Global small business lender Spotcap has now provided more than $50m in credit to local SMEs as it celebrates its second year of operating in Australia.
Since its establishment in May 2015, the firm has released more than 75 iterations and updates as it evolved, including real-time document classification, co-branding functionality for bigger partners, and integration of all major accounting providers.
In the past two years, Spotcap has also entered the market in the UK and New Zealand.
Lachlan Heussler, managing director of Spotcap Australia, said he was proud of the company’s achievements and contribution to the Australian fintech space.
“On our second anniversary we can look back and be proud of all we have achieved as a business – particularly in the updates to our technology, and not just meeting – but exceeding – demand for an unparalleled client experience in obtaining business finance.”
The majority of the $50m in credit originated through Spotcap’s offline channels, Heussler told
Australian Broker.
“We source business from our SME clients in different ways but by far the biggest is our offline partner channel, so working with intermediaries like brokers.”
Spotcap works with varying types of brokers including commercial finance brokers, residential lending brokers and equipment finance brokers.
The lender’s network is approaching 5,000 partners including 1,000 brokers sourced through the panel on aggregator
AFG as well as other means. Other partners include accountants, bookkeepers, software vendors and other parties dealing with SME clients.
Spotcap offers a number of support structures and a dedicated sales team for brokers and has grown the channel over the past two years, Heussler said.
“Brokers all get a dedicated account manager who is their first port of call for all questions they have about the Spotcap product. At any time, they can ring in and have a chat.
“We also provide all of our partners with a ‘partner portal’ that makes it easy to refer us a deal. They can either type in their client’s email address and hit refer or they can actually complete the vast majority of the application and hand it over to the client for completion.”
Spotcap focuses on two areas, he said. As well as helping brokers finance their clients, the lender also allows brokers to be involved in unsecured SME lending and grow their own businesses.
With an estimated $60bn in unmet lending demand by banks from SMEs, Spotcap hopes to bridge this funding gap and support local enterprises.
Over 50% of approved applications from the firm are from clients who have returned for additional financing. Since its establishment, Spotcap has sent over 10,000 client emails, conducted over 2,500 online client chat sessions and analysed over seven million lines of client bank data. The lender has also grown its loan book by around 500% from January 2016 up until now.
Related stories:
New tools released targeting SME lending
Online lender secures funds for Australian expansion
Fintech reports 'substantial' growth through broker channel
