Articles by deBanked Staff
Stripe Capital Originated 81,000 MCAs and Business Loans in 2025
February 25, 2026
Stripe, currently in the news for its $159 billion valuation and its potential interest in acquiring PayPal, originated 81,000 merchant cash advances and business loans in 2025 through its subsidiary Stripe Capital. Stripe didn’t say what that equated to in total funding volume but when compared to a rival’s (Square Loans) historical data, it puts it in the likely range of $800 million to $1.2 billion.
Stripe recently conducted a study to measure the impact of Stripe Capital on its customers and found that “businesses that accepted Capital offers grew 27 percentage points faster over the following year than comparable businesses that didn’t.”
“The averages conceal a wide spread,” the company said. “The fastest-growing decile of financed businesses grew more than 3× faster than comparable peers; the next decile grew nearly 100 points faster. A representative example: Xirsys, a server hosting business based in California, used financing from Stripe Capital to set up additional servers in China, India, and Japan, subsequently doubling its revenue. Notably, even businesses with low credit scores grew 11 to 18 percentage points faster after receiving financing.”
Stripe’s rumored interest in PayPal is also notable in the fact that PayPal also has a business loan program. Last year PayPal funded $2.2 billion to small businesses, down from $3 billion in 2024.
BHG Financial Originations Surge to $6.1B in 2025
February 20, 2026“With regards to BHG, that team down there just continues to deliver, you can see that with their performance in 2025,” said Pinnacle Financial Partners CFO Jamie Gregory on the company’s recent Q4 earnings call. Pinnacle owns 49% of BHG Financial. BHG’s average business loan is between $20,000 to $250,000. It also does personal loans. Combined they originated $6.1B in 2025, up from $3.7B in 2024.
Pinnacle has been very impressed with BHG’s performance and outlook going forward.
“I mean we’re talking 25% to 35% growth for the company,” said Gregory. “So they continue to perform. And I go through all that because it just shows that they are focused on their core business. They’re focused on growing it, adding value.”
In the earnings presentation, it says that BHG targets borrowers through direct mail and “other sophisticated marketing techniques using a wide range of proprietary marketing tools.”
CFPB Costs Consumers At Least 10x More Than They Get Back
February 19, 2026A new study published by the White House Council of Economic Advisors found that the CFPB costs consumers more than it saves them. According to the report, CFPB regulations increased borrowing costs to consumers by $222 billion to $350 billion over the time period of 2011 – 2024. In return the CFPB has touted that it has returned more than $21 billion to consumers over the same time period.
A takeaway is that the while the CFPB has provided the optics of doing good for consumers it has actually cost them far in excess of the perceived benefit to them.
Shopify Capital Finishes 2025 With $4.2B in MCAs and Business Loans
February 18, 2026Shopify revealed its full year MCA & business loan origination figures. $4.2 billion. That’s $1.2 billion over the previous year. Only 91.9% of these deals were considered “current” as of December 31, 2025. That’s down slightly from last year when 93.7% of deals were considered current at year-end.
For clarity, Shopify Capital offers funding in 8 total countries. The product is considered a value-add to its e-commerce platform and only offered to merchants who use it. Shopify Capital is in the same league as Square Loans and Enova in terms of origination volume.
deBanked CONNECT MIAMI Draws 1,100 People, Sets All-Time Record: See Photos Here
February 16, 2026deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2026 surpassed all expectations and set a small business finance industry all-time record for signups with 1,100 people.
Lightspeed: ‘our largest use of cash will be growing our merchant cash advance business’
February 10, 2026
Lightspeed Capital originated $257M in merchant cash advances in the last 9 months of 2025, up from $207M over the same period in 2024. The company has repeatedly talked up the healthy profit margins earned on MCAs and last quarter called them a “super popular upsell.” Lightspeed operates in the POS and e-commerce space, competing against companies such as Shopify, Square, Toast, and Clover. Lightspeed Capital is its MCA business.
“Aside from potential buybacks, our largest use of cash will be growing our merchant cash advance business,” said Lightspeed CFO Asha Bakshani during the company’s recent quarterly earnings call. “There are currently $106 million in merchant cash advances outstanding, and we intend to continue to grow this high-margin business over time.”
Lightspeed MCAs are typically satisfied by merchants within seven months, but they want to shrink that timeframe even more. “Our goal is to target a shorter remittance time frame, and we are making great progress towards that end,” said Bakshani. The average factor rate is a 1.14.
A Thousand People Expected at deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2026
February 9, 2026deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2026 taking place on February 12 at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach is projected to log more than 1,000 registrations. If you were on the fence about going, this is the event to go to if you work in or with the small business finance industry. Due to capacity, registration could shut off in advance of the event so be sure to have your tickets already. You can REGISTER HERE.
Industry Event Calendar 2026
February 9, 2026February 12, 2026: deBanked CONNECT MIAMI (Miami Beach)
June 1, 2026: Broker Fair (New York City)
October 20-21, 2026: B2B Finance Expo (Las Vegas)
