Announcements

Velocity Capital Group (VCG) Secures New $50 Million Credit Facility

CEDARHURST, NEW YORK—FEBRUARY 14, 2022– Velocity Capital Group (VCG), a leading provider of same-day capital advances to small businesses, has secured a multi-draw term funding line of credit with Arena Investors, LP, a global institutional alternative asset manager. The line of credit will provide VCG with borrowing capacity up to $50 million and deep pool of capital from which to expand its business, further strengthening VCG’s ability to provide funding for small business merchants. Though the name VCG may be new to some, the company is no stranger to alternative finance. Eleven years of experience in the space with over 25,000 funded clients has helped their team understand what merchants need most during the funding process, primarily trustworthiness and speed.

Since VCG’s inception, CEO/Principal Jay Avigdor has made it his mission to provide an efficient and flexible funding experience and product for merchants. “We’re setting new strides for speed and service every year. 2022 is going to be even more impactful for VCG and our stakeholders!” said an enthused Jay Avigdor. “We have a big opportunity for us this year to build on last year’s initiatives. This line will give us the wings we truly need to fly! Giving us the ability to fund larger deals and provide longer terms.” said Jay. The previous year, VCG made news by switching to their own internally developed processing software for deal applications called Drag-in. The software pulls critical data from VCG’s applications to conduct all necessary screenings via API, then uploads that data to their CRM with the click of a button. Drag-in gives VCG the ability to provide offers within minutes rather than hours, giving them a leg up on the industry. Stakeholders have been thrilled with the improved response time on their deals. Drag-in is Currently working on a beta version to provide multiple other industries.

Speed isn’t the VCG’s only focus. “Merchants and ISOs alike deserve to have more control of the capital they’re provided,” Jay added. In August 2021, Velocity Capital Group began offering ISOs and Merchants the option to receive their capital in a Cryptocurrency. Primarily sent through as stable coins (USDC, DAI, USDT). “Due to the cut-off times within which banks have to operate, they can become a bottleneck for our transactions. The opportunity for providing capital in Crypto couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Jay. Available to transfer during all times of the day, funding in Cryptocurrency was added as an option for how Merchants & ISOs receive capital.

“We are excited to facilitate VCG’s activities in small business finance at a time when there are limited options and great needs for capital, and where VCG can provide that capital without unduly burdening merchants receiving it. This transaction fits well with Arena’s broader mission to provide flexible, scalable funding solutions for companies and ideas which have unique growth or liquidity needs. We look forward to working with Jay and his team,” said Victor Dupont, who leads Arena’s investments in the SME sector.

The new line of credit gives steady rails for Velocity Capital Group to continue growing and funding at a significant rate into 2023. “We anticipate we will do north of 150M in funding this year with our current deal flow and this new line. We can provide well-needed cash during these troubling times to small businesses and fuel their success while growing ours as well. We can help small businesses access funding like never before in company history. Through implementing Drag-in, this new credit line with Arena, and with our amazing loyal employees and brokers, the sky is only the limit! ” remarked Jay.

About Velocity Capital Group
Velocity Capital Group helps small businesses all over the United States access capital at incredible speeds. Our team has serviced over 25,000 clients in under 11 years. We’ve grown our business to great heights by focusing on speed, efficiency, and transparency.

About Arena Investors, LP
Arena Investors is an institutional asset manager founded in partnership with The Westaim Corporation (TSXV: WED). With $2.8 billion of committed assets under management as of January 1, 2022, and a team of over 100 employees in six offices globally, Arena provides creative solutions for those seeking capital in special situations. The firm brings individuals with decades of experience, a track record of comfort with complexity, the ability to deliver within time constraints, and the flexibility to engage in transactions that cannot be addressed by banks and other conventional financial institutions. See www.arenaco.com for more information.

Velocity Capital Group Specializes in Funding
Up to $1 Million Same-Day thru MCA (1st thru 4th Positions), Reverse Consolidations, & Consolidations

NEW ISOs Sign up to Fund with Velocity Here

We’re Hiring – Join one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry!
Do you have a book of business and experience managing relationships with ISOs?
Join VCG and we’ll beat any competing commission structure!

Experienced ISO Relations Representative(s) – Most Competitive Commission in the IndustryBusiness Development Associate with MCA ExperienceJunior Underwriter(s) with MCA ExperienceCollections Manager with MCA Experience

North Mill Reports 2021 as Best Year in Company’s History

JANUARY 6, 2022, NORWALK, CT – North Mill Equipment Finance LLC (“NMEF”), a Monitor 100 commercial equipment lender headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, announced today that 2021 was the best year in the company’s six decades-long history. Organic originations reached an all-time high and delinquencies hit an all-time low.

“Although 2021 posed many challenges, it turned out to be an extraordinarily successful year as our key performance indicators skyrocketed across the board,” said David C. Lee, Chairman and CEO, North Mill. “In the last three years, North Mill has burgeoned into a premium lender that has established a proven track record of innovation, execution, and operational excellence. Most notably, the partnerships that we’ve forged with our referral partners has allowed us to attain a level of success never before realized at this company.”

According to Pier Snider, EVP, CFO, “NMEF’s annual volume for 2021 increased 69% over prior year to $309M. The number of submitted applications rose to more than 19k, representing a 13% increase over 2020 submissions. Demonstrating an improvement in both efficiency and quality, the company funded 3.6K of those deals, a 51% increase year-over-year. Weighted average FICO shot up 5 points to 718, the highest score in the company’s history, while average deal size rose by more than $9k per transaction to hit an all-time high of $87K.” The company’s average yield remained north of 14% even with the higher average credit quality borrowers.

While annual indicators exceeded expectations, quarterly and monthly figures were also record-breaking. The fourth quarter of 2021 was exceptionally noteworthy as it, too, exemplifies the progression in the organization’s efficiency. NMEF experienced a 95% increase in volume in the 4Q 2021 vs the same period in 2020 while processing the same number of applications during the two periods. Moreover, December saw yet another new record funding volume level of $36.3M, a year-over-year increase of 83% while weighted average FICO increased to 730.

North Mill opened three new regional offices in 2021. An office in Irvine, CA was opened to better service larger referral partners for the company’s discounting programs while an office in Vorhees, NJ was established to leverage NMEF’s expanding workforce on the east coast near the Philadelphia metropolitan area. NMEF’s acquisition of Aztec Financial in September added an office in Murray, UT.

About North Mill Equipment Finance

North Mill Equipment Finance, a Monitor 100 company, originates and services small to mid-ticket equipment leases and loans, ranging from $15,000 to $1,000,000 in value. A broker-centric private lender, the company handles A – C credit qualities and finances transactions for a wide variety of asset categories including construction, transportation, vocational, medical, manufacturing, printing, franchise, renovation, janitorial and material handling equipment. North Mill is majority owned by an affiliate of WAFRA Capital Partners, Inc. (WCP). The company’s headquarters is in Norwalk, CT, with regional offices in Irvine, CA, Dover, NH, Voorhees NJ, and Murray, UT. For more information, visit www.nmef.com.

Centrex Software Announces New Relationship Building Technology at Broker Fair 2021

Costa Mesa, CA— Finance technology (FinTech) in the traditional and alternative business finance industry is seeing a massive enhancement with the release of new technology from Centrex Software.

Centrex Software, a dedicated business lending CRM and loan/advance servicing software platform that brings multiple technologies all under one roof for direct funders, brokers, and investors, experienced 22% growth from 2019 to 2020 and 35% growth from 2020 to 2021, during a global pandemic. With that growth has come quite a bit of new thinking out of the Centrex Software management team.

When it comes to the business lending space, FinTech companies spend huge amounts of time focused on how to drive more users into their software. This strategy makes sense as it is what a large operating software company is required to focus on to generate revenue. “But what about our customers’ customers? What if we spent more time focused on driving our customers’ customers not to our software, but to our customers’ software? In our business, we fail if our customers can’t engage, retain, and sell to their customers. We want that relationship to thrive and grow so we have built technology to aid that,” says Trey Markel, Senior Software Specialist with Centrex.

In realizing there was a tech need for this new way of thinking, Centrex Software built a mobile app that is white labeled to Centrex Software customers so they can offer more relationship retaining and building solutions to their customers. Keith Nason, President at Velocity Funding Group, and a Centrex Software customer, explains, “Trey, Michael and the Centrex team are going to put my brand in the pockets of every single one of my customers. It was an entirely new strategy that you simply don’t see from other software companies, and it should create customer engagement like we have never seen before.” The new white labeled mobile app has a few features that will really put your marketing hat on. First, the white labeled app is fully integrated with Plaid so that pre- and post-funding, Centrex clients can actually link their banks accounts and manage their finances. On top of that, Centrex Software has an admin portal where Centrex clients can manage all their app users. One of the best parts is that, in the admin portal, Centrex clients will have the ability to send push notifications to smart watches and to mobile devices that can communicate to the end mobile app user. Plus, there are several other features that keep mobile app users engaged with Centrex clients and the broker partner via the mobile app.

In the same spirit of engaging more efficiently with customers, the Centrex team also built a WordPress plugin that allows its customers to build “Smart Applications” right on their website. Michael Lindsey, also a Senior Software Specialist with Centrex expressed, “Our clients need more tools that are forward facing to their customers to help make faster decisions and offer a better more automated experience.” Taking the automated application process a bit further, Centrex integrated the WordPress plugin with Universal Credit Services to pull and analyze credit data, and Plaid to pull and analyze financial data. This allows Centrex Software customers to automatically underwrite and create offers right on their website. The WordPress plugin will communicate all info and decisions into Centrex Software during each step of the process. Lastly, for those Centrex Software customers using both the WordPress plugin and the white labeled mobile app, once an application is completed by the business borrower on a Centrex Software customers website, it will automatically create a user for the mobile app in real-time. The end result is a completely seamless and streamlined business borrowing experience.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the two new technologies being released by Centrex Software on January 1st of 2022, is that in order to take advantage of the new tech, you don’t even need to be a Centrex Software CRM customer. “We understand that the Centrex CRM is only one option for funders and ISO’s out there. We also understand that there is much more than just CRM that is needed to build a successful finance business. Because of that, we built the WordPress plugin and the mobile app in an API based architecture so that any finance company using any CRM with an API can utilize the new Centrex technology. We wanted to capture more of the market with unique FinTech solutions, offering CRM alone can only get us a to a certain point.” says Trey Markel.

Needless to say, Centrex Software has really stepped it up as a full circle FinTech solution provider to the finance industry. Centrex Software will also be launching its new open REST API and amortization calculators in the new year to expand their tech offering. You can reach Centrex Software at www.centrexsoftware.com or email media@centrexsoftware.com

LAST CALL: Broker Fair Pre-Show Party

This is the last call to secure a spot for the Broker Fair pre-show party taking place on the evening of December 5th from 7-9pm at The Malt House FiDi. There are only a few tickets left to it.

Tickets to the full event the following day is already sold out. Pre-show tickets are still available here.

Are you looking for a chance to meet your fellow Broker Fair attendees in a smaller, more intimate environment?

Then join us for our Broker Fair Pre-Show at The Malt House FiDi! This is your chance to network with industry professionals before Broker Fair.