Lendsmart and Griffin Technologies, two U.S. fintechs that are building software for banks and credit unions, announced on Wednesday they have partnered to provide their customers a complete end-to-end solution for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was created under the original CARES Act following the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the U.S.
Lendsmart reported that through the partnership it will use its AI technology to automate the PPP application with Griffin’s marketing platform to reach small business owners, banks, and credit unions so that they may process more loan applications while identifying and acquiring qualified SMB leads. Speaking about the partnership, AK Patel, founder and CEO of Lendsmart, stated:
“With financial institutions struggling to manage the high number of applications and small businesses in need of immediate funds, we saw an opportunity to speed up and simplify the mostly manual process by using our existing technology.”
Donald Hawkins, Founder and CEO of Griffin Technologies, further commented:
“When we heard of small businesses struggling to find financial institutions that could process the SBA PPP loan, we knew we needed to increase visibility around Griffin’s technology to connect them to interested financial institutions. We hope that this partnership will bring the remainder of the PPP loan funding back to its original intent of alleviating stress on small businesses nationwide.”
The collaboration forms just as the U.S. Senate unanimously approved more funding for the program, which recently was tapped dry several days ago. The legislation includes an additional $321 billion for the PPP part of which, $60 billion, was said to be set aside for underbanked businesses. There is an additional $60 billion in loans and grants for disaster assistance as well as $75 billion for hospitals plus $25 billion for Coronavirus testing. Any funding is a temporary bandaid as the economy has screeched to halt due to social distancing and widespread lockdowns.
The House is expected to vote this coming Thursday and President Donald Trump will be signing the bill soon after.
