Just over a year after securing a $2M seed round, Mirador today announced that the completion of a Series A round of financing. The $7 million investment was led by Core Innovation Capital, with participation from Nyca Partners and Jump Capital. Initial seed investors Collaborative Fund, Wicklow Capital, and Crosslink Capital also followed on in this round. The year-and-a-half old fintech company intends to aggressively add more financial institutions to their online lending platform and expand the Oregon-based product development team.
Small businesses in the United States carry nearly $700 billion of small-dollar loans, borrowing over $200 billion each year. But even in a year that saw the U.S. Small Business Administration set an all-time record for lending, and the entrance of dozens of new online lenders and alternative finance companies focused on lending to SMBs, it is estimated that at least a $70 billion funding gap remains in small business financing, according to the release. The Mirador mission is to make it easier for business owners to access lower-cost capital from banks, credit unions, and community lenders.
Not a direct lender, Mirador partners with traditional financial institutions to provide the technology necessary to compete against online marketplace lenders without a heavy investment in software development or additional infrastructure.
“Banks enjoy important relationships with small business customers and are stable sources of lendable capital, but they frequently lack the tools to profitably offer smaller commercial loans,” said Kathleen Utecht, a Managing Partner of Core, a sector focused fund with deep expertise in financial technology infrastructure. “The Mirador solution speeds up the process and lowers the cost of lending which represents a valuable win for both the banks and their borrowers.”
With 15 financial institutions on the Mirador’s cloud-based borrower application, it is one of the largest providers of SMB lending technology. Recent lenders to select the company’s solution include Sno Falls Credit Union, NY Business Development Corporation, and Pacific Continental Bank. The company is also endorsed by the Oregon Bankers Association and is an innovation partner of the Northwest Credit Union Association.
“Our investor group genuinely understands what is required to bring innovation to the financial markets,” said Trevor Dryer, the CEO and co-founder of Mirador. “They know how to build a successful fintech business and have immense experience navigating the complexities of this industry.”
Led by former Visa president Hans Morris, Nyca brings an especially deep expertise in financial services and technology. Nyca investors and advisors include Max Levchin, the CEO of Affirm and the former CTO & co-founder of Paypal.
