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Bizcap is expanding as the appetite for business loans gains traction.
The Australian non-bank lender, which offers business loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has funded more than $1 billion in loans since its inception in 2019 and recently joined the Australian Finance Group's (AFG) lending panel. Now the firm has its sights set on partnering with even more brokers, helping an increased number of small businesses to find financial solutions and exploring the global marketplace.
"We're definitely in growth mode," said Bizcap chief revenue officer Rebecca Del Rio (pictured), who covers Bizcap “Australia, New Zealand, U.K., Singapore and wherever else we decide to launch in the next few years.”
"I feel like we're just getting started," Del Rio told Australian Broker. "But there's a lot of really exciting things happening at the moment. We're investing a lot into technology, people and processes, because we believe that our product and our company is very stable and scalable."
Most recently, Bizcap joined the AFG lending panel, which Del Rio said will allow the firm to continue to grow.
"[AFG] is one of the largest aggregators in Australia," she said. "They've got a huge portfolio of more than 4,100 brokers Australia-wide. We've been enlisted as being on panel with them now, which [means] we've gone through a whole lot of due diligence to make sure that there are synergistic opportunities that make sense. And then the idea is that by us partnering and becoming on panel with AFG, we then get access to their 4,100 brokers.
"Small business lending can be pretty complex sometimes," Del Rio said. "So having brokers who really understand the market, the different lenders, is really advantageous to both the broker and the SME getting the right solution."
The increased need for additional commercial finance solutions also led to the partnership between Bizcap and AFG, according to Them Lam, head of sales and distribution at AFG.
“The addition of Bizcap to the panel means more competitive lending options are available to our brokers to help them support Australian SME business operators at a time when they really need it," he said.
Bizcap offers business loans anywhere between $5,000 and $5 million. Approvals can be as quick as three hours, with funding for smaller loans received within 24 hours, the company said.
"The market we play in is these small businesses, often our customers, the reason they come to us is because they need funding very quickly," Del Rio said. "We turn around deals in three hours. No other lender will do that. And then we can go up to $5 million within a day or two, and we don't have any minimum credit score requirements."
Traditional banks continuing to pull back and a surge in small businesses across Australia's landscape has created even more demand for business loans.
But Del Rio said there are other reasons as well for the growth in this section of the market.
"It is really multifaceted. There are a lot of different reasons that SMEs are needing access to capital and fast," she said. "I think a lot of the banks would love to reduce the rigor and the confined bounds that they're in. But the reality is that there is a lot of red tape and steps to do that. So I think really, until banks are more open minded, there's a huge space.
"The general economy and interest rates are definitely a thing," Del Rio said. "I think banks are very stringent on what they expect out of SMEs. And if spending is down at the consumer level, and a large percentage of that portfolio is hospitality and retail [that also reflects negatively]. Now if discretionary spending is down that impacts the cash flow of those businesses.
"When you look at changes in the supply chain as well, a lot of manufacturers or even importing companies, there's been a lot of suppliers that have gone out of business," she added. "That means that the small business owner has to go and find a new supplier. Now, that new supplier they don't have goodwill with, they don't have a payment history with. So often, the payment terms when the business comes on with the new supplier are a lot tighter than if they've got a 10-year relationship with a supplier. That will impact cash flow for the business as well."
