Funding Circle, Farm Bureau Bank Partner to Offer Credit to Underserved SMBs

Online small and medium-sized business (SMB) lending platform Funding Circle and Farm Bureau Bank have announced a partnership that they say will help underserved owners of SMBs in agriculture and other industries gain access to credit.

The organizations also said the partnership would enable Farm Bureau Bank, which has traditionally focused on rural communities, to serve SMBs in all industries, according to a Thursday (Aug. 11) press release .

“Access to Funding Circle’s loans allows us to strengthen our investments in local communities by broadening the funding opportunities available to entrepreneurs and small business owners across the U.S.,” Farm Bureau Bank President and CEO Will Hileman said in the release.

In the new partnership, Farm Bureau Bank can purchase loans originated through Funding Circle, which uses its machine learning (ML) and technology platform to power risk models and deliver loans to SMBs.

“Our work with Farm Bureau Bank reflects our ongoing commitment to identifying and pursuing partnerships that allow us to support affordable funding options for diverse small business owners across a variety of sectors and needs,” Funding Circle US Managing Director Vipul Chhabra said in the press release.

This news comes about a month after an announcement that Funding Circle had teamed up with nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) DreamSpring to increase funding access for small businesses in underserved communities.

Read more: Funding Circle, DreamSpring Team to Offer SMB Funding

PYMNTS research has found that 27% of Main Street businesses used commercial loans and select sources of credit for business purposes over the last year.

Read more: Main Street Economic Health Survey

In the “Main Street Economic Health Survey,” a PYMNTS collaboration with Melio, it was reported that loans help Main Street businesses stay solvent and that these businesses rely on a variety of credit sources — both business and personal — to finance their business operations.