Online lending platform Lendio announced on Friday it facilitated more than 50,000 small businesses across the U.S. through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Lendio reported that PPP applications approved through its online marketplace and bank partnerships total more than $5.5 billion.
As previously reported, the PPP is part of the $2 trillion CARES Act signed on March 27, 2020, aimed at getting small business owners back on their feet and millions of Americans back to work following the COVID-19 pandemic. Lendio launched its PPP loan application for small business owners on April 3rd and Small business owners were able to apply directly through the lender’s portal and were connected with one of the approved capital providers in Lendio’s extensive network of banks, credit unions, and fintech lenders.
Lendio revealed that with only $349 billion in government funds set aside for the nation’s 30 million small businesses, the SBA announced on April 16th that the funds had been exhausted. Speaking about the process, Brock Blake, CEO and Co-Founder of Lendio, stated that the Lendio team worked tirelessly to ensure that their applications were meeting the Small Business Administration (SBA) requirements and guidelines for fully-completed applications, and they submitted every completed application to our funding lenders.
“We processed more applications in two weeks than we have in the last 12 months combined. We are devastated for the thousands of Lendio customers that didn’t receive a confirmation before the program hit its cap—we are already preparing their applications to make sure they are ready to be approved if Congress increases the fund size.”
Blake also revealed that Lendio’s average PPP loan size was just more than $110,000, with the national average being more than double that (just under $240,000).
“With only 1.6 million of the 30 million U.S. small businesses approved, we are heartbroken for the applicants that weren’t approved by the SBA before the funds ran dry.”
Blake previously took to Twitter to criticize the lack of coordination between the U.S. Department of Treasury and the SBA during the start of the pandemic. He stated that the process of getting the funds to small businesses was a “mess” and described the situation in general as a “power struggle that is turning into a disaster.”