Square Capital Gets Another Boost From Victory Park

Square Inc. says it has received more funding for its Square Capital program, which grants loans to Square merchants based on their transaction history.

The San Francisco-based payments technology company did not disclose the amount of the new funding in its May 12 announcement, but said the lending program's first investor, Victory Park Capital, has tripled its original investment. Square also received new funding from Colchis Capital.

Victory Park Capital made its first investment in Square Capital in August of 2014. Neither company disclosed a figure at that time either, though Square declared it had issued about $50 million in cash advances to small businesses prior to the investment.

The Square Capital program, which launched a year ago, examines the transaction history of merchants who accept payments through Square. It then offers a loan to be repaid as a portion of future transactions. The loan's total cost to the seller never changes, regardless of how long it takes to pay Square.

In April, Square provided small merchants with nearly $25 million in capital, the company said. More than 80% of the merchants who have completed their first Square Capital advance have renewed for a second round of funding to make additional business investments, Square said in its press release.

Square is not the only company that has chipped away at the banks' traditional role as a small-business or consumer lender. Various alternative payment companies have obtained funding to expand those services.

Last week, former PayPal co-founder Max Levchin announced his new company, Affirm Inc., had raised $275 million to strengthen its e-commerce payment and consumer lending program.

A year ago, PayPal changed the name of its consumer lending program Bill Me Later to PayPal Credit, giving the e-commerce payment giant a consumer product to go along with its Working Capital small business lending program

CAN Capital has expanded its CAN Connect cash advance program, which allows payments providers offer funding to clients. The company announced last week it had reached the $5 billion mark in capital to small businesses after 17 years of business.