Bonside, a New York-based credit platform that finances brick-and-mortar businesses, has secured a $100 million capital partnership with private investment firm i80 Group to expand funding for service companies with physical locations.
The facility will back Bonside’s use of its Repeatable Revenue Agreement, or RRA, a financing structure that advances capital to retailers and other operators based on their revenue performance rather than traditional collateral, the companies said.
Dylan Mark, a senior vice president at i80 Group, said many brick-and-mortar operators still struggle to access efficient growth capital for new locations, and cited Bonside’s approach to underwriting the sector’s specific risks.
Bonside’s lending model is built around an AI-enabled “Scorecard” system that connects to a business’s accounting software and standardises historical data into more than 20 weighted metrics, producing an assessment alongside an operational and financial overview.
The company says it can generate Scorecards for a wide range of tenants, from single-store retailers to national chains, creating what it describes as a common credit language for non-public brands.
All 50 of its investments to date have been driven by the Scorecard, with the portfolio reporting no defaults and returns ahead of multi-year targets.
The partnership with i80 Group lifts Bonside’s total available capital to more than $130 million, allowing it to increase the frequency and size of financings to eligible businesses, the firm said.
Bonside also pitches its scoring tool as a way to give landlords and property managers more transparency on prospective tenants.
Brands can share Scorecard outputs directly with counterparties via the platform, potentially lowering due diligence costs and speeding lease negotiations.
Founded in 2016, i80 Group provides asset-based financing to companies and manages about $2 billion in assets, with offices in New York and London.
Bonside, which publicly launched in 2023, announced strategic equity partnerships last May with U.S. real estate investment trust Kimco Realty and investment manager Nuveen Real Estate.
