Small business financial services platform Company.com is integrating a solution into its offering through which small firms can access external financing.
Company.com said in a press release this week that it is rolling out its Business Funding Marketplace, which will integrate into its STAC Platform, to help small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) with their unique financing needs and match them with an appropriate financing offering.
The firm also noted that it can connect its experts with small business owners who need guidance choosing the right financing solution.
“Time and time again we hear from small businesses that access to capital is the biggest obstacle to growth,” Company.com Chief Operating Officer David Kramer said in the announcement. “This new offering gives Company.com members access to a marketplace of financial solutions that fit their needs, whether they are starting a new business or expanding an existing one.”
Company.com did not identify the particular financing companies that will link SMBs on the platform to their products and services.
Marketplace lending has emerged as a growing force in the small business lending space, particularly as FinTechs explore ways to connect small businesses with capital without actually providing the financing themselves.
Earlier this week one alternative lender, Funding Circle, which provides small businesses with funding directly, announced it reached the $2 billion mark in small business loans in the U.S., a figure it says surpasses that of many traditional institutions in the country.
Yet the FDIC said in previous analysis that the actual volume of traditional bank loans to small businesses in the U.S. may be significantly greater than is reported, with many institutions only reporting small business loans as being $1 million or less, as well as loans that are secured by residential real estate. Differing definitions of what a small business is may also be obscuring actual small business loan valuation, the FDIC noted.