Articles by deBanked Staff
Square Loans (Formerly Square Capital) Originated $627M in Small Business Loans in Q2
August 4, 2021
Square Loans, the lending arm of the fintech bank Square, originated $627M of its Flex Loans in Q2, according to the company’s latest announcement. That brings the year-to-date total to $1.02B across 167,000 loans. The numbers produce a rough average of only $6,000 per loan.
“After pausing flex loan offers from early March to late July of 2020, we continued to expand loan offers during the second quarter behind improvements in underlying Seller GPV trends, nearing pre-pandemic quarterly origination levels for core flex loans,” the company said.
Square is on pace to meet or eclipse its pre-covid volume. (It originated $2.3B in 2019.)
Square touted much bigger news in the past few days, however, its planned acquisition of Australia-based Afterpay in a $29B all stock deal.
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Enova Originated $400M in Small Business Loans in Q2
August 3, 2021
Enova, the international lending firm that owns the OnDeck brand, reported Q2 small business loan originations of $400M. That brings the year-to-date figure to $722M, approximately half of the volume OnDeck was producing prior to Covid. (OnDeck’s 2019 originations were $2.475B)
“OnDeck’s performance continues to exceed our expectations,” said Enova CEO David Fisher during the quarterly earnings call, “and we will easily exceed our forecast of $50 million of annual cost synergies, primarily from eliminated duplicative resources, as well as $15 million in run rate net revenue synergies.”
Cash has also come pouring in.
“…While we originally thought that OnDeck’s legacy portfolio would have very little value, we now expect to receive over $220 million of total cash from the acquired portfolio, net of securitization repayments,” Fisher said. “In fact, we’ve already realized over $100 million from the legacy portfolio.”
Although ISOs (aka brokers) will remain an important part of driving OnDeck’s growth, Enova is happy that OnDeck brings more to the table.
“The good news about OnDeck, is at least they had a direct channel and a pretty good direct channel because of their terrific brand on the small business side, where our small business products had no direct channel,” Fisher said. “It was all through ISOs. So, we gain that capability through OnDeck.”
Enova reported $80M in net income for the quarter on $265M in revenue.
LendingClub is Back in the Commercial Loan Business
August 2, 2021
In 2019, LendingClub threw in the towel on its business loan product after mediocre demand and results.
But now LendingClub is somewhat back in the game, due to its acquisition of Radius Bank. The company reported $624 million worth of commercial loans on its Q2 balance sheet, which consists of equipment financing, commercial real estate, and other commercial financing. The average yield on these loans is only 5.81%.
This portion of their business has received little attention, but LendingClub’s website now touts a variety of business loan options available including commercial real estate, SBA loans, equipment financing, and yacht loans.
On leases, it says its target transaction size is between $1 million and $10 million.
During a previous earnings call in Q1, Lending Club execs said they expected all of their portfolios to grow in 2021, but that their focus would remain on the consumer segment. The company originated $2.7B in consumer loans in Q2.
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Greenbox Capital Acquired Level Up Funding
July 29, 2021
Miami-based Greenbox Capital, a small business finance provider, has acquired Level Up Funding.
Level Up, which focuses on small business lines of credit, was co-founded in 2019 by industry veterans Maciej Bykowski, once the Director of Sales for OnDeck, and Drew Batiato, the former Chief Credit Officer of Idea Financial. Level Up was based in Denver and relocated to Miami, nearby to where Greenbox is.
In an official announcement, Greenbox Capital CEO Jordan Fein, said “We are thrilled to have Level Up Funding join our organization. Their founders and key staff are a wealth of industry knowledge. The acquisition will immediately impact growth and the unique selling proposition that we offer our clients.”
Fein says to expect more such deals in the future:
“We’ll continue to make strategic moves to scale, which includes synergistic acquisitions to further distance ourselves from our competitors,” he said. “Level Up is the first of many to come.”
Bykowski of Level Up said, “Our mission has always been driven by a consumer first perspective. Having a shared vision for the future of alternative lending, we are excited to work together to leverage technology to enhance Greenbox Capital’s product offering and create a seamless customer experience.”
“We’re very excited for our future here at Greenbox. We will have the opportunity to develop new products that will aid clients across the US and abroad with their business growth,” said Level Up’s Drew Batiato.
Your Merchant Might Be Eligible For More Free Money
July 27, 2021
For businesses that have held on into 2021, it’s possible that even more free money might still be available. The SBA’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, rolled out in April, was received by the general public with a collective meh, but eligible businesses can get a grant equal to 45% of their entire gross earned annual revenue in 2019. That’s nearly half a company’s annual revenue given to them for free.
Eligible entities include:
- Live venue operators or promoters
- Theatrical producers
- Live performing arts organization operators
- Museum operators
- Motion picture theater operators (including owners)
- Talent representatives
More than 10,000 businesses have already been funded a total of $7.5 billion through the program, despite an initial rocky rollout. Another $8.5 billion still remains available to apply for.
Lenders and brokers eager to provide value to their small business customers might want to consider sending them the application link.
“After making improvements to the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, the SBA is now delivering money quickly, efficiently and fairly to highly-impacted small businesses and venue operators that are critical to America’s cultural fabric and local economies,” SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said. “When I began my tenure at the SBA, this first-of-its-kind SVOG program was not where I wanted it to be. I’m proud that, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our talented team, we have turned the ship around. America’s small businesses can rest assured that the SBA will continue to work around the clock to provide the relief that is needed to revitalize local economies and build back better from the pandemic and economic crisis.”
Update on PAR Funding Case
July 27, 2021
Little has changed in the PAR Funding case since the last update. PAR’s assets are being handily liquidated by the Receiver while the defendants maintain that the Receiver intentionally destroyed a well-run business. Most recently, the defendants have asked the judge to “discharge” the Receiver.
It has been a year since the Philadelphia-based company was suddenly shuttered as word of an SEC case filed under seal became public. Attorneys for the SEC took issue with the way PAR kept its books and how it marketed itself to potential investors. From the start, the defendants strongly disagreed with the plaintiff’s assertions. After an independent Receiver was appointed, the judge has repeatedly deferred to his assessments and PAR’s business has been systematically dismantled in the process.
Anyone can access the ongoing court battle on the Receivership’s official website.
