Industry News
The March/April 2018 Edition Has Shipped
April 13, 2018
The March/April 2018 edition of deBanked Magazine has shipped! The print version is distributed before all of the content is republished online so if you want to be one of the first to read our exclusive stories, make sure you’re subscribed. It’s FREE.
This issue, which will also be distributed at Broker Fair on May 14th, offers tips for more successful marketing, an in-depth discussion about merchants that are behaving badly, and a story that examines the impact of last year’s major hurricanes on the industry. There’s more of course, which is why it’s great to be a free subscriber.
On another note, Broker Fair is now just a month away. I can’t wait to see you there!
Lendio’s New Turndown Program Grows
April 11, 2018
Lendio, the marketplace for borrowers and lenders, announced on Monday that its Turndown program has facilitated nearly $60 million in loans in less than a year since its launch last summer. The Lendio Turndown program allows participating lenders to refer borrowers to the Lendio marketplace that have been declined.
“Instead of just saying ‘No’ to a customer and wishing them the best of luck, we’ve established this Turndown program where a lender can say ‘Unfortunately, [you’re] not a great fit for us, but we work directly with Lendio and they have a marketplace and other loan options,’” Lendio CEO Brock Blake told deBanked.
The lender has an incentive to refer a declined customer to the Lendio marketplace because the lender gets a revenue share if the customer it declined is funded by another lender on the Lendio marketplace.
“We’re very excited about the Turndown program because it allows us to deepen the relationships we have with our lenders…and it also helps [lenders] monetize and recoup some of their marketing spend,” Blake said.
While the Turndown program started in beta about two years ago, it wasn’t launched until the second quarter of 2017. So far, the program has 20 lender partners, some of which are not the same as the 70 participating lenders on the Lendio marketplace platform. Blake told deBanked that he hopes all 70 lenders will join the Turndown program, as well others, including banks.
Blake also said that most people think a “turndown” automatically means that a borrower has across-the-board bad credit. He concedes that this could be the case, but also acknowledged that there are a variety of loan products that have different credit requirements.
“If a borrower comes in for an equipment loan and they are not going to qualify for an equipment loan, then they might be declined,” Blake said. “But they might qualify for a working capital loan.”
Based in Salt Lake City, UT, the company was founded in 2011 and also has an office in New York. Of about 150 employees, 100 work at the headquarters in Salt Lake City and 50 work in New York.
Best Egg Exceeds $5 Billion in Loans
April 11, 2018
Now four years old, the consumer-lending platform Best Egg has delivered more than $5 billion in personal loans. The Wilmington, DE-based lender does not offer business loans. However, Best Egg CEO Jeffrey Meiler told deBanked that they are increasingly making loans to people who are self-employed.
“Structurally, one of the things that has really been a tailwind to this industry is the whole move to the gig economy and people having income that is less regular,” Meiler said. “It has increased demand for what we provide.”
Meiler is referring to, among others, freelancers, who are essentially one-person businesses. Best Egg specializes in personal loans with repayment periods of either 36 or 60 months. Some loans are used for large purchases while the majority are used for consolidating debt or refinancing.
“We mostly cater to people who want to get out of debt,” Meiler said.
Best Egg does all of its marketing internally and has 280 employees.
LendItFintech In Photos and Sound Bites
April 10, 2018
when speaking about the increase in mortality rate for people who have faced major financial distress
when interviewed by Jo Ann Barefoot
When asked by Bloomberg Technology reporter Emily Chang if Goldman Sachs would be considered a competitor
when interviewed by Lendio’s Brock Blake
When asked who will win the race for marketshare
When asked if it’s harder to underwrite loans above $50,000
talks business at the company booth
Below: Ocrolus account executive John Lowenthal stands in front of the company booth
Lendr Launches New Business Debit Card
April 9, 2018
Chicago-based Lendr is launching a new business debit card program, according to an announcement the company made at LenditFintech.
This will give them the ability to fund business owners in real-time via an instant access virtual Mastercard followed up with a traditional plastic card. This system is different than pushing funds to a merchant’s existing bank debit card, which fellow online lenders Kabbage and LendingPoint announced at LendIt.
“The idea is to offer a product that makes access to capital as easy as ‘1-2-3,’” CEO Tim Roach told deBanked. “We will have the ability to deposit funds on the Mastercard in real time, making the process seamless for our clients.”
Ocrolus Announces $4 Million Investment at LendItFintech Conference
April 9, 2018
Sam Bobley, CEOOcrolus, which provides analysis of financial documents, announced today a $4 million Series A investment led by Bullpen Capital with participation from QED Investors, Laconia Capital Group, ValueStream Ventures and RiverPark Ventures. The company says that its lean RegTech technology analyzes bank statements and other financial documents with over 99 percent accuracy.
“We’ve proven our technology as a disruptive solution for bank statement analysis,” said Sam Bobley, co-founder and CEO of Ocrolus. “Customer demand prompted us to begin analyzing loan applications, tax documents, pay stubs and more. We’re thrilled to have the capital to quickly expand our team, and ideal strategic partners to help us scale the business.”
Orcolus’ technology has been embraced by alternative funders that want to expedite their underwriting process.
“Data entry is not a core component of our business,” said Sol Lax, CEO of Pearl Capital. “Ocrolus has become our trusted partner for bank statement reviews, allowing us to scale volume with a leaner underwriting staff.”
The New York-based company, which has 19 employees, was founded in 2014, but wasn’t launched until 2016. Bobley told deBanked that the first few years were devoted to research and development and he also told us a little bit about the company name.
“The core technology that we built the system on is called OCR, for Optical Character Recognition,” Bobley said. “So the idea is that Ocrolus is an expanded and modern version of OCR…which can read statements with 85 to 90 percent accuracy, [while] Ocrolus reads statements with 99 percent accuracy.”
Broker Fair 2018 On Pace for Major Success
April 4, 2018
Broker Fair 2018 is on pace to be a major success!
Companies still wishing to become a sponsor of Broker Fair 2018 have until Friday, April 6th to do so. After that, no additional sponsors will be accepted.
The coming May 14th conference in Brooklyn, NY has already sold out of funder/lender and general admission level tickets. Only ISOs, brokers and those employed by them can continue to register!
The inaugural event has lined up dozens of awesome speakers and sponsors from around the MCA and small business lending industry. In addition to the 31 confirmed speakers and 50 sponsors, TV sales celebrity Ryan Serhant will be the keynote speaker of the event and will offer the audience sales tips. Serhant’s new TV show, Sell It Like Serhant premieres on April 11th.
Salespeople will also be in for a treat with the Be A Better Closer panel featuring Jared Weitz (United Capital Source), Joe Camberato (National Business Capital), Ed Tucker (Yellowstone Capital), Evan Marmott (CanaCap), and Justin Bakes (Forward Financing) as Moderator and the Marketing Your Business panel with Jennie Villano (Kalamata Advisors), Adam Stettner (Reliant Funding), and Tom Gricka (Babylon Solutions).
Industry captains will also teach you how they underwrite deals and tips for ISOs to succeed. Attorneys will walk you through the ins and outs of telemarketing law and legal advertising. There’s more of course, like networking with the funders, tips to raise capital, debates on industry issues, and checking out industry CRMs.
Afterwards, all attendees are invited to network upstairs at Westlight sponsored by RapidAdvance, while enjoying free food and drinks. Westlight offers full views of the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn’s William Vale.
To date, there’s never been anything like it. I hope to see you at Broker Fair.
Accord Business Funding Makes New Marketing Hire
April 3, 2018
Houston-based Accord Business Funding recently hired Aldo Castro to lead its marketing efforts. His title is Vice President of Sales & Marketing.
“We are excited to have Aldo join our team,” Adam Beebe, co-founder of Accord Business Funding, told deBanked. “Aldo comes to us with over twenty years of experience in business-to-business sales and marketing experience… [and he] will use his experience and feedback from the ISO community to help Accord find new ways of adding value to our partners’ businesses.”
Prior to Accord Business Funding, Castro worked as a strategic marketing consultant and co-founded two digital marketing agencies in Texas. Founded in 2013, Accord is a B paper funder with terms between four to eight months and merchants that include auto dealers and trucking and construction businesses, among others. The company of 20 employees is entirely driven by ISOs.
“Accord offers our ISO associates a unique combination of integrity, speed, and flexibility, helping them close their deals faster and easier,” Beebe said.
