FinTech Profile: Kabbage, the fast-growing unicorn

This week FinTech Magazine looks at American fintech Kabbage, the innovative cash flow unicorn. 

[image: Kathryn Petralia and Rob Frohwei]

Fintech company Kabbage is a business lender founded in 2008 by Kathryn Petralia, Rob Frohwein and Marc Gorlin. Kabbage has a particular focus on lending to small companies. The company has ascended to unicorn status after a US$1bn valuation; an achievement that also places Petralia as the 97th most powerful woman in the world. But what exactly separates Kabbage from its competitors? 

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• Read the latest edition of FinTech Magazine, here!

The Forbes Fintech 50 2019-listed company  uses innovative AI technology to make small business lending both more efficient and more profitable. Kabbage is capable of making loan decisions in 10 minutes, rather than the weeks that banks take. According to a survey by the Federal Reserve Banks survey on small businesses, online lender use has grown exponentially, from 19% in 2016 to 32% last year, meaning business looks good for Kabbage. Since it was formed, the fintech has lent as much as $8bn and continues to evolve rapidly as it launches new cash flow needs prediction tools. All Kabbage business loans are issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-Chartered Industrial Bank, Member FDIC.

In an interview with Kathryn Petralia, Kabbage and Eric Schurenberg, Fast Company and Inc, Petralia shared that about 80% of the loans are approved in under eight minutes from companies that are generating around $5,000 a month. 

Be sure to check out the interview for more on how Kabbage leverages data to achieve these fast approval times. 

For more information on all topics for FinTech, please take a look at the latest edition of FinTech magazine.

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