The business lenders that are taking the lead in 2021

3rd March 2021

Drip Capital, based in the US, takes the winning spot as the leading business lending company, with the brand seeing an increase of traffic by 17,000%

Invest in your blog content: Brands that saw increased traffic to their blog in 2020 also saw an uplift in traffic and traffic value

The UK is becoming the second-largest fintech market in the world with growing investment and startups.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, business lending is expected to see a surge due to many new businesses being launched and existing businesses needing support that may not be available from banks.

In a new report by growth marketing agency, Kaizen, the study analyses how organic search, brand interest, and social following all affected the world's leading business lending fintech companies. The research delves into how funding, approach to onsite and offsite content has led to continued growth and which brands have managed to fulfil the needs of their customers.

Here are the top ten business lending brands:

Drip Capital USA - Meet this year's winner. Based in Palo Alto, California, is the youngest brand featured in our analysis. Drip Capital describes itself as a trade finance company, which allows small and medium exporters to gain capital to fund their growing businesses. Despite their main offices being located in California, Drip Capital is also based in India and specialises in developing markets. Founded by Pushkar Mukewar and Neil Kothari in 2014, the company has a valuation of $125 million, and due to their growing interest, the brand has seen some impressive results both onsite and offsite overall.

Amartha - Based in Indonesia, this peer-to-peer lending company is the only Asian fintech to feature in the top ten. Established in 2010 by Andi Taufan Garuda Putra, the company has raised $18 million in funding from nine investors. Amartha was also in the top percentile for a yearly increase in social media followers on Twitter at 26%, but also a steady brand awareness increase of 8% compared to 2019.

BlueVine USA - Describing themselves as making business funding "quick and painless", there's no doubt that BlueVine pops into mind when thinking about business lenders. With a whopping $9 billion delivered in funding to over 200,000 businesses, it is one of the most recognised business funding companies in the US.

Clearbanc Canada - The youngest brand feature, Clearbanc, names itself as "the biggest e-commerce investor in the world" and with over $1 billion invested in over 3,000 online businesses - they are definitely one to watch. The brand's biggest triumph over competitor brands was an increase of 50% for its social followers on Twitter - the highest increase recorded in our analysis.

Capital on Tap UK - Founded by David Luck and George Karibian in 2012, Capital on Tap is a lender that provides funding and credit cards for businesses. Named as one of the UK's fastest-growing fintech companies by Forbes, the brand has received around £140 million in funding.

Kabbage - Kabbage was launched in 2008 and founded by Kathryn Petralia, Marc Gorlin, and Rob Frohwein. The company has seen some impressive SEO growth over the past year, with a 69% rise in referring domains and a 129% rise in visitors to their website.

Funding Options UK - One of the UK's leading business finance lenders, Funding Options was founded by Conrad Ford in 2011 and has been steadily growing over the last few years. With over £424 million funded to UK businesses and over €22 million in the Netherlands, there's no surprise that this company has seen some impressive growth over the past year.

Funding Circle UK - Funding Circle aims to help both small businesses and investors find the perfect match whilst supporting each other, helping over 90,000 businesses across the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. Founded in 2010, the brand has continued to grow and this can be seen in their onsite and offsite performance over the past year. Funding Circle has seen its traffic shoot up by nearly 119%, with referring domains increasing by nearly 15%.

LIBERIS UK - Liberis was founded by Charles Mindenhall and Paul Mildenstein in 2007. With the company receiving around £160 million in funding, they have been able to help over 16,000 businesses across Europe to get started.

IWOCA UK - iwoca is based in London and focuses on providing fast and flexible finance solutions to small businesses. Founded in 2011, the company has received over $600 million in funding.

See the Kaizen report HERE