In the platform economy, scale matters. And in leveraging Amazon’s scale as a platform — with millions of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and even micro-sized businesses hawking pretty much everything under the sun — it might seem a “slam dunk” if, say, a financial...
In the wake of the Great Recession, small businesses found it difficult to secure loans via banks – and even when they were available, the common complaint was that the application process was slow, time-consuming, paper-intensive and ill-suited to the needs of small businesses. From...
Sezzle — a “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) company based in Minnesota, but listed in Australia — was denied a crucial lending license from California. Rival BNPL company Afterpay’s application was approved by the state. The company offers U.S. and Canadian consumers modest, interest-free loans,...
As banks continue to shy away from providing small business loans, many small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners have turned to online lending companies to fill the gap. SMB digital loan applications increased 19 percent year over year, according to The Wall Street Journal. However,...
U.S. business loans and capital investment have essentially plateaued in the second half of 2019, in what experts say is a reflection of the slowing industrial economy. The industrial slowdown crippled markets and made way for big businesses to take advantage of cheap financing deals...
Student loan personal finance platform Pillar has launched a gift initiative for the holidays called Boost, according to a release. Boost will allow for friends and family to gift payments to help someone paying off student loan debt. The payments will be automatically applied toward...
Running a small business is not for the faint of heart — or the deeply optimistic. The numbers, as offered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, are not encouraging. About 20 percent of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have failed by the end of...
One of the biggest tests for FinTech in the coming years is how well it can serve businesses that don’t have easy or efficient access to credit. That test is playing out in Brazil, the largest country in South America, and one of the largest...
Of late, California’s emissions standards have become a source of some controversy as the state’s ability to set emission standards for cars and trucks that are higher than the standards imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been questioned by the Trump administration. The...
