 |  |
Related Headlines
| 10/21/2023 | Kapitus CFO on how he starts his day |
| 04/03/2023 | Kapitus increases debt facilities to $540M |
| 08/24/2022 | Kapitus increases funding capacity by $95M |
| 04/07/2022 | Kapitus expands to India |
| 02/09/2022 | Kapitus closes $200M securitization |
Stories
Kapitus CEO Speaks on Success of Rating Reaffirmation
October 6, 2020
When lending companies faced the tightest squeeze on capital since the great recession, many ran into trouble. Kapitus, having survived 08′, met 20′ with the same discipline that helped them navigate the pandemic.
“Our whole industry was put on a credit watch downgrade, and it’s very exciting that we were upgraded, reaffirmed to the original rating,” Kapitus CEO and founder Andy Reiser said. “Most of the companies, our peers defaulted and went into what’s called rapid amortization and did not make it through to keep their securitization.”
Reiser was happy to report that Kapitus received a rating affirmation from Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) on Friday. KBRA has removed the Kapitus securities from a Watch Downgrade.
Back in March, the businesses that Kapitus and their competitors funded across the country, faced state mandated shutdowns. Many customers were suddenly unable to make the loan, MCA, or equipment payments that they had been able to make for years.
For lenders that bundled and securitized the loans they made, the value of those loans was called into question.
On March 30, KBRA placed the ratings of 29 securitizations representing $2.1 billion from 10 SMB lending firms on a “Watch Downgrade” due to the economic downturn.
To overcome the warning, Kapitus reigned in and focused on helping their customers. Reiser cited the addition of Jeff Newman from Citigroup to manage the risk team as an example of how the firm has been focused on funding responsibly for years.
“We focused on strong business practices and keeping the portfolio strong, and it paid off,” Reiser said. “We never stopped, we were not lending at the same velocity that we did pre COVID, but we never had a day that we didn’t fund a new deal.”
Reiser said that during the pandemic’s height, the team took a lot of long nights working on new products. One was a “step renewal” that allowed clients to pay installments and build up to the full payment, to make sure they were not overwhelmed. Kapitus also offered extended periods for their healthcare loans, up to 36 months, Reiser said.
For companies like Kapitus, a questionable rating could lead to a rapid amortization event: a sudden call to liquefy the bonds and give back investor money. For some, an event like this will spell the end: most firms don’t keep hundreds of millions or even billions on hand to give back principals in a moment’s notice.
Reiser said out of the ten securities on credit watch, only one other was reaffirmed, due to a renegotiation of terms that bond investors had to agree on. Kapitus made no negation but was reaffirmed due to the success of their business practice, Reiser said.
The securitization was initially issued for $105 million in June 2018, and expanded to $160 million last December, in three classes with a senior class rating of “A.”
Reiser believes that the pandemic, like the ’08 recessions, will see some consolidation and strong companies prospering in a displaced environment.
“I think COVID will teach a lot of other players that were very aggressive in coming down to this market that it’s not so easy,” Reiser said. “I think some of the banks and the alternative lenders that were more eager to come into this market may not be so aggressive at least for a while.”
Kapitus Rolls Out Fully Automated Funding Process
April 2, 2019
New York, NY – Kapitus, a leading provider of alternative financing to small and midsize businesses, announces the roll-out of auto-checkout – a fully automated funding process for qualified deals. The new process allows for not only a faster, more streamlined experience for its partners; but it also provides more flexible financing options, by providing multiple offers at once. At the same time, the new process provides merchants with secure and quick access to funds for their business.
Unlike competing models where only an “option of approval” or “conditional approval” is provided at the time of checkout, Kapitus is able to determine approval eligibility with only an application and bank statements without the need for multiple upfront stipulations to confirm bank information, ownership and identity. Utilizing proprietary machine learning models – eligible deals can be closed without any additional documentation.
“This is a true turning-point for us from a technology perspective and we’re very excited about it,” said Andrew Reiser, Chief Executive Officer at Kapitus. “With this new automated process, we’re able to provide our partners an extremely simple process with an exceptionally quick time-to-funding. At the same time, merchants are provided with a more seamless experience with enhanced security”
Major features in the roll-out include:
- True auto-check functionality with full approval at time of checkout
- Progress tracking and customizable notifications to follow merchants through the checkout process
- Intuitive user interface with precise, easy-to-understand instructions for both merchants and partners
- Simple, seamless secure checkout functionality for merchants
“This is the first of many technology advancements we will be rolling out over the next year,” adds Arun Narayan, Chief Product Officer. “We are committed to creating exceptional experiences for both our partners and merchants. Incorporating the right technology is paramount in building out the right environment and the best experience for all of our audiences.”
ABOUT Kapitus
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in NYC, Kapitus is one of the most reliable and respected names in small business financing. As both a direct lender and a marketplace built with a trusted network of lending partners, Kapitus is able to provide small businesses the financing they need, when and how it is needed. With one application business owners can save time and money, while eliminating the stress that comes with applying to different lenders. At Kapitus, we believe that business owners should be able to focus on running their business, while we take care of the financing. Learn more at https://kapitus.com
CONTACT: Bernadette Abel
Kapitus
babel@kapitus.com
646-722-1484
Why Strategic Funding Rebranded as Kapitus
January 15, 2019Today, Strategic Funding announced the launch of a new brand identity, including a name change. Strategic Funding will now be called Kapitus.
“We had a name that was very well respected,” said Kapitus founder and CEO Andy Reiser. “Everybody loved our name, quite frankly. They loved it so much, they all copied it. You can’t trademark ‘Strategic Funding.’ It’s too generic.”
Kapitus, spelled this way, is not a word in any language, which makes it easier to trademark.
“We wanted to separate ourselves in a way that is clearly identifiable,” Reiser said. “It’s an easy one-word name [that] symbolizes stability and strength. It’s ‘capital from us,’ if you want to break it down.”
Reiser said that the company has been relatively quiet over the last three years, but they have been advancing all along, and they are particularly proud of their brand new ISO portal. According to Reiser, the new portal helps ISOs better understand their book at Kapitus and allows brokers to generate a contract quickly without having to call them. The company has an in-house marketing team, but well over 50% of its business comes from the ISO channel.
Kapitus provides a variety of financial products, including equipment financing (they have an in house equipment leasing division) and factoring (they have a small internal factoring group). They also offer business loans, lines of credit and MCA deals. But the company’s largest portion of its business – more than 15% – comes from its Helix Healthcare Financing product, which finances healthcare practitioners like doctors, dentists and veterinarians.
Unlike other funders of healthcare practitioners that may offer financing terms up to 18 months, Kapitus offers terms of up to 10 years as long as the merchant satisfies its requirements. The company also funds a considerable number of healthcare-related businesses, like medical equipment providers. Otherwise, Reiser said that Kapitus has a diversified mix of merchants, from restaurants to manufacturers.
Reiser said that about 15% of Kapitus’s business consists of deals above $150,000 for which they have a seperate team. They do deals as high as $750,000.
When operating under the Strategic Funding name, there was a payment servicing division of the company, called Colonial Servicing. That entity will remain, but will be woven into the new Kapitus name.
Founded in 2006, Kapitus employs 240 people divided among three offices. The headquarters is in New York and there is an office with about 30 people in Arlington, VA, and a Dallas-area office with about 35 people working in collections and customer service.
Strategic Funding Source Announces Launch of New Brand Identity; Unites its Funding Arm and Servicing Arm Under the name Kapitus
January 15, 2019New York, NY – January 15, 2019 – Strategic Funding Source, a veteran of the small and medium-sized business alternative lending space, today announced the launch of a new corporate brand identity, including a new name. As part of this rebrand, the funding division and servicing division will be united under the name Kapitus. The unification of these two divisions will allow for an improved experience for both clients and partners.
Since its inception in 2006, Strategic Funding Source has provided over $2 billion to almost 40,000 businesses in hundreds of industries across the U.S. Over the past two years, the organization has been proactively building out its executive team, bringing in a wealth of experience to transform its risk model, underwriting processes, lending capacity and product line, technology capabilities and customer experience.
With these and other planned advancements, the company required a new brand that better reflected the company’s commitment to be a reliable source of capital to all small and mid-sized business owners.
“The small business lending landscape is consolidating around a few strong and reputable companies. Over the last several years, Kapitus has experienced tremendous growth both in its product offerings to small and medium-sized businesses and in the total number of businesses it serves” said Andy Reiser, CEO of Kapitus. “We chose a name and identity that represents our strength and stability as well as our promise to be a responsible and fair source of capital to small and medium-sized businesses nationwide.”
Along with the name change there will be a new logo, tagline (“Let’s Grow Together”) and domain name (kapitus.com). The rebrand is the first step in the company’s strategy to grow its own financing product line, add to its marketplace of 3rd party lenders and create a foundation for new partnership opportunities. The new brand also represents the company’s commitment to keep the human touch throughout the financing process, while improving customer experience through technology to aid the decisioning process and improve speed to funding.
“This is an exciting change for us,” added Reiser. “This new branding builds upon our history and pays allegiance to our standing as a leader in a fast-evolving industry, opening the door for future opportunities for us, our clients and our partners.”
About Kapitus
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in NYC, Kapitus is one of the most reliable and respected names in small business financing. As both a direct lender and a marketplace built with a trusted network of lending partners, Kapitus is able to provide small businesses the financing they need, when and how it is needed. With one application business owners can save time and money, while eliminating the stress that comes with applying to different lenders. At Kapitus, we believe that business owners should be able to focus on running their business, while we take care of the financing. To learn more, visit www.kapitus.com.
The Top Small Business Funders Now Vs. Then
January 11, 2024Top Small Business Funders By Year
| 2008 | 2014 | 2023 |
| AdvanceMe (CAN Capital) | OnDeck | Square |
| First Funds | CAN Capital | Enova (OnDeck / Headway) |
| Merchant Cash and Capital (BizFi) | Kabbage | Shopify |
| BFS | Kapitus | PayPal |
| AmeriMerchant | Rapid Finance | Amazon |
| GBR Funding | National Funding | Intuit |
Many people look at 2023 vs 2008 and arrive at the conclusion that the fintechs rose to the top, but if one were to narrow down the definition of those players a little further, they’d notice that PayPal and Square are payment companies, Shopify and Amazon are e-commerce companies, and Intuit owns the Quickbooks accounting software. These are actually older companies that took an old idea (split-funding) and made it new again with some key changes. Although in the present moment it may feel like some of them cannot be beat (which is how the industry felt about the top funders in 2008), much can change over the course of this decade.
Keep your eye on:
- AI
- Blockchain (as payment rails, record-keeping)
- Regulation
California Senate Committee Finds Support for Small Business Finance Broker Licensure
January 10, 2024The hot topic in a recent California Senate committee hearing was licensure for MCA brokers. In it, legislators took interest in broker commissions and how they’re paid. This was not a one-sided discussion. Representatives for Rapid Finance, Kapitus, Forward Financing, and the RBFC were present and able to give testimony. The general consensus was that a licensure framework was favorable but that there were still issues that need to be resolved. The bill at issue is SB 869.
You can listen to a copy of the audio we’ve obtained of the hearing on Spotify or watch the hearing in full below:
Small Business Financing Industry Representatives Testified in New York Senate Hearing on Licensing
April 26, 2023Several representatives from across the small business finance industry testified in a New York State Senate hearing on Tuesday. Up for debate was Senate Bill S1450, which would require a license to engage in commercial financing. As part of that, Banking Committee Chairman Senator James Sanders Jr. fielded testimony and asked questions about bad actors, usury caps, non-compliance penalties, and more. Those called upon at the hearing included:
- Natalie Pappas, Deputy General Counsel, Rapid Finance, on behalf of the SBFA
- Amy Carpenter Holmes, Deputy Counsel, Kapitus
- Chris Grimm, Head of State Government Relations, ILPA
- Katherine C. Fisher, Esq., Partner at Hudson Cook, LLP, on behalf of the RBFC
- Phil Goldfeder, CEO, American Fintech Council
- Chuck Bell, Programs Director of Advocacy, Consumer Reports
Almost all of the organizations were in favor of some form of licensing system in New York except for the Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA). The ILPA, more famously known for its previous SMART Box initiative, explained that high compliance costs, inflation, and rising interest rates were putting significant pressure on its member’s businesses.
The video below, which curates just the relevant parts of the day, consists of two separate panels on the same subject. Be sure to watch them both.
All Registered Sales-based Financing Providers in Virginia (As of 3-29-23)
April 2, 2023Is the revenue-based financing provider you do business with registered to operate in Virginia? On July 1, 2022, Virginia’s commercial financing disclosure law went into effect and with that the necessity to register one’s business. As of March 29, 2023, 101 companies had registered. This is the official list of registered sales-based financing providers as of that date (yellow means it has been added since our last update):
- Advance Servicing Inc.
- Accredited Business Solutions LLC dba The Accredited Group
- Advance Funds Network LLC dba Advance Funds Network
- AdvancePoint Capital LLC dba advancepoint
- Ally Merchant Services LLC
- Alpine Funding Partners, LLC
- Business Capital LLC
- Byzfunder NY LLC dba Tandem dba Nano-FI
- Bridge Capital Services, LLC
- CFG Merchant Solutions, LLC
- Clarify Capital II LLC dba Clarify Capital
- Cloudfund VA LLC dba Cloudfund LLC
- Capflow Funding Group Managers LLC
- Clear Finance Technology (U.S.) Corp. dba Clearco
- Coast Premier LLC dba Coast Funding
- Commercial Servicing Company, LLC
- Corporate Lodging Consultants, Inc.
- Crown Funding Source LLC dba Crown Funding Source
- Diesel Funding LLC
- Direct Capital Source Inc.
- Dealstruck Capital LLC
- EBF Holdings, LLC
- Essential Funding Group Inc
- Errant Ventures LLC
- FC Capital Holdings, LLC FundCanna
- Fidelity Funding Group LLC
- Front Capital LLC
- Finova Capital, LLC
- Fintegra, LLC
- First Data Merchant Services LLC
- First Path Capital Ventures LLC dba First Path Capital
- FleetCor Technologies Operating Company, LLC
- Flexibility Capital Inc.
- Fora Financial East LLC
- Forward Financing LLC
- Fox Capital Group Inc.
- Fundamental Capital LLC
- Funding Metrics, LLC dba Quick Fix Capital
- Good Funding, LLC
- Granite Merchant Funding, LLC
- Invision Funding LLC
- Itria Ventures LLC
- Jaydee Ventures, LLC dba 1 West Capital dba 1 West Commercial
- Kapitus LLC
- Knight Capital Funding III, LLC
- Lexington Capital Holdings Ltd
- LG Funding LLC
- Legend Advance Funding II, LLC dba Legend Funding
- Liberis US Inc.
- Libertas Funding, LLC
- Liquidibee 1 LLC dba Liquidibee LLC dba Altfunding.com
- Loanability, Inc.
- Millstone Funding Inc.
- National Funding, Inc.
- Nav Technologies, Inc.
- Orange Advance LLC
- Pearl Alpha Funding, LLC
- Pearl Beta Funding, LLC
- Pearl Delta Funding, LLC
- Proto Financial Corp.
- PWCC Marketplace, LLC
- Parafin, Inc.
- PayPal, Inc.
- Payability Commercial Factors, LLC
- Pinnacle Business Funding LLC dba Custom Capital USA dba EnN OD Capital
- Platform Funding LLC
- Prosperum Capital Partners LLC dba Arsenal Funding
- QFS Capital LLC
- RFG USA Inc.
- Rival Funding, LLC
- Riverpoint Financial Group Inc.
- Rocket Capital NY LLC
- ROKFI LLC
- Ruby Capital Group LLC
- Rapid Financial Services, LLC
- Reliant Services Group, LLC
- Retail Capital LLC dba Credibly
- Revenued LLC
- Rewards Network Establishment Services Inc.
- Secure Capital Solutions Inc.
- Sky Bridge Business Funding, LLC
- SMB Compass LLC dba SMB Compass
- Sunrise Funding LLC
- Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, LLC
- SellersFunding Corp.
- Sharpe Capital, LLC
- Shine Capital Group LLC
- Shopify Capital Inc.
- Shore Funding Solutions Inc.
- Streamline Funding, LLC
- Stripe Brokering, Inc.
- The LCF Group, Inc.
- Unique Funding Solutions LLC
- United Capital Source Inc.
- Upfront Rent Holdings LLC
- Upper Line Capital LLC
- Vader Servicing, LLC
- Velocity Capital Group LLC
- Vivian Capital Group LLC
- Vox Funding, LLC
- ZING Funding I, LLC
See Post... kapitus, etc., , dm me... |
See Post... kapitus, etc., , what is the online retailer seeking?, monthly revenue compared to funding request, , quick answer, since he is an online retailer, most sales are cc - do a credit card split/lockbox.... |
Online Retailer... kapitus, etc.... |
