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Fintech giant Revolut is reportedly considering the acquisition of a U.S. bank, a strategic move to accelerate its American ambitions without waiting years for a bank charter approval. By purchasing a bank with a national license, Revolut could vastly expand its financial services, including the addition of business lending to its suite of corporate credit cards.

The timing is fraught: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is close to finalizing new rules meant to secure people’s access to their own financial data. Many see JPMorgan’s move as an attempt to undercut those reforms and cement control over the digital rails of American banking.

Enova's small business lending, including business units OnDeck and Headway Capital, has reached a new record, with small and medium-sized business (SMB) offerings constituting approximately two-thirds of the company's loan portfolio. SMB revenue alone increased by 30% year-over-year to a record $326 million, and SMB originations hit a record $1.2 billion in Q2.

Recent moves by Square in the United Kingdom and Wells Fargo in the United States show how revenue-based financing is gaining global traction, and how it’s helping everyday entrepreneurs succeed faster, smarter, and with less risk.

The math is compelling. As average loan sizes decreased by 36% since 2021, the number of approvals surged. This trend suggests we're witnessing the democratization of SBA lending, with more entrepreneurs gaining access to the capital that was previously concentrated among fewer, larger borrowers.

A recent PYMNTS Intelligence report reveals that over half of SMBs use both personal and business credit cards. Younger firms frequently carry balances, signaling cash flow pressure. While high limits attract larger SMBs, smaller ones want credit-building tools and relevant perks.

Below, we extracted the top Alternative Financing Lenders per CNBC from their list in alphabetical order and provided a summary of what they do according to their website.

Heron, a startup using AI to automate workflows in business lending, equipment finance, and insurance, has raised $16 million in Series A funding led by global software investor Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors Y-Combinator, BoxGroup and Flex Capital. The Series A will support Heron's next phase of expansion, helping the company scale its AI-driven solutions to more segments.

At the center of it all was Edwin Brant Frost IV, a man who had spent nearly four decades building credibility in Georgia's Republican circles, only to allegedly use that trust to orchestrate one of the state's largest financial frauds in recent memory.

The new wave of brokers entering the space? Many are hungry, motivated… and totally lost. They don’t know how to source quality leads, structure a deal, or build lender relationships. This is your opportunity to...

Paul's fraud scheme involved 42 separate loans across 17 institutions, indicating that individual lenders may have lacked the systems to identify patterns of suspicious activity that would have been apparent when viewed collectively.

Propel Finance, a leading UK asset-finance provider, has secured a landmark £1.5 billion funding facility designed to accelerate lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Britain. The company has already supported more than 50,000 SMEs with over £1 billion in lending over the past three years.

In the summer of 2020, while small businesses across America struggled to survive the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, Darren Carlyle Sadler was living a very different reality. The 38-year-old Costa Mesa businessman had discovered what he believed was the perfect opportunity hidden within the chaos of the federal government's rushed response to the crisis.

The data reveals a striking consensus among SMBs regarding the importance of embedded finance. A remarkable 90% of small businesses now consider access to embedded financial products and services essential to their daily operations. This isn't merely preference; it's become fundamental infrastructure.