FinTech StreetShares, which works to aid financial institutions (FIs) in providing loans for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), has secured $10 million in a funding round, according to a press release.
The round was led by Motley Fool Ventures and Ally Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Ally Financial, along with other individual FinTech angel investors.
StreetShares launched in 2019. The pandemic sped up the need for the loan providing services StreetShares offers, the release stated, as lenders sought out software to lend money through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) digitally. Since January, the company has grown to 53 FI clients, nearly double what it had before.
The technology particularly impacted FIs like community banks, Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) and Community Development Financial Institutions, which made up around 75 percent of the StreetShares PPP loan forgiveness volume, the release stated.
"We're seeing exciting digital adoption by banks and credit unions in response to COVID-19," said StreetShares CEO Mark L. Rockefeller in the release. "But equally important to us is the practical impact our technology is having in helping their customers, especially underserved business owners, get the funding they need to succeed."
The release stated StreetShares is now working in "strategic partnerships" to expand the service beyond PPP loans, into "a full suite of post-PPP technologies that community banks and credit unions need to better serve small businesses."
Since the pandemic hit earlier this year, FinTechs have come up with ways to keep businesses afloat. Aion Bank Chief Commercial Officer, Head of Corporate and X-Border Krzysztof Czuba told PYMNTS that digitizing is important to a business's survival today, alongside tools to access loans and simple, transparent pricing.
With the way SMBs and the economy are evolving, Czuba said a digital-first approach is vital to helping businesses spend as much time as possible focusing on recovery and development.
