Announcements
BlueVine doubles invoice financing credit lines to up to $5 million
January 30, 2018BlueVine also increases business line of credit to $200,000; opens New Jersey office
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – January 30, 2018 – BlueVine has doubled the credit line size for its invoice factoring product to up to $5 million, underscoring the online business lender’s push to offer fast and flexible working capital financing to small and medium-sized businesses.
BlueVine also increased the limit for its business line of credit product to $200,000 from $150,000, making its Flex Credit product an even more attractive financing option for larger or fast-growing companies.
“In just four years, we’ve dramatically increased our invoice factoring credit line to $5 million, and our business line of credit to $200,000,” BlueVine CEO and founder Eyal Lifshitz said. “We continue to be fully committed to providing business owners with robust financing options to help them thrive.”
BlueVine helped Mindstar Aviation unlock capital trapped in unpaid invoices. The Virginia-based company, which develops and writes software for flight simulators, used to wrestle with cash flow gaps while waiting for customers to pay their bills, which often took 45 days or longer.
BlueVine allowed Mindstar to get cash advances on those invoices.
“Because we have BlueVine in place to make a purchase, we could proceed immediately,” said Johnny Johnson, the company’s executive vice president. “We don’t have to wait, which could impact a project timeline. BlueVine financing is easy. It’s quick. No hassle. BlueVine is not nickel-and-diming people, charging fees here and fees there. It’s really straightforward and easy to understand.”
A business line of credit from BlueVine enabled entrepreneur Jesse Urrutia, owner of MarketMe, a video production company in San Carlos, California, to take on bigger clients and grow his business.
“In the past, if I didn’t have cash to pay for a production, I would just turn down the project,” Urrutia said. “It’s ridiculous to turn business down because you don’t have the money. BlueVine fixed that for us.”
BlueVine also announced the opening of its new office in Jersey City, New Jersey, from where the company hopes to better serve customers and partners on the East Coast. Aside from its headquarters in Redwood City, BlueVine also has offices in New Orleans and Tel Aviv.
BlueVine revolutionized business lending with a highly automated, completely online invoice factoring platform that allows businesses to get advances on unpaid invoices.
In 2016, BlueVine introduced a 6-month business line of credit called Flex Credit based on weekly payments. The company introduced a 12-month line of credit based on monthly payments in 2017.
About BlueVine
BlueVine provides flexible working capital financing to small and medium-sized businesses, giving them quick access to funds needed to purchase inventory, cover expenses, or expand operations. A fintech pioneer, BlueVine developed a fully-online cloud-based platform for invoice factoring, revolutionizing the 4,000-year old financing system that allows businesses to receive cash advances on outstanding invoices. BlueVine also offers FlexCredit, business line of credit financing based on 6-month and 12-month payment terms. Based in Redwood City, Calif., BlueVine has raised $273 million in equity and debt funding and is funded by Lightspeed Venture Partners, 83NORTH, Correlation Ventures, Citi Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Rakuten Fintech Fund and other private investors.
YieldStreet Gets $113M Closer to ‘Changing The Way Wealth is Created’
January 24, 2018New York’s YieldStreet, an alternative investment platform, closed a $113 million financing round earlier this month. The company announced that the round drew $12.8 million in Series A equity financing from the team of Greycroft and Raine Ventures, as well as a $100 million revolving credit facility from an unspecified entity.
Via release, YieldStreet said that the equity will enable it to “accelerate the transformation of wealth creation by investing in further product innovation and growing its loyal community of investors.”
CEO Milind Mehere expanded on this sentiment in the statement. “With the ultimate mission of ‘prosperity for all,’ YieldStreet is making it possible for individual investors to have wealth creation opportunities similar to the top 2%,” he said. “This funding will enable us to bolster our machine learning and data analytics capability for predictive underwriting models, launch new products for non-accredited investors and further fuel our growth towards our mission. I am excited to work with this strong syndicate of investors who understand this opportunity.”
The deal also includes the arrival of Alan Patricof, co-founder of Greycroft, to the YieldStreet advisory board.
“Before YieldStreet, retail investors never had access to institutional quality alternative products,” Patricof said. “We believe that YieldStreet’s leadership team is unmatched and well positioned to deliver on its mission to transform investing.”
Prior to this round, YieldStreet had only raised $3.7 million in equity capital as it focused on diversified alternative asset classes across real estate bridge loans, litigation finance, and commercial finance.
Alternative Financier, White Oak Global Advisors, Turns to CIT for Own Unique Needs
January 23, 2018White Oak Global Advisors, an alternative financier and creditor in its own right has turned to CIT Group Inc. in order to organize a $422 million secured loan for its aviation division, the companies announced last week.
White Oak Commercial Aviation, LP, will use the funds to purchase 20 on-lease wide body aircraft engines from GE Capital Aviation Services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“CIT’s ADG and Capital Markets teams were razor-focused on delivering a financing structure that would work for us while also meeting lender requirements,” said Andre Hakkak, CEO and co-founder of White Oak via release. “This transaction provides us a foundation to strengthen and grow our focus on providing financing solutions for aviation companies.”
John Heskin, managing director and group head for CIT’s Aerospace, Defense & Government Finance (ADG) team led the transaction with senior investment professionals from White Oak.
“We are pleased we could leverage our deep capital markets expertise to provide a creative solution for this senior secured loan syndication,” said Heskin. “Our understanding of the aerospace industry encompasses whole aircraft as well as parts and engines. This enables us to support the entire aerospace ecosystem from lessors and investors to distributors and manufacturers.”
White Oak currently has over $7 billion of capital invested in over 500 companies. The company provides small and medium size enterprises with term loans, asset-based lending, invoice factoring, trade finance, equipment financing and treasury management. It was launched in 2007.
Lending Disruptor, Rocket Mortgage, Announces First eSports Sponsorship
January 22, 2018Rocket Mortgage has thrown its hat into the burgeoning eSports ring, Quicken Loans, its parent company, announced on Friday. The brand has entered into a sponsorship agreement with the 100 Thieves’ League of Legends division.
Citing a synergy between the end-to-end online and on-demand mortgage product and the “disruptive” world of eSports gaming, Quicken Loans CEO, Jay Farner said via release that Rocket Mortgage is “aligning (its) brand with a subculture that embodies what we stand for as a company – industry disrupting and groundbreaking innovation.”
The deal includes the naming rights to The Rocket Mortgage Team House in Venice, California, logo placement on the 100 Thieves team jerseys and integration into the team’s social media presence.
“The Rocket Mortgage Team House gives us the chance to practice constantly, call team meetings in minutes and build synergy both in and outside of gaming as a team,” said Neil “Pr0lly” Hammad, head coach of 100 Thieves, veteran LoL player and most recently the head coach at H2k-Gaming where he was awarded the title for the EU LCS’s Coach of the Split on three separate occasions. “This is crucial for maintaining a competitive environment, and by handing us the keys to this team house, Rocket Mortgage is helping us prepare to destroy the NA LCS.”
The 100 Thieves eSports team as founded in 2016. In addition to League of Legends, the club has also fielded a team for the popular video game title, Call of Duty.
As for Rocket’s parent, Quicken Loans, the Detroit-based lender is the second largest retail home mortgage lender on U.S. soil. The company closed upwards of $400 billion of mortgage volume across the country between 2013 and 2017.
BB&T Taps $50M for Cutting Edge Tech Investments
January 22, 2018
BB&T has earmarked $50M for a deep dive into “emerging digital technology,” the company announced last week. The bank will look to either invest in, or acquire companies in the space.
“The sizable investment” is meant to improve the customer-experience for BB&T’s client base while simultaneously lowering operating costs.
“This sizable investment in financial technology companies represents an important strategic milestone in our digital business transformation,” said BB&T chairman and CEO Kelly S. King via release.
”We’re excited about the possibility of new partnerships and innovative approaches to provide the best possible experience for our clients.”
The bank began its focus on digital business in 2015 following the appointment of W. Bennett Bradley as chief digital officer.
“A significant investment in fintech puts BB&T on an aggressive pace to more quickly navigate our digital road map and further foster a culture of innovation throughout the company,” Bradley said in the same release.. “Things are changing rapidly and we, like many financial institutions, have to move faster to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations. While an investment in fintech is just one component of our digital transformation, it’s a powerful way for us to gain greater access to new technologies and talent.”
BB&T currently handles more than $220B in assets and a market capitalization of $37B.
Fundbox Launches Fuse, A Funding Express Lane Designed to Increase SaaS ‘Stickiness’
January 22, 2018Fundbox announced the launch of Fuse, a new credit-integration service, on Monday morning. Via Fuse, SaaS business providers can now access Fundbox from within their workflows with just three lines of code.
“For small business owners, the process of applying for financing continues to be an arduous and demotivating journey that for many, does not end well,” the company stated in a release. “Since 2008 when the economic bubble burst, most banks made their small business underwriting processes more stringent in an attempt to mitigate potential risks from defaults.”
According to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, in December 2017 only 25.3% of small business loan applicants are being approved for funding, leaving the other 74.4% struggling to find alternative avenues through which to pay vendors and stay afloat.
Thus, not only are small business owners hampered, but SaaS providers that cater to these budding enterprises take a blow as well.
Citing a 2016 survey developed by the SaaS growth marketing agency, Cobloom, the average SaaS provider serving small businesses faces between 5-7% customer churn on an annual basis. A significant factor for this volatility is strains on customer’s cash flow.
Fundbox believes that they can alleviate this situation by offering easy access to its lending products via the SaaS services themselves.
“For our SaaS partners, we intentionally created a solution that was easy to integrate, increases service value and customer stickiness with just a few lines of code,” said Sebastian Rymarz, chief business officer at Fundbox via statement. “And for small business owners, we’ve ‘democratized’ access to credit and the underwriting process right from within your favorite business app or platform.”
“We’re excited to partner with Fundbox and to add Fuse to our service,” said Ryan Jackson, founder and CEO of Paid, via release. “Anyone who works closely with small business owners knows that time and cash flow are their two most important assets. With Fundbox Fuse, our customers get the convenience of accessing credit without having to leave our workflow and we get the additional service value and retention stickiness.”
Finn & Co, Inc. To Manage Two New Equity/Debt Funds
December 14, 2017Below is a letter that was circulated by Finn & Co, Inc.
Finn & Co, Inc. is pleased to report the formation of two new equity/debt private equity funds to be managed by our firm. The first of these two funds is a US$100M equity fund which will seek investments in the MLM Industry (multi-level-marketing). This fund will be seeking and entertaining opportunities in North and South America as well as Europe. It is the intention of the fund to have heavy concentrations of ownership in relatively few investments and in addition to the contribution of the invest cash, it is the intention of the fund to offer geographical business partnerships with Asian ‘like-type’ MLM entities. The second fund is a US$200M debt/equity fund engaged in lending to the MCA Industry (merchant cash advance). This fund will offer senior debt, sub-debt and equity investments to the MCA industry here in America and in specific areas of Asia. The management of these funds will embrace additional industry experienced individuals and hopes to ‘fill a void’ of available capital for these traditionally difficult ‘to bank’ business endeavors.
Finn & Co. Merchant Banking Activities at this time.
Please review the following activities of our firm in the areas of consulting, merger and acquisition assignments and current capital fundraising activities. Finn & Co. has recently completed valuations for operating companies engaged within the Direct Sales/MLM industries and that of aerospace and defense. In addition, we are currently engaged with multiple capital raising assignments for companies within the following industries: Nutrition Products, Merchant Credit Advance (MCA), Medical services, Tobacco, Fish Farming, Oil Refinery, Lodging, Technology, Consumer Water Bottlers and the financing of Credit Card Receivables. Finn & Co., Inc. has active M&A assignments detailed later in this communication. We welcome your inquiries for valuation assignments, merger and acquisition advisory services, and capital fundraising needs.
Merger and Acquisition Assignments:
(1) Binocular Manufacturers: The Purchaser is a manufacturer of ‘high end’ binoculars, ground, airborne and maritime Electro-Optic/Infrared cameras sold primarily to the military and law enforcement communities. This acquirer is engaged in the design, development and sale of advanced optical devices to expand its domestic and international sales and is seeking manufacturers of related devices targeting the commercial, law enforcement and military markets. Asian and European-based manufacturers of binoculars and vehicle cameras are of a particular interest to this acquirer. In addition, the buyer is interested in the purchase of optics companies with strong R&D personnel — specializing in the development of binoculars, rifle scopes, and any and all related advanced EO/IR technology. This acquirer will entertain joint-ventures in place or in lieu of outright purchase or merger.
(2) Fish Processing Companies: The acquirer is an international integrated fishing enterprise engaged in catching, processing, and value-added functions in the worldwide fishing industry. This company desires to acquire a value-added fish processing company located in the USA. The desired company will be profitable at the time of purchase, selling into the retail market, restaurants, and the cruise ship sector of the marketplace.
(3) Health Care:
- (A) Seeking Acquisition Targets operating in business process outsourcing, employment, staffing, billing, surgery centers, and ancillary services to health care industry. The target platform company should have an EBITDA of between US$5M and US$20M.
- (B) Home Health & Hospice: Seeking a home health and hospice platform acquisition in any Geographical area, if the acquisition target enjoys US$3.0M in EBITDA or more AND Management team is willing to remain with the company post the acquisition is completed.
- (C) Large, publicly traded NYSE ‘for profit’ hospital ownership and management company seeking additional ‘hospital’ acquisitions and/or management contracts. While any ‘locale’ will be entertained, the States west of the Mississippi River are preferred.
(4) Multi-Level-Marketing Industry/Direct Sales: We continue to seek North American, Latin American and Asian-based operating MLM/direct selling companies for various buyers and investors. We have multiple buyers of nutritional products, cosmetics, personal and health care companies, lingerie sellers, fashion jewelry and other consumable products. The targeted acquisition or investment opportunity can range in annual sales size from US$25M to as large as multi-hundred million dollar sales companies located in the USA. We have interest in direct sales/MLM companies with annual revenues of US$10M or greater located outside the continental boundaries of the USA. These American and non-American buyers are either currently operating MLM entities or are the investment arm of non-USA based MLM operating companies, all of which have a long and “in-depth” operating knowledge of the industry and are anxious to expand their businesses into the USA, Canada, Latin America and/or Asia. The buyers or investors are prepared to purchase 100% of any entity or are prepared to partner with a seller that wishes to maintain some equity ownership and a management role. Our buyers will require at least 51% equity ownership.
(5) Nutritional Products
- (A) Manufacturers (third party): We are seeking third party nutritional products manufacturers of tablets, capsules, powders, gels, and liquids. There is a particular interest to acquire a liquids manufacturer at this time. The targeted companies should possess the appropriate industry certifications and conform to recent government-imposed manufacturing processing requirements. The targeted companies will have annual sales of US$15M or larger.
- (B) Branded Nutritional Products: Sold via retail chains, direct through mail order or online. The more ‘direct’ the sale method of delivery, the stronger the interest from our buyer.
(6) Food
- (A) Hispanic Food Suppliers: Our client is an acquirer of North American-based manufacturing and distribution companies offering Hispanic foods and related items to the wholesale or retail marketplace. The candidate will have a known brand name and an obvious presence in the Hispanic community and a recognized name or product to the Hispanic food buyer.
- (B) Restaurant Chains: A currently operating restaurant team is seeking restaurant chains with annual sales of US$50M or more and EBITDA of US$5M or more. The target chain could be an independent restaurant concept, a franchisor, or a franchisee. Minority Recaps/and or Growth Equity will also be considered.
- (C) Branded Food companies: We represent a financial buyer of ‘branded’ food companies. The targeted candidate will have annual sales sufficient to generate an EBIT of US$10M or greater. The food offering can be across a wide spectrum of food offerings and will be considered a national brand.
(7) Aerospace/Defense:
- (A) We have multiple buyers seeking aerospace and defense operating companies that will range in annual sales size from US$20M to US$250M. The ideal candidate will currently be a supplier of materials and/or parts to the aerospace after-market, manufacturer of such parts and supplies, a provider to the aerospace/defense industry and/or engaged in a business relationship within the industry that allows it to participate in any of the ongoing support and/or replacement vendor positions in this after-market sector.
- (B) In addition to our above targets, we represent a US$200M sales company, privately-owned, seeking an aerospace manufacturer. Tight tolerance machining and/ or the manufacturing of aerospace/defense parts are the two areas of interest. Turnarounds and under-performing companies will be considered. The preferred size target is an entity generating revenue of US$25M to US$250M.
- (C) We represent a buyer of “Type Certificates” of established aircraft. These airplane types are currently in operation but not in production and range from piston propeller, turbo propeller and/or jet engine type aircraft.
- (D) Security Companies: We are seeking businesses that offer services to the military or law enforcement markets associated with intelligence gathering, manufacturers of security equipment, service companies that are engaged in the guarding and maintaining of premises, sea-going security in the area of anti-piracy and other related services.
- (E) Hand Gun, Rifle and Shotgun Manufacturers: We are seeking USA and/or Western European hand-held weapons manufacturers. There is a particular interest on the part of the buyer in a manufacturer that is currently supplying its weapons to the military and/or law enforcement communities.
The financing of ‘gun’ or related companies in today’s banking marketplace is most challenging. Finn & Co. is in a position to offer short and long term credits as well as growth capital to gun industry-related operating, profitable companies. If you or your clients are in need of working capital or acquisition capital, we would be most pleased to work with you.
- (F) A&D, Medical Products or Photonics Industries: Our Client is seeking a USA-based manufacturing operation in the highly regulated aforementioned industries. Acquisition opportunities with annual sales/revenues of up to US$100M and EBIT of US$10M are the size range of our client’s investment interest.
(8) Oil and Gas
- (A) Service and Support Companies: We are seeking North American-based oil and gas industry service and support companies. The targeted prospect might offer a service for ‘on-shore’ or ‘off-shore’ drillers, maintenance of wells, work-over and stimulation of wells, transportation and security management. The targeted company could be solely domestic or international in its operations. Our clients have a decided interest in targeted acquisitions that represent what would be defined as the larger participants in the industry, in short ‘the bigger the better’.
- (B) Large Oil and Gas proven properties seeking a sale or requiring large capital investment. These properties will be domestic locales with proven oil and/or gas reserves that can be currently producing or not. The buyer/investor will entertain the outright purchase of the property or a joint venture with the current owners.
(9) Trailer Manufacturers and Distributors: We are seeking manufacturers and/or distributors of ‘open and closed’ commercial trailers that would traditionally be pulled by a pickup or SUV and used in a wide variety of activities, both for commercial and private family purposes. Our client has a present interest in acquiring additional closed box trailer manufacturers or large distributors.
(10) Water Treatment Companies: Manufacturers of water treatment equipment, new technologies for the purification of water, and companies offering deliveries of commercial water supplies. All water related opportunities entertained.
(11) Consumer Products, Consumer Durables, Retail or Retail Services: We have a buyer of companies in the aforementioned sectors (logistics, e-commerce, etc.). The minimum required EBITDA is US$3M.
(12) Risk-based Consulting Services: Our client is a platform entity engaged as a provider of risk-based consulting services including – Internal Audit, IT Audit, Information Security, Corporate Governance and Regulatory Compliance. Our client would like to grow their business with the acquisition of similar type functioning companies both domestic and international.
Family Related Operating Companies:
Tethys Corporation: a holding company that has as its investment criteria the acquisition and/or investment in the aerospace/defense/medical or medical service industries. Tethys will also entertain ‘control’ investments in security companies and/or service companies servicing the military, diplomatic or international work-place.
Blue Steel Ventures, www.bluesteelventures.com. This ‘alternative’ wholesale funder of the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) industry is a provider of senior debt, sub-debt and equity investments to established operators of merchant cash advance providers. Blue Steel Ventures will entertain loans and investments of US$2M to US$30M or more subject to the specifics of the MCA applicant.
Board Assignments:
Members of the Finn & Co organization currently sit on Boards of Directors or finance committees of various commercial and non-profit companies and/or organizations. We particularly wish to expand our assignments of Directors and Members of the Board of commercial companies here in the USA. We are prepared to entertain appointments to private or public corporations, located anywhere in the USA. Any inquiries or suggestions that you might wish to offer would be warmly received.
We would be most pleased to hear from you concerning your interest and needs for any of our consulting services, capital raising or M&A activities listed in this communication. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours,
Kenneth R. Finn
Chairman
Finn & Company, Inc.
Kenneth R. Finn
Finn & Co., Inc.
Merchant Bankers
5776-D Lindero Canyon Road, #382
Westlake Village, CA 91362
(818) 219-3097(818) 219-3097
krfinn2001@yahoo.com
Wyoming Location
4350 Fallen Leaf Lane
Jackson, WY 83001
(307) 203-2556(307) 203-2556
krfinn2001@yahoo.com
Yellowstone Capital Surpasses $2 Billion in Originations
December 8, 2017Jersey City-based Yellowstone Capital has surpassed $2 billion in originated deals. The milestone was announced Thursday evening at the company’s year-end holiday soirée.
The company was founded in 2009.
