance operations and the customer experience. Bitty has identified significant additional growth opportunities and continues to capitalize on the ongoing supply-demand imbalance in the small business revenue-based finance space.”
Overall, OppFi said it had delivered another strong quarter that had outperformed expectations. It raised earnings guidance for the third time this year.
See You in Las Vegas for B2B Finance Expo
October 24, 2025The team is now heading to Las Vegas for B2B Finance Expo. Hopefully you have your ticket already to the two-day conference taking place on Oct 28-29 at the Wynn in collaboration with the SBFA.
Here’s what you need to know:
