PayPal to acquire Swift Financial to bolster small business lending

Global payments processing company PayPal announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire Swift Financial, which provides small business owners with working capital. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition will give PayPal better tools to expand its own Working Capital product.

For PayPal, the acquisition should bolster a portion of the company’s business that has seen increased competition over the years. It first launched a Working Capital product for businesses back in 2013, and since then has seen competitors like Square and Kabbage emerge as offering their own credit lines to small business customers.

With that in mind, PayPal has acquired Swift to add to its own underwriting capabilities and expand the amount of data it can use to assess the creditworthiness of its customers. Doing so should expand the amount of capital it makes available.

“We know and value Swift’s technology platform and people, and we believe their talent and capabilities will further strengthen our overall merchant value proposition,” PayPal’s Darrell Esch wrote in announcing the deal. “Building upon an existing commercial relationship, the acquisition of Swift Financial will enable us to better serve small businesses by enhancing our underwriting capabilities to provide access to affordable business financing solutions to more businesses to help them grow and thrive.”

Since being founded in 2006, Swift Financial has provided funding to more than 20,000 small businesses, according to its statement announcing the deal. That’s not bad for a startup, but clearly PayPal will give Swift massive distribution and the ability to reach more companies that it works with.

In its announcement, PayPal says it has provided access to more than $3 billion in funding to more than 115,000 small businesses since it launched PayPal Working Capital. The companies expect the acquisition to be completed later in the year.

Featured Image: PayPal