New partnership. More deals. Bigger financing opportunities for small businesses.
That’s the plan for online SME lender P2Binvestor (P2Bi) and Amalgamated Bank, a socially responsible bank headquartered in New York. By working together, P2Bi and Amalgamated Bank will be able to provide more financing with less risk to early-stage SMEs that have traditionally struggled to secure credit.
“Our partnership with Amalgamated Bank signifies another important step in further validating our Bank Partnership Program,” CEO and co-founder of P2Bi Krista Morgan said. “Our technology, combined with Amalgamated’s record of success, allows us to provide affordable, scalable financing options to up and coming brands across the country. In addition, we’re proud to partner with a socially responsible company that shares similar values not only with us, but with many of our clients.”
Working with P2Bi will enable the $4+ billion bank to expand its loan portfolio and fund more emerging, socially responsible commercial and industrial businesses. P2Bi benefits from access to those businesses currently doing business with the bank. For SMEs, P2Bi’s lower rates on its lines of credit provide affordable, flexible financing on a platform that is easy to use.
“Amalgamated is dedicated to developing innovative and tailored banking and financing solutions for mission-driven organizations and companies who are working to make a positive impact in our society,” President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, Keith Mestrich said. “By partnering with P2Bi, Amalgamated is able to help these businesses access capital they might not have otherwise had access to – and in turn grow their business and their impact.”
The new relationship with Amalgamated is a function of P2Bi’s partnership program, launched last year. The program enables banks to finance SMEs, taking a 50%, senior secured position, with P2Bi’s investors providing the other half of the funding. Interest rates range from 8% to 12% on asset-backed lines of credit from $500,000 to $10 million.
P2Bi demonstrated its P2B crowdlending platform at FinovateFall 2014. Last month, the company raised more than $17 million in combined debt and equity funding, taking P2Bi’s combined overall funding to $33.76 million. Earlier this year, American Banker took a look at how another FI, New Resource Bank, was leveraging its partnership with P2Binvestor to reach SME clients in San Francisco. P2Binvestor was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.