Announcements
STRATEGIC FUNDING SOURCE NAMES ALAN NUSSBAUM VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
April 20, 2015NEW YORK (April 20, 2015) – Strategic Funding Source, Inc., a leading provider of small business financing, today announced that Alan Nussbaum has joined the company as Vice President of Business Development.
In his role, Nussbaum will be responsible for developing untapped affinity relationships and other industry opportunities including the opening of new channels in emerging markets, which seek access to capital. He will report to David Sederholt, the Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Funding Source and will be based at the company’s New York City headquarters.
Nussbaum is one of the early entrants to the small business alternative financing industry and spent over 16 years leading sales initiatives with CAN Capital, the largest company in the industry. During his tenure at CAN Capital, he contributed to the growth of the company by developing diverse sales channels and will now bring his years of experience to Strategic Funding Source. As with several executives of Strategic Funding Source, Nussbaum started his career as the owner operator of small businesses, which included restaurants and a food service supply company.
“We’re pleased to welcome Alan to the management team at Strategic Funding Source,” said Sederholt. “I have known him for over 20 years as a respected member of the industry and look forward to him contributing his vast experience and insights to our company.”
“Over the course of my career, I have seen alternative finance products evolve into the mainstream direct solution for small businesses,” said Nussbaum. “I’m excited to join Strategic Funding Source, which has never forgotten the importance of people in their relationships. The company has a proven record as a leader and innovator that combines technology with a human touch. I look forward to helping both Strategic Funding Source and the small businesses we serve continue to grow.”
Nussbaum is a graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y.
About Strategic Funding Source, Inc.
Strategic Funding Source finances the future of small businesses utilizing advanced technology and human insight. Established in 2006, the company is headquartered in New York City and maintains regional offices in Virginia, Washington state, and Florida. The company has served thousands of small business clients across the U.S. and Australia, having financed over $800MM since inception. Visit www.sfscapital.com to learn more about Strategic Funding Source, its financing products and partnership opportunities.
North American Merchant Advance Association (NAMAA) Announces New Name – Small Business Finance Association (SBFA)
April 14, 2015New York, NY, (April 14, 2015) – The North American Merchant Advance Association (NAMAA), a 501c non-profit industry association that provides guidance and helps influence and shape the small business alternative financing industry through best practices, leadership, education and risk monitoring tools, announced today the changing of its name to Small Business Finance Association (“SBFA”).
“With the alternative financing industry growing exponentially into a multi-billion dollar industry, we felt it was time for the trade association to evolve with it and open itself up to all types of small business alternative financing providers hence the name change to Small Business Finance Association. This industry trade association has been the voice of small business alternative lenders for over eight years and we look forward to evolving as the alternative financing industry rapidly expands each year. We look forward to opening up our membership base to even more members that share the same best practice principals of our current membership base.”, says David Goldin, President of the SBFA
The SBFA plans on releasing an updated version of its best practices and as the largest trade association for small business alternative finance providers, the association welcomes opportunities from the press and organizations looking for information on the industry.
“NAMAA started primarily as an association of merchant cash advance providers and has evolved into an association for all types of small business alternative financing – particularly those providers of business loans. SBFA will continue to be the leading voice for this industry and we look forward to the association evolving with our industry.”says Jeremy Brown, Vice-President of the SBFA.
For companies that provide alternative financing solutions to small businesses looking for more information about becoming a member of SBFA, please visit http://www.sbfassociation.org.
About Small Business Finance Association (SBFA)
The Small Business Finance Association (SBFA) is a not-for-profit 501c trade association representing organizations that provide alternative financing solutions to small businesses. SBFA (formerly known as NAMAA) provides guidance and helps to influence and shape the small business alternative financing industry through leadership, education and risk monitoring tools. For more information, visit http://www.sbfassociation.org.
Strategic Funding Source Names Stephen Lerch Chief Financial Officer
March 10, 2015NEW YORK (March 10, 2015) – Strategic Funding Source, Inc., a New York City-based provider of financing options to small and midsize businesses (SMB), today announced that Stephen E. Lerch has joined the company as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
In this role, Lerch will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s financial operations, including enhancing fiscal capabilities, identifying new investment opportunities and executing growth plans. He will report to Strategic Funding Source Chairman and CEO Andrew Reiser.
With more than 17 years in various C-suite roles with technology-based companies in both the public and private sectors, Lerch brings an extensive range of expertise in finance, revenue generation and operations management to Strategic Funding Source. Most notably, he is a veteran of the small business finance and marketing industry, having worked for more than seven years as CFO and COO of Rewards Network where he helped pioneer the early successful growth of the alternative lending marketplace. Prior to that, Lerch was a Partner at Coopers & Lybrand, now PwC. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
“We are thrilled to welcome Steve to the Strategic Funding Source team,” said Reiser. “With his immense financial, operational and industry specific experience, Steve will play a key role in advancing the way we do business and drive the company’s growth.”
“I am extremely pleased to be joining Andy and the talented management group at Strategic Funding Source,” Lerch commented. “With the best reputation in the industry, the premier underwriting and syndication platform and an excellent equity partner in Pine Brook Partners, Strategic Funding Source is extremely well-positioned to take advantage of the tremendous growth opportunity already underway in small business financing.”
About Strategic Funding Source, Inc.
Strategic Funding Source finances the future of small businesses utilizing advanced technology and human insight. Established in 2006, the company is headquartered in New York City and maintains regional offices in Virginia, Washington state, and Florida. The company has served thousands of small business clients across the U.S. and Australia, having financed over $800MM since inception. Visit www.sfscapital.com to learn more about Strategic Funding Source, its financing products and partnership opportunities.
Announcement: Dwolla partnership U.S. Treasury
February 19, 2015Company Announcement
Dwolla to help U.S. Treasury go paperless, prepare for a secure digital future
Each year the The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service collects 400 million transactions worth $3.7 trillion. Ensuring that its collection programs stay relevant, safe, and cost-effective, they recently launched a new Digital Wallet program. The new initiative aims to modernize the way our country collects and distributes payments through the convenient offering of safe and innovative payment options. In June of 2013, the Digital Wallet initiative issued a request for proposal, asking national payment platforms to help the 225-year-old Treasury Department improve its flagship revenue collections product, Pay.Gov.
With existing partnerships with Microsoft Government and state administrations, Dwolla’s flexible architecture makes for an ideal partner in helping modernize public payments. Today, we’re excited to announce our selection as the U.S. Treasury’s first Digital Wallet partners, alongside PayPal (and ApplePay).
What is Pay.Gov? It’s smart government.
Nearly 200 federal agencies, ranging from the Department of Interior to the Department of Defense, use the U.S. Treasury’s Pay.gov platform to create and host custom online payment forms, collecting over 100 million transactions worth approximately $110 billion per year. These simple forms, which hide a sophisticated software and accounting system, allow federal agencies to collect and track non-income tax payments for things like climbing Denali or court fees. It’s a lot like Dwolla Forms, but made exclusively for the federal government.
By outsourcing their revenue collection needs to Pay.Gov, federal agencies not only provide taxpayers an improved experience but also streamline their own payment operations. In doing this, they reduce the operational costs, inefficiencies, and foregone payments. Simply put, Pay.Gov increases revenue for agencies and saves taxpayers money.
How is Dwolla involved? How would this impact me?
Dwolla is now a live payment option for many US agencies (and this will grow over time)–allowing any taxpayer with a U.S. bank or credit union account to use Dwolla’s simple and secure online checkout experience to pay for a whole host of federal fees, products, and permits.
No cards. No checks. No pre-existing Dwolla account required. No sharing of sensitive payment information with the federal government.
What is Dwolla? A secure and modern way to make bank transfers.
When we began building the Dwolla payment network in 2008, we set out to create the ideal way to send money. What we quickly found is that the ideal way to move money has changed since the 1960s and 70s, and the only way to solve the problem was to start over.
Starting fresh with over 40 years of technological advancements, Dwolla was able to create an end-to-end payment network that modernized the legacy bank systems—making it easier to use, more accessible, and more secure. Today, we work with anyone or anything connected to the Internet, from solopreneurs to publicly traded companies, exchange infrastructures to software developers, state governments to financial institutions. We help our community rethink their payment operations, product offerings, and user experiences.
Create new standards in security and privacy: Dwolla has baked new technologies into its network, like authentication and tokenization, that eliminate sensitive financial information from a typical transaction.
Solve problems for all: Free turnkey products, like MassPay or Dwolla Forms, make it easy for anyone to send or receive funds without any existing technical know-how, while a healthy library of developer docs and APIs make it easy to plug Dwolla into nearly any platform, existing operation, or your own creation. Additional levels of support and customization are available and affordable.
Create a powerful, but flexible infrastructure: A simple, and dynamic platform, Dwolla was designed to handle the unique considerations of governments.
Create a platform for future innovation: Whether its mobile applications, real-time payments, or tokenization, Dwolla benefits are freely accessible via our API and developer documentation, allowing the network to scale and solve for the unique needs of an evolving payment landscape.
So what Dwolla can do for you? Grab a brochure from Dwolla.com/government or sign up for our upcoming webinar by emailing government@dwolla.com.
Rapid Capital Funding Acquires American Finance Solutions
October 8, 2014
Miami, Florida-based Rapid Capital Funding will acquire Anaheim, California-based American Finance Solutions today in perhaps one of the most significant deals in merchant cash advance history.
Rapid Capital Funding, not to be confused with RapidAdvance, is led by the company’s founder Craig Hecker. Hecker and AFS’s CEO Scott Griest broke the news to me on a call together. “It’s a roll-up,” Griest said. AFS will continue to operate under their brand name for the time being and Griest will remain a leader in the company.
Meanwhile, the operations of the two companies will begin to merge, with Hecker confirming already that their head underwriter, Andrew Hernandez, was in California getting up to speed on AFS’s operations.
The news comes less than five months after American Finance Solutions struck an equity deal with CapFin partners. I am unsure if CapFin is still involved in the company.
Griest and Hecker were both excited about working together. “Griest has done a great job managing the sales partner channel,” Hecker said. Griest will continue to develop those relationships for the company.
This is the first major merger in the industry. Historically, just about all of the equity deals in merchant cash advance have been acquisitions by institutional investment groups. This is a consolidation.
RCF, while based in Miami, has an office in New York City. The AFS deal puts them on the ground in the 3rd major industry hub.
The two executives hinted that this deal was just the beginning.
Yellowstone Capital Matures With New Executive Team
March 30, 2014
In an email newsletter that went out this morning, NYC-based Yellowstone Capital announced changes and additions to their executive team.
- Managing Partner Isaac Stern who has long been the public face of the firm is now the Chief Executive Officer.
- Marwan Salem is now the Chief Financial Officer.
- Josh Karp has been named the Chief Operating Officer.
Stern’s partner David Glass will keep his stake in the firm and continue to play an operational role.
The newsletter states, “Gangbuster growth hardly describes what Yellowstone Capital has experienced in the last 12 months. Deal flow has simply been huge.”
Yellowstone Capital was dubbed by DailyFunder to be one of the three most talked about funding companies of 2013. In perhaps recognition of the adage, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, the newsletter states, “Yellowstone Capital will continue to pursue less-drastic changes in its capital structure that preserve the winning formula.”
TakeCharge Capital Acquires SBS Capital
July 29, 2013For early release on Merchant Processing Resource:
NEWINGTON, CT- TakeCharge Capital, LLC, an MCA and Loan Service Provider based in Connecticut, proudly announces the acquisition of SBS Capital, LLC a financial services company providing merchant cash advances and credit card processing based in Newington, Connecticut. SBS Capital will rebrand its company under TakeCharge Capital and has appointed Aaron Shimkowitz COO of TakeCharge Capital, former VP of SBS. “TakeCharge’s MCA Portfolio now encompasses 28 Million in Funding to small-mid sized businesses nationwide, including 400+ credit card processing merchants added to the TakeCharge Payments Portfolio respectively.” stated Sam Kota, CEO at TakeCharge.
To accommodate growth, TakeCharge Capital has relocated from 705 North Mountain Road in Connecticut to prime 4,000 square ft facility located on 2600 Berlin Turnpike in Newington Connecticut. “With about 100,000 drivers passing through the turnpike everyday and over 32,000 businesses within a 30 Mile Radius, the Berlin Turnpike marks the first storefront location in our New Retail Strategy. The end-to-end model coupled in a retail environment is by far the best user experience, as we’ve learned from outside industry leaders such as apple and the gap” states Shimkowitz.
In addition to the expansion, TakeCharge Capital has promoted:
- George Korhonen- SVP of Business Development at TakeCharge Capital. In this new role, Mr. Korhonen will continue to develop TakeCharge’s core business and lead new partnerships within the trucking and medical industries.
- Rebeqa Abrams- VP of Operations at TakeCharge Capital. In this new role, Ms. Abrams will continue to manage business operations and direct new operational initiatives to reduce costs and increase overall company efficiency.
And newly appointed:
- Aaron Shimkowitz- Chief Operations Officer at TakeCharge Capital, former VP at SBS. In this new appointment, Aaron will spearhead and oversee all operations, accounting and day to day corporate responsibilities.
- Nicole Beaudry- VP of Funding at TakeCharge Capital, former Director of Cash Management at SBS. In this new appointment, Nicole will oversee funding partnerships and refinance department.
- Jennifer Burke- VP of Sales at TakeCharge Capital, former Executive Underwriting Specialist at SBS. In this new appointment, Jennifer will oversee sales and portfolio retention.
“This partnership with Aaron’s team, further attributes to our long-term strategy of creating a google-like culture with top notch talent and a passion to design technology specifically for the small business community we serve.” states Kota.
TakeCharge Capital, LLC, based in Newington Connecticut is a privately-held financial technology company providing loan and payment services to business owners nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.takechargecapital.com or email info@takechargecapital.com. To speak directly with a TakeCharge Representative reach us Toll-free at 877-417-9473.
Recent Merchant Cash Advance News
April 14, 2013
In case you missed some of the big headlines in this last week, below is a summary:
Forbes changed its tune on MCA after five years
It took only a handful of journalists to set the Merchant Cash Advance industry’s momentum back YEARS. One of those journalists was Maureen Farrell, a previous writer for Forbes. Her story on January 31, 2008, titled Look Who’s Making Coin Off The Credit Crisis mercilessly labeled Merchant Cash Advance providers as blood sucking vampires borne out of the Great Recession. Sensational headlines attract attention and Farrell did her job well. But for someone whose background is Art History, English, and Journalism, she may not have been in the best position to make a qualified assessment of such a unique method of alternative finance. It’s unfortunate then that Forbes ran the story since it no doubt impacted public opinion in a negative manner for years.
That’s why it was so refreshing to see ‘Money, Money’ — How Alternative Lending Could Increase Your Company’s Revenue in 2013. Published by Cheryl Conner, she wastes no time in pointing out Farrell’s prior coverage as one of personal opinion and skepticism. Merchant Cash and Capital’s CEO, Stephen Sheinbaum was instrumental in Conner’s fresh assessment of the industry.
Read the new article on Forbes…
Deals being stretched out over 15 to 24 months may not be a step in the right direction
At least that’s the take of RapidAdvance’s CEO Jeremy Brown. In his latest post on DailyFunder Brown argued permanent capital solutions do not fit working capital needs.
Read his post…
Major executive shake-up occurs at Capital Access Network
Capital Access Network, the parent company of AdvanceMe, CapTap, and NewLogic recently let go of several top executives. Before official announcements were made, word had already leaked out and was being discussed on DailyFunder.
Read the discussion…
Merchant Cash Group announced the winner of their NCAA March Madness contest
NCAA basketball took us for a wild ride this year, but Merchant Cash Group is still awarding all their participants with bobble heads. The first place winner got cold hard cash.
His name is….
On Deck Capital embraces startup culture
Video games and ping pong tables adorn On Deck’s new office. Is the culture changing in alternative lending?
Read the story…
The ETA Expo is fast approaching. Are you going? Plan meetups
ETA expo thread on DailyFunder…
Kabbage Closed on a $75 million credit line
Read the story…
