Small business lender BlueVine is on track for originating its target of $500 million by end of 2017. It might even exceed that number.
“Our goal is to fund approximately $500 million this year and we are already past that rate on a monthly basis. We feel very confident on meeting our annual goal,” Eyal Lifshitz, CEO for BlueVine told Bank Innovation.
Indeed, since its inception four years ago, BlueVine has expanded its two core products: line of credit and invoice factoring. More recently, the company increased its line of credit to $150,000 from $100,000. It’s invoice factoring has been extended to $2.5 million, from $250,000.
Based in Redwood City, Calif., BlueVine serves small businesses, typically those with at least 5-10 employees. Their average client has between $600,000 – $700,000 in revenues, although they serve businesses with smaller revenues as well, Lifshitz said.
While BlueVine provides two separate core products, Lifshitz said that 50% of their factoring clients also have a line of credit.
The company’s uniqueness lies in that it provides a revolving credit that it calls FlexCredit. Through this product, customers can access the line of credit continuously without having to repeatedly apply for a new loan. The funds can be used in part or in full. The amount can be paid back in full or in installments, making it a “convenient source of cash for these businesses to use for payroll, to buy supplies or inventory, or even expanding their business,” Lifshitz said.
In terms of expanding its own business, Lifshitz said they are planning to launch a product next year. He declined to provide further details. In terms of financing, the company is not actively seeking out investors, although Lifshitz “always welcomes meetings with any potential ones.”
However, the company could be on the hunt for inorganic growth opportunities, in other words, bolt-on acquisitions. In fact, Lifshitz said BlueVine was recently close to making its first add-on purchase, but then decided not to pursue it. Lifshitz declined to elaborate.
Earlier in February, BlueVine secured a warehouse credit line of up to $75 million from Fortress Credit Corp. Last year, it raised a total of $49 million in capital from a group of investors, including Rakuten’s financial startup fund, Silicon Valley Bank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, CitiVentures, 83North and Menlo Ventures.