NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CAN Capital, market share leader in the alternative small business (SMB) finance space, today announced $33 million in funding led by Meritech Capital Partners (Meritech) with increased participation and ownership from existing investor Accel Partners (Accel). Meritech and Accel were joined in the funding round by Ribbit Capital (Ribbit) and QED Investors (QED). Nigel Morris, managing partner at QED, also serves as Vice Chair of CAN Capital’s Board of Directors. Ribbit and QED also significantly increased their ownership stakes in the company. CAN Capital will use the funds to expand and accelerate the growth of its small business finance offerings.
“Ensuring that small businesses continue to get access to capital remains a mainstream issue and a core focus for CAN Capital, especially as these businesses are among key drivers of economic growth,” said Daniel DeMeo, Chief Executive Officer of CAN Capital. “We’re committed to helping these businesses grow, and while we are well capitalized, this round of funding allows us to further enhance our product offerings to continue meeting our customers’ needs. We are grateful to our investors and excited about cultivating our new Meritech relationship, as well as our ongoing collaboration with Accel, QED and Ribbit.”
CAN Capital uses its own real-time platform and risk scoring models to assess and facilitate the provision of capital to SMBs in the U.S. and Latin America. The company has provided access to $3.6 billion in capital to SMBs, representing roughly 123,000 distinct small business finance transactions.
“CAN Capital’s unique risk model and its highly-effective underwriting engine have allowed the company to serve small business owners that have difficulty working with traditional capital sources,” said Mike Gordon, Managing Director at Meritech. “These capabilities have allowed the company to grow exponentially and we see it as a key player in the small business finance industry that is well-positioned for future growth.”
“CAN Capital was probably the best-kept secret in the emerging financial innovation boom. The company created the alternative SMB finance space and is growing rapidly,” said Kevin Efrusy, General Partner at Accel and existing member of CAN Capital’s Board of Directors. “One should be wary of those with loud megaphones, but weak balance sheet results. CAN Capital is not only profitable, but the company is the revenue, market share and innovation leader in the space. We are delighted to significantly deepen our commitment to this fantastic team and company.”
Over the past four years, CAN Capital has doubled its revenue and is on pace to double again in the next two years. This impressive growth has allowed the company to increase its employee base by 30 percent over the last three years to 500 employees. CAN Capital plans to continue hiring strong talent who share its mission of helping small businesses obtain faster and easier access to capital.
About CAN Capital
CAN Capital (formerly Capital Access Network) is the largest, most experienced company providing small businesses with access to alternative capital. CAN Capital uses innovative and proprietary risk models combined with daily performance data to evaluate business performance. Its business evaluation model allows it to facilitate capital for entrepreneurs and help them qualify for more money than they could obtain elsewhere. Since 1998, thousands of small businesses in over 650 industries have chosen CAN Capital to obtain easy access to the funding that they need. CAN Capital grew its revenue 49 percent between 2009-2012 and it operates profitably with a $460 million line of credit from a syndicate of leading banks, including Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo Capital Finance LLC, Capital One, Fifth Third Bancorp, Brown Brothers Harriman, Key Equipment Finance, Amalgamated Bank, Regions Bank, Capital Source and AloStar as well as equity capital from Accel Partners and Meritech Capital Partners.
CAN Capital makes capital available to businesses through its subsidiaries: Merchant Cash Advances by CAN Capital Merchant Services, Inc., and business loans through CAN Capital Asset Servicing, Inc. (CCAS). All business loans obtained through CCAS are made by WebBank, a Utah-chartered Industrial Bank, member FDIC.
About Meritech Capital Partners (MCP):
Meritech Capital Partners is a leading provider of late-stage venture capital to category-defining private technology companies, and has been one of the top performing venture firms of the past decade. With over $2.6 billion under management, Meritech primarily leads investments into companies with proven and differentiated technology, rapidly-growing revenue and experienced management teams. With one of the most active venture portfolios, Meritech has experience in, and provides guidance on issues facing rapidly growing companies including management incentive plans, IPO market timing and positioning, M&A strategies and negotiations and adviser selection.
Meritech investments in industry-leading companies include Acclarent, Broadsoft, Cornerstone-OnDemand, Facebook, Fortinet, Fusion-io, Greenplum, hybris, Imperva, Netezza, NetSuite, Proofpoint, PopCap, Riverbed, Salesforce.com, Sourcefire, Tableau and Zulily.
Meritech is located in Palo Alto, CA and can be found at www.meritechcapital.com.
About Accel Partners
Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London, and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel.
Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful technology companies, many of which have defined their categories, including 99designs, Actuate, AdMob, Agile Software, AirWatch, Alfresco, Angry Birds (Rovio), Atlassian, BBN, Bonobos, Braintree, Brightcove, Cloudera, ComScore, Diapers.com (Quidsi), Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, Fusion-IO, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Groupon, HasOffers, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, IronPlanet, JBoss, Kayak, Lookout, Macromedia, metroPCS, MoPub, Myntra, Nimble Storage, Opower, OzForex, Polycom/PictureTel, Playfish, Portal Software, QlikTech, Quidsi, Real Networks, Redback, Responsys, Riverbed, Spotify, Squarespace, SuperCell, SunRun, Trulia, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, Wonga, XenSource and Zimbra.
For more information, please visit the Accel Partners web site at accel.com, or on Facebook at facebook.com/accel.
About QED Investors
QED Investors actively supports high-growth businesses that use information to compete — and win. While support is tailored to the specific needs of each portfolio company, QED typically provides a combination of both capital and capability. With operationally-oriented skills that they believe are both fundamentally applicable and broadly transferable, QED enjoys working closely with a small set of carefully selected companies that range in size and style.
About Ribbit Capital
Ribbit Capital is a venture capital firm that invests globally in unique individuals and brands who are aiming to disrupt financial services. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Ribbit believes the category is profoundly under-innovated and is looking to support entrepreneurs who have already launched the businesses of the future. For more information, please visit http://ribbitcap.com.
