YouLend Expands Revenue-Based Financing Capacity by $5.1 Billion

Global embedded finance platform YouLend secured a financing deal that will enable it to extend 4 billion pounds (about $5.1 billion) in additional revenue-based financing to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The financing will be accessible through partnered global eCommerce sites, tech companies and payment service providers like Amazon, Dojo, eBay and Just Eat Takeaway.com, YouLend said in a Monday (Jan. 29) press release.

This private securitization transaction involves J.P. Morgan acting as a senior lender and Castlelake providing subordinate debt, according to the release. J.P. Morgan joins other active capital providers with YouLend, such as AllianzGI and Castlelake.

The collaboration with J.P. Morgan highlights YouLend’s commitment to closing the funding gap for SMBs, the release said.

YouLend’s embedded finance platform uses artificial intelligence-driven decision-making models to provide accurate assessments of a business’s health, per the release. This approach enhances financial inclusion by opening financing opportunities for underserved SMBs.

The financing from J.P. Morgan will also support YouLend’s goal of empowering more businesses across the European Union and the United Kingdom with access to seamless embedded finance experiences, according to the release.

By reducing YouLend’s cost of capital, this facility allows the company to offer competitive rates and terms to its global partners and their merchants, the release said.

This financing deal follows a lending milestone for YouLend, as the company recently celebrated providing 150,000 instances of funding to SMBs across the EU, the U.K. and the United States since its launch in 2015, per the release.

YouLend-backed SMBs have experienced a 26% uplift in sales in the six months following funding, contributing 6.8 billion pounds (about $8.6 billion) in revenue to the GDP across YouLend’s core markets, the release said.

Amazon teamed with YouLend in June, saying it aimed to help small businesses in the U.K. gain financing in a tough lending environment. The partnership gives merchants cash advances linked to their sales, letting them make repayments as they earn.

In November, YouLend and open banking network Plaid reported that their partnership developed a financing process designed for SMBs in Europe that is almost three times faster than that of traditional lenders and delivers a 90% approval rate.

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