Kabbage Says 17% of Its Small Business Loans are Accessed on Mobile Devices

With the growth of mobile lending, online lender Kabbage now says 17 percent of all its small business loans are being accessed through mobile. The company recently analyzed the lending behavior of almost 150,000 borrowers to draw out some interesting data.

Small Business Mobile Lending Rising

Kabbage says the move to mobile highlights the need small businesses have for convenience, which now also includes access to capital. The company is predicting by the end of 2018 one out of every five dollars loaned to small businesses will be through a mobile device.

Mobile technology has introduced multiple ways to improve the way small businesses operate. This has made it possible for owners and their workforce, customers, partners and vendors to communicate, collaborate and even make payments from almost anywhere. Access to lending is a natural progression of all the other functionalities mobile provides.

Kabbage Chief Revenue Officer, Victoria Treyger, said as much in a recent post on the official Kabbage blog company blog.

Treyger explained, “The growth of mobile lending is evidence of an enormous change occurring in this industry. Small business owners are increasingly digitally savvy and are adopting new technologies faster than ever before. Lending is no different. Kabbage is pioneering this shift in lending by making it a priority to meet small business owners where they are and integrate seamlessly into how they’re already running their businesses.”

In its findings, Kabbage saw an increase of more than 360 percent in the total number of loans accessed through mobile between April 2014 and February 2018. The growth for the total amount of dollars accessed during the same period jumped by an impressive 1,220 percent.

The growth in mobile lending also comes as the overall lending for small businesses is increasing. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index reports the November 2017 Small Business Lending Index rose 4.1 percent to 138.7, which was up more than 7 percent compared to the previous year.

The Kabbage platform has been designed to give small businesses access to capital by allowing them to apply, qualify and withdraw funds from a mobile app. Using an Android or iOS device, business owners can access lines of credit up to $250,000. The company delivers fast, flexible funding in real time by leveraging data generated through business activity, including accounting data, online sales, shipping and other sources to get a comprehensive picture of the applicant’s performance.

Image: Kabbage

This article, "Kabbage Says 17% of Its Small Business Loans are Accessed on Mobile Devices" was first published on Small Business Trends