Embracing Innovation: Our Journey in the Commercial Lending Space

It seems like just yesterday, I was announcing the launch of Canopy. A few gray hairs later (unclear if from my human babies or my startup baby), I’m thrilled to be giving a very exciting update that we've just raised our Series A1 round of $15.3 million , as announced by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm yesterday.

In a constantly evolving financial landscape, adaptability and innovation are paramount. As we navigate through rising interest rates, inflation concerns, and cautious spending by both businesses and consumers, our team’s unwavering commitment to our lending core remains the cornerstone of our success.?

Here, I’d like to share how Canopy, despite the economic downturn, continues to thrive through new features, new customers, and new investments.

A bright spot in fintech

Amidst a global recession that persisted for two long years, we kept the faith and confidence in what we were building. Today, Canopy has emerged as a bright spot in the financial sphere.?

As a result of many conversations with our clients to get a deep understanding of what they need to take their embedded finance products to the next level, we’ve fine-tuned our modern lending infrastructure to support those ambitions. And that focus has paid off, with Canopy proving its mettle and remaining resilient in a deeply turbulent time for fintech.?

The key to our success? Our team’s unwavering dedication to building a flexible, multi-product platform that continues to pay dividends.

This year, we’ve doubled down on our API-first lending system of record that supports companies – particularly those in the commercial lending space – launching highly customized embedded financial products.

Our partners are growing fast on Canopy’s lending core

From a first principles point of view, we built our platform to support the flexibility our partners and their borrowers want. Our partners then use our flexible rules and policy engine to launch custom products that help the niche markets they serve. From working capital to unique credit builder and branded credit card programs, our customers have harnessed the power of Canopy to scale their operations.

Notable examples include Flexport and Novo , both of which have leveraged our platform and partnership to launch and scale their commercial loan products.

Novo, a business banking platform, recently raised $125 million to scale its Working Capital Offering. Meanwhile, Flexport, a technology platform for global logistics, has expanded its product base and capabilities with Canopy, securing a promising future for its lending program.

New investments mean more opportunities

Canopy's journey throughout 2023 has been nothing short of remarkable. We recently secured an additional $15.2 million in funding, with Infinity Ventures joining us as a new investor this summer.?

This influx of capital serves as a testament to the trust and belief in our vision, which revolves around serving credit and lending providers who seek flexible, extensible, multi-product solutions. Our core growth opportunity lies in the thriving commercial/SMB lending space, vertical SaaS, and specialized credit providers, and there’s no stopping this momentum we feel going into the fourth quarter of 2023.

Full steam ahead into 2024 (and beyond)

Canopy's commitment to innovation extends far beyond where we were at this time two years ago when we raised our first $15M to modernize the backend systems in lending. Fast-forward to today, our mission is still to enable organizations to launch personalized, transparent, and safer credit and lending products, but the way we get there is sharper than ever.

We’re consistently building and refining new products that offer infinite flexibility. This includes multi-loan programs such as merchant cash advances and investments in vertical SaaS platforms catering to niche and underserved markets.?

Just this year, we’ve launched four new products based on our existing customer base’s everyday challenges to support secure testing, rollout, and maintenance of new loan constructs.

Connect

An all-in-one workflow builder designed to help clients scale their lending programs faster with fewer development costs and resources.

LoanLab

A feature that enables lending operators to experiment with new products, simulate real scenarios, and validate account behavior.

Preview

Similar to LoanLab, this feature allows our clients to examine detailed differences and see the impact of making a change to account details before going live.

SafeGuard

An audit system that meticulously checks system calculations against our clients’ lending policies and test cases with roll-time precision.

What to expect next from Canopy

As Canopy continues to evolve, we find inspiration in companies that have mastered the art of innovation. Business models like Chime , Mercury , and Toast (particularly with its new restaurant capital offering ) stand out, setting benchmarks in the industry. We’re stoked to be part of this ecosystem, serving these dynamic markets that continue to evolve.

Our journey in the commercial lending space is marked by unwavering dedication to innovation and growth. As we continue to serve the credit and lending providers that are challenging the status quo, our commitment to flexible, multi-product solutions remains stronger than ever. In an era where innovation is the key to survival, Canopy stands ready to embrace the future with open arms.

About This Edition

The Lending Innovator is a biweekly series with insights from leaders in the credit, lending, and BNPL space. This edition was written by?Matt Bivons , Founder and CEO of?Canopy .

Want to chat directly with Matt or a member of our team? Drop a comment below or let us know what you're building here and how we can help.

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