Articles by deBanked Staff
Square Loans Originated $850M in SMB Funding in Q4
February 24, 2022Despite Block feasting off of Bitcoin sales revenue last year, the company’s small business lending division, Square Loans, originated $850M in loans in the 4th quarter of 2021. That was spread out across 103,000 loans.
That brings the full year 2021 total to $2.45B, a new annual record for Square Loans, whose non-PPP related lending had dropped by more than 50% in 2020 when compared to 2019. It also put them ahead of rival OnDeck for the first year ever.
Square Loans was not mentioned by name during the company’s Q4 earnings call, but Square CFO Amrita Ahuja said, “We continue to believe our Square ecosystem is differentiated due to our integrated and cohesive set of products across the hardware, software, payments and financial services, serving seller needs in a more comprehensive way. We are making progress in surfacing incremental product adoption to serve our sellers across multiple vectors, with a goal of creating a more retentive and valuable relationship.”
Reality Show About SMB Finance Sales Rockets to The Top Spot
February 20, 2022
Four aspiring equipment finance brokers traveled to Rochester, New Hampshire last November to get a hands-on sales training from the management team at Everlasting Capital. With a variety of backgrounds and dreams of turning commercial finance sales into a lucrative career, each trainee wasn’t sure what they were in for when a team of mentors and a film crew awaited them inside.
That’s the basis for Equipping The Dream, a deBanked TV produced web-based reality show that debuted on February 15th. The six-episode show is dropping twice a week until the finale scheduled for March 3rd.
Over the weekend, Episode 1 of the show became the most visited page on deBanked in 2022 so far.
“There’s never been anything like this about the industry,” said Executive Producer Sean Murray. “We did a screening of it for some people who had nothing to do with sales or finance and they were captivated by it.”
Partners Josh Feinberg and Will Murphy were already well-known throughout the industry. The two were featured in a 2018 deBanked story that explains how their journey began years earlier in a pawnshop basement. Since then, the pair now also run Equipment Broker School, a training course for aspiring brokers.
The sales tips and experience in the show, therefore, are as real as it gets. Viewers have shared what they thought of the first two episodes out so far:
“It was inspiring to see other people doing what I’m doing.”
“Awesome production!”
“This is getting good! COLD CALLERS watch this!!!!”
“This did not disappoint.”
“Your camera quality is better than most shows on Netflix.”
“I’m rooting for these brokers to succeed.”
“Now that’s reality!”
Episode 3 will be released on Tuesday, February 22nd. The four trainees range in ages 35-50. The show is exclusively on deBanked TV.
Shopify Capital Originated $324M in Funding in Q4
February 16, 2022
Shopify Capital originated $324M in Q4 2021, bringing the full-year total to $1.39B. That figure represents a massive increase over the company’s previous originations record of $794M in 2020.
During the quarterly earnings call, Shopify CFO Amy Shapero listed Shopify Capital among the divisions that drove revenue growth for the company in 2021.
“As merchants build momentum, inventory and marketing needs to grow alongside it,” said Shopify CEO Harley Finkelstein. “And this is where Shopify Capital comes in, offering merchants the funding they need to expand their business.”
Total originations came in just shy of the numbers that rival OnDeck reported a week earlier. OnDeck originated $1.76B in funding to small businesses in 2021.
“Equipping The Dream” Premieres on deBanked TV
February 15, 2022
On February 15, deBanked TV released the first episode of a new one-of-a-kind show.
Equipping The Dream, a six-episode series that wrapped up filming late last year, follows the journey of four aspiring equipment finance brokers as they get put through a rigorous training regimen at a real-life sales office in Rochester, New Hampshire.
Episodes will be released on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Episode 2 airs on February 17th. Watch free on deBanked.com/tv/
Executive Producer: Sean Murray
Cast: Josh Feinberg, Will Murphy, Angela Thompson, Thomas Long, Juan Carlos Marcano, RJ Rochelle, Brian Perry, Steve Feinberg, Evan Sowa, Johny Fernandez.
Copyright: © deBanked 2022.
Even More Commercial Financing Disclosure Bills Emerge Across Additional States
February 9, 2022
It’s not just New York, New Jersey, California, Virginia, and Missouri with disclosure legislation out there anymore.
Utah – On Monday, the State Senate introduced the Commercial Financing Registration and Disclosure bill.
Maryland – On Monday, the State Senate introduced the Commercial Financing Transactions bill.
Mississippi – Last week, the State legislature introduced two commercial financing disclosure bills but both died in committee.
The Maryland Bill is the latest iteration of a multi-year campaign to pass legislation aimed at restricting MCAs in the state.
The bill in Virginia is still continuing to advance.
The bills in New York and California have already long ago passed and implementation of them as laws is still underway. The New York Department of Financial Services is expected to provide an updated proposal by the end of next month.
Enova/OnDeck Originated $580M in Q4 Small Business Loans
February 7, 2022
Enova reported Q4 small business loan originations of $580M in its latest quarterly earnings report.
“As is evident by these numbers, our acquisition of OnDeck continues to pay dividends,” said Enova CEO David Fischer. “SMB Q4 originations were 26% higher than Q3 and 99% higher than a year ago, as it was enabled to effectively leverage the strong OnDeck brand and expertise.”
The company’s cost of funds has shrank from 8.3% in the 4th quarter of 2020 to 6.5% in the 4th quarter of 2021. This was made possible in part by adding a new two-year $150M revolving warehouse with JP Morgan.
Enova’s overall small business lending operation is complemented by a consumer arm. As of year-end 2021, small business lending represented 52% of the company’s portfolio while 48% was attributable to the consumer side.
“Within consumer, line of credit products represented 31%, installment products accounted for 67%, and short-term loans represented just 2%,” Fischer said.
Enova finished Q4 with a net income of $49M and full-year 2021 with a net income of $256M.
PayPal: “We are now one of the top 5 lenders to small businesses in the United States”
February 2, 2022
PayPal’s Q4 earnings report failed to mention its small business lending division, but an internal assessment of its Working Capital product was made known through a recent interview published by McKinsey.
“Through our PayPal Working Capital product, we are now one of the top five lenders to small businesses in the United States,” said Franz Paasche, PayPal’s SVP, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at PayPal. “Seventy percent of those PayPal Working Capital loans are going into regions of the country where banks have pulled out, sometimes for good economic reasons,” he continued.
Despite the self-reported achievement, the company’s attention is now focused in a different sector of lending altogether, in the rapidly expanding consumer market known as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL).
“Buy Now, Pay Later is a perfect example of the type of investment we are making to give shoppers and retailers more reasons to engage with PayPal,” said CEO Dan Schulman during the company’s recent earnings call. “Buy Now, Pay Later is available in 8 markets, including with Paidy in Japan. We continue to see rapid consumer adoption, with $3.2 billion of Buy Now, Pay Later TPV in Q4 alone, a $13 billion run-rate, with Q4 growth of over 325% year-over-year. We have processed 54 million loans globally since launch, with 13 million unique consumers and 1.2 million merchants using our Buy Now, Pay Later services.”
PayPal’s stock plummeted by 20% after earnings were released that was connected to challenges unrelated to lending facing the company.
MJ Capital Investors May Face Tough Road Ahead
January 31, 2022
The second interim report, filed by MJ Capital’s Receiver, offered some discouraging news for investors holding out hope that the business had been legitimate all along. That is if it can even be determined who all the investors are.
“No such comprehensive investor list was located in the books and records of the Receivership Defendants,” the Receiver stated.
To date, it is believed that there were more than 5,500 total investors who invested more than $200 million altogether. The Receiver says that it has already received estimated loss claims of $150 million.
The challenge with so large a figure is that the business only has $11 million on hand even after cash has been recovered and third parties have surrendered assets. In companies comparable to what MJ Capital purported to be, a recovery of investor capital would be made possible by the gradual collection of customer receivables as the portfolio was wound down. MJ Capital, in alleged ponzi fashion, did not even have a portfolio.
What little business it did have on its books, appears to have been falsified, the Receiver states.
“The Receiver’s ongoing investigation continues to indicate that many of the MCA agreements are forgeries where the supposed customer never signed any document and never received from or paid to the Receivership Defendants any money.”
Many of the affected investors placed their life savings into MJ Capital, the Receiver has learned.
The SEC and MJ Capital’s former CEO, Johanna Garcia, are scheduled to attend Court-ordered mediation on February 28, 2022.
