Best Startup Business Loans

If your startup doesn’t yet have cash flow or collateral, Finance Factory may still get you financed if you have a personal credit score in the high 600s. Add to that a streamlined application process with a personal contact, a free funding range report, and quick funding, and Finance Factory ranks as our best overall for startup business loans. 

Founded in 2006, Finance Factory has been providing competitive business lending services through its online marketplace model. The company matches small businesses with lenders in all 50 states providing loans for all stages of growth.

Startup funding from Finance Factory will take the form of business credit cards, personal loans, and lines of credit. In most cases, there will be no prepayment penalties, but because loans are tailored to your specific circumstances, this is a question you should verify when you receive approval.

For startup funding products, the company requires a credit score above 600, with an ideal score of at least 700. There are no annual revenue and time in business requirements. However, the company will look for a minimum account balance of $1,000 to $5,000 to cover your payments.

If you or your business has any reported collections, judgments, liens, late payments, or public records, you will most likely be disqualified.

The company has 4.6 out of 5 stars from LendingTree with excellent ratings specifically for their interest rates, fees, closing costs, responsiveness, and customer service.

Working with Finance Factory allows customers to explore several financing options in one place as their business grows, offering advantages to businesses with no history.

Become.co’s proprietary data-driven tool, LendingScore, connects your online store to your marketing platforms and creates a dashboard of your metrics so you can see how lenders see you. This special integration into your online store and marketing channels is what makes Become.co a standout winner for e-commerce businesses that need a startup loan. 

Become.co is a loan marketplace headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company uses bank-level encryption for data security to protect borrowers’ and lenders’ information. With a single borrower application, it connects you to multiple loan offers from lenders in its platform that cover all 50 states.

Repayment is flexible and based on the monthly turnover. The approving third-party lenders will provide other terms and conditions. 

Customers that apply for business funding through Become.co must be in business for a minimum of three months. However, those who fail to qualify with this requirement will have free access to its LendingScore to help improve their funding odds.

As a funding solution marketplace, Become.co can match loans for businesses in all 50 states. They are limited to funding only for-profit businesses.

The company has 4.6 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, with reviewers recognizing its simple and easy process and its excellent customer service.

The company uses revolutionary technology to present your business in the best light to lenders. Though other lenders look at just your financial health, Become.co’s LendingScore shows lenders your marketing success and digital footprint, too, making them more comfortable with your business’s repayment capabilities.

Retail businesses can fluctuate by season, but OnDeck’s short-term loan and line of credit provide flexible access to smaller amounts of money, which keeps the borrower’s total interest expense low and makes it our best retail startup lender.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, OnDeck is an online small business lender. Currently, it is offering two types of business loans: short-term loans and revolving lines of credit. It was one of the first lenders to rely primarily on technology.

The company doesn’t have prepayment penalties and can waive 100% of your remaining interest payments if you pay off your loan early.

For businesses to qualify, OnDeck requires at least a 625 personal credit score, one year in business, and $100,000 in business annual revenue.

The company is not accepting Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications but recommends customers apply with one of its trusted partners. OnDeck serves over 700 industries in 47 states with the following exceptions:

Ineligible industries:

• Adult entertainment/materials
• Drug dispensaries
• Firearms vendors
• Government and nonprofits, public administration
• Horoscope/fortune telling
• Loan Brokers
• Lotteries, casinos, raffles, gaming, and gambling
• Money services businesses
• Mortgages
• Religious and civic organizations
• Rooming and boarding houses

Ineligible states:

• Nevada
• North Dakota
• South Dakota

Trustpilot rates OnDeck highly with a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars and has a 5-star score from LendingTree. Reviewers report positive experiences with the company’s responsiveness and customer service.

With OnDeck, borrowers fill out a single application that works for every type of financing option it offers. Funds are available as fast as the same business day.

With a five-minute prequalification, a high funding limit of $1,000,000, no collateral requirement, and rates as low as prime + 1%, Midwest Corporate Credit earns our nod for the best lender for high-growth startups.

Founded in 2010, Midwest Corporate Credit has made it to the prestigious Inc. 500 list three times and has funded over $250 million in small business loans.

Funding highlights: 

• Revolving line with interest-only payments allowed
• No early prepayment penalty
• Does not report to personal credit bureaus

Your startup business must be at least 2 years old and able to repay the loan from proven earnings. If your startup is pre-revenue, Midwest may be able to help you with its business credit card funding program. This program’s typical funding range is between $25,000 and $250,000. Interest rates will likely be 0% for six to 12 months with no upfront fees and a 10% success fee paid from the proceeds of the approved funding amount. 

Though the credit card program will fund nonprofits, the business line of credit (BLOC) will not. Other businesses ineligible for the BLOC include:

• Banks
• Bail bond companies
• Direct lenders
• Factoring companies
• Farms
• Gas stations
• Gambling
• Investment companies
• Life insurance companies (not independent agents)
• Pornography
• Tobacco-related businesses

The company has received positive reviews on Yelp, Birdeye, BiggerPockets, and YouTube acknowledging its professionalism, impeccable funding knowledge, and work ethic.

In addition to funding, the company will also show you how to use its financial tools through its consultation service.

Seek Business Capital, LLC, can offer SBA loan products with repayment terms of up to 25 years with a streamlined application process and wide lender exposure, making it the best choice for long repayment terms.

Headquartered in Los Angeles and founded in 2014, Seek Business Capital is not a direct lender but a digital lending platform that specializes in providing financial services for startups and small businesses through its partnerships with major banks. These partnerships allow it to lend in 50 states.

Most SBA applicants who qualify have at least a 680 credit score. Borrowers are generally required to make a 20% to 30% capital contribution to reduce the lender’s—and the SBA’s—risk. Seek Business Capital will ask you to prove your time in business and produce a business plan with a financial forecast projecting between two and five years. In addition, your financial statements must show that your business earns enough to afford the loan payments.

For the SBA 7(a) loan, an SBA loan type accessible to startups, there is a prepayment penalty for loans with terms of 15 years or more if they are paid off within the first three years of the loan. The prepayment penalty is 5% if the loan is paid off in the first year, 3% in year two, and 1% in year three.

There is a fairly extensive list of industries and businesses that are not eligible for an SBA loan. For example, many lending and investment businesses; gambling and pyramid sales companies; and charitable, religious, and government-owned corporations are not eligible.

Most startup loans have short terms, ranging from months to just a few years. The SBA loan’s maturity of 15 to 25 years, therefore, is highly sought after. It is a slow and paperwork-intensive process, so Seek Business Capital’s ability to turn that into a simple effort while maximizing your application’s exposure to many lenders is a tremendous benefit for busy business owners.

Not only does Upwise Capital provide up to 100% invoice financing with an efficient online application, but it also goes above and beyond by educating consumers on how the process works, why a business would want to use this tool, what the pros and cons of it are, and what it costs, with detailed examples and an online calculator. Business owners are best served when there are few surprises, and Upwise Capital is the best at providing transparency into their unpaid invoice financing for startups.

Located in New York with clients like Domino’s, Subway, Five Guys, and the UPS Store, Upwise Capital provides flexible financing options for startups and established businesses. It offers more than a dozen financing products to more than a thousand industries.

Because of the way unpaid invoice finance works, prepayment penalties don’t apply. It’s in the business owner’s best interest for their customer to pay their invoice as soon as possible. Rather than prepayment penalties, invoice financing lenders, called factors, charge additional fees to the business for each month the invoices remain open.  

Most Upwise customers who qualify have an annual revenue of over $150,000, a credit score of over 600+, and more than one year in business, with invoices from credible clients. The company serves all 50 states, but the quality of the customer who owes on the unpaid invoice is highly vetted. The typical high-risk industries, such as gambling and financial services for which the item in trade is money, won’t qualify.

Upwise Capital’s Trustpilot reviews are 4.7 out of 5 stars, specifically noting the company’s professionalism, customer service, and funding success.

A great perk of working with Upwise Capital is the comfort of knowing that it has a broad suite of financial products that can help you in the many scenarios you’ll find your business in as it grows.