Articles by deBanked Staff
Small Business Funders That Made the 2026 Inc 5000 List
August 11, 2026The 2026 Inc 5000 list is out. Below are some of the familiar names that appeared from the financial services category:
(did we miss you? email us at info@debanked.com to be added!)
NerdWallet: “We are in the middle of an AI transition that is changing how people get their answers to their money questions”
August 7, 2026NerdWallet users have traditionally turned to Google to begin their financial journeys. A question entered into the search bar would surface a NerdWallet article, sending users to the company’s site. Now, that behavior is changing.
“We are in the middle of an AI transition that is changing how people get their answers to their money questions,” said NerdWallet CEO Tim Chen during the Q2 earnings call.
As the company has noted in previous quarters, some traffic is now coming from LLMs. While it remains a small share of overall traffic, those visitors tend to convert at a high rate.
“I think intent is extremely high when someone is coming through an LLM in terms of wanting to transact in a marketplace,” said Chen. “It continues to be a pretty small part of our business today, but it’s definitely an area of investment and growth for us.”
Analysts have continued to press the company on the subject. And while Chen has said that “the story is still being written,” he believes enough change has already taken place to provide a clearer picture of where things are headed.
“We’ve already entered a phase where you’ve got billions of weekly active users across major LLMs,” Chen said. “Mass adoption is already taking place, right? I think a lot of the impact that we’ve already seen in terms of our educational content being affected the last three years, has played out. I think we’re starting to see what the future looks like.”
Chen also emphasized that having a trusted brand will be critical to succeeding in this new era.
“The importance of that trusted brand when you’re talking about offering marketplaces and high stakes financial guidance is really front and center,” he said. “I just think we’re really well-positioned there.”
Shopify: “Capital was a larger driver this quarter”
August 6, 2026Shopify Capital originated $1.4B in small business loans and merchant cash advances in Q2.
“Capital was a larger driver this quarter, while loss rates in payments and credit are both at normalized levels,” said Shopify CFO Jeff Hoffmeister during the Q2 earnings call.
Beginning in April of this year, Shopify replaced its MCA product in Canada with a loan product in response to new regulations from 2025. It did not elaborate in the Q2 earnings on what specific regulations those were but it is possible they are referring to the amended national interest rate caps that went into effect on January 1, 2025. In a loan, an annualized percentage cost is determinable and controllable from the time the contract is made, whereas there is no predetermined controllable annualized rate on an MCA. Shopify disclosed that the main impact from switching from MCAs to loans in Canada was how it booked them in their financial statements.
Square Loans Continues Streak of Low Loss Rates
August 6, 2026“Square Loans are underwritten on data banks can’t see and serve sellers banks won’t. Our loan cohorts have had loss rates of less than 4% through every cycle we’ve seen,” said Block CEO Jack Dorsey in his Q2 shareholder letter.
Square Loans has led online small business lenders in originations for a while, bolstered mostly by its massive captive POS ecosystem, but solidified with the performance of those loans. Some of those loans are held on balance sheet while others are sold to third party investors.
Shopify Capital Transitions From MCAs to Loans in Canada
August 5, 2026“In 2025, Canada amended regulations that impacted merchant cash advance products,” Shopify said during its Q2 earnings. “As a result, we transitioned our Shopify Capital product in Canada, from merchant cash advances to loans which are accounted for under ASC 310, starting in April 2026.”
For the entirety of the quarter and for all geographic areas, Shopify Capital made $1.4B in loans and MCAs through a bank partnership.
LendingTree: “Using AI as a Communications Tool With the Consumer is Very Exciting.”
August 3, 2026“I think using AI as a communication tool with the consumer is very exciting,” said LendingTree CEO Scott Peyree during the Q2 earnings call. “For example, we develop a lead. Instead of sending that lead out five times and having five different brokers call the consumer a bunch, it’s like first have that—whether it’s voice or text or email—have that AI agent engage and communicate with the consumer a little bit first to get a little further detail on it.”
The substance of that conversation would be to clarify what type of factors are the most important, and then directing them to one or two companies that are best suited for that rather than to five.
“That’s a dramatically better consumer experience, and it’s a really useful way to use AI from a consumer-facing perspective,” said Peyree.
LendingTree: SMB Lending Business Softened in Q2, Merchant Sentiment Shifted
August 3, 2026“Performance in July gives us confidence that Q2 was our trough and we have entered the recovery period,” said LendingTree CEO Scott Peyree during the Q2 earnings call.
LendingTree’s SMB business underperformed in the quarter, driven by “both merchant sentiment and lender pullback.” It attributed this to tension in the Middle East, energy price spikes, and more, but concluded that the merchant sentiment issues, which have been slower to recover, were macro-driven and temporary.
“I will say the lenders have largely come back and are writing and offering loans at similar levels to early Q1. Merchant sentiment does remain soft,” said Peyree. “The long-term macro outlook for the SMB industry remains very strong, in our opinion. We’re seeing some encouraging signs already; Improving closing rates, larger loan requests, favorable underwriting shifts. July will be our best sales month since Q1.”
LendingTree does not make loans itself, it connects prospective borrowers with the proper partners that can do that. This business has been very lucrative and had been growing 40% year-over-year on average until now.
“This was our growth engine,” said LendingTree CFO Jason Bengel. “Like I said, it was growing 40% a year on average. Now for this year it’s looking like we might be flat to down. The good news is that should really be temporary. There’s nothing structurally wrong with that business. We operate very well in that business, and the market opportunity is really strong. That will recover. Once merchant sentiment returns, that will return to being a very strong growth driver for us. We’re very optimistic with small business.”
Lightspeed: Merchant Cash Advance Business Key to Delivering Long-Term Shareholder Value
July 31, 2026“For us, it’s really about where we are investing to deliver long-term shareholder value,” said Lightspeed CFO Asha Bakshani during the company’s FY Q1 2027 earnings call. “For now, that is really the Merchant Cash Advance business and returning cash to our shareholders through buybacks.”
Lightspeed described MCA as a “high-margin business” that has grown for them by 56% year-over-year.
“Aside from the potential share buyback, our largest use of cash will be the continued growth of our Merchant Cash Advance program,” Bakshani said. “There were $160 million in MCAs outstanding at the end of the quarter, and we intend to continue expanding this high-margin program over time. As we grow the program, we remain disciplined in our underwriting, and default rates have stayed consistent in the low single-digit range, which gives us confidence to continue expanding.”
