Credibility & Company Story

In Detail: How Prospa Started

Prospa Advance Pty Ltd (trading name: Prospa, often named “Prospa Lending” or “Prospa Funding”) was founded in December 2011 by Beau Bertoli and Gregory Moshal, with the company headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Having both been business owners before, they knew just how difficult it was to secure bank funding – the whole application process would take around 6 weeks with the outcome often being a rejection. It was clear the loan options for small businesses just weren’t good enough so Prospa was founded. Nowadays, both Beau and Gregory as co-founders are still involved as Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Executive Officer respectively, a testament to its startup and fast growth culture that’s at the heart of everything Prospa does. The company’s official website is www.prospa.com. 

How Did Prospa Become an Industry Leader?

Prospa is one of the best known Sydney-based lenders, and coordinately – Australia’s leading business lenders. Their online application process is streamlined and their response and funding time are both in 24 hours or less. In many cases, the funds are received the same day borrowers apply.

Prospa has a 99% positive approval rating from businesses who have used the service and has been recognized with countless awards. Including winner of the Finnies Awards for Excellence in Business Lending, 2021, and the number one spot in the Financial Times 1000 High Growth Companies in 2018 for Asia Pacific. Prospa has grown to a business of over 200 employees, hiring some of the best tech talent in Australia. It is regularly awarded for being an excellent company to work for, winning a ‘Great Place to Work Australia’ in 2022.

Prospa is committed to improving the way small business owners experience finance. As Australia’s #1 online lender, Prospa has now funded more than $3 billion to over 28,000 businesses. The firm boasts 67% repeating customer rates to attest for their service and customer satisfaction.

Their application process is entirely online, and they work to make it easy for applicants to access the funds they need. As lending has become increasingly problematic for small businesses in Australia, Prospa has continuously worked to simplify how their own lending process operates. They’re recognized as a fintech that’s changing the game for many – having been interviewed by several publications and awarded several honours for their innovative work in the finance industry.

2023 Performance Updates:

H1 of the 2023 financial year has been a record-breaking period for Prospa loan originations, the small business lender has announced. HY2023 results saw Prospa lend a combined $426m across Australia and New Zealand, up 35% on the prior comparative period (HY22). [Source]

Credibility Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

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Leading Private Investors in Prospa

The source of Prospa’s funding was originally private equity firms that completed 4 separate funding rounds in its formative years. The most recent of which was completed in July 2017, designated as ‘debt financing’.

Prospa completed a private capital raising of $20 million as part of its growth plan aimed at extending its business operations, adding staff and conducting further sales and marketing with a view to growing its client base.

Overall, Prospa’s venture capital investors include:

Entree Capital (UK) http://www.entreecap.com/

Entrée Capital is a London-based venture fund that funds multi-stage startups and companies all over the world.

Partners for Growth (US) http://www.pfgrowth.com/

Partners for Growth (PfG) provides custom debt solutions to private and public technology and life science companies.

AirTree Ventures (AU) http://www.airtree.vc/

AirTree Ventures is a group of experienced investors and entrepreneurs based in Sydney.

Square Peg Capital (AU) http://www.squarepegcap.com/

Square Peg Capital aspires to be the leading Asia Pacific based investor in venture and growth stage online and technology companies.

Ironbridge Capital (US) http://www.ironbridgellc.net/

IronBridge Capital Management helps clients with investment management.

The Carlyle Group http://www.carlyle.com/

The Carlyle Group is a Washington-based private equity firm that caters to early and later stage companies.

2019 IPO

No further private investment was received after 2017 and Prospawas widely mooted to be building up to an initial public offering. And this is exactly what it did in June 2019, registering on the Australian Securities Exchange and raising more than $100million – valuing the company at $610 million. The majority of the funds raised were used to fund the equity portion on Prospa’s high growth loan book but also on product development and geographical expansion. Prospa formally launched its lending services in New Zealand later in the same year. 

Prospa’s stock has been largely falling since late 2019 and lending volumes were down  by more than 50% against their peak during the recently damaging economic period of lockdowns and mandates.  

Lending volumes have since recovered and in FY22 Prospa announced that it closed gross loans of $701.3m, a record high for the firm. Demonstrating a bounce back in both business demand and lending appetite.

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In Detail: What Prospa Does

Business Lending

Using a smart proprietary technology platform and a simple online application process, Prospa gives small business owners a fast and easy way to access finance and has already provided loans to thousands of Australian small businesses.

Prospa offers straightforward small business loans as well as a line of credit for business owners. Business account customers (more on this later) can also access a business overdraft.

Small business loans can be anywhere from $5k – $500k (increased from $300k in 2022) whilst a line of credit can be anywhere from $2k – $150k. The business loan will provide one lump sum for borrowers to pay back with a regular payment schedule whilst the line of credit can be used and reused throughout its 24 month term.

There are no hidden fees for a Prospa loan and borrowers will have clear detail of all their fees at the onset of the loan. If borrowers repay their loan early, Prospa will provide them with a discount on the remaining interest which is payable on the loan. The level of discount will depend on how far borrowers are into their loan, but providing they’re not in default, will be at least 25% of the remaining interest payable on the loan.

Unsecured loans are offered up to $150,000. Security is required if clients fail to adhere to their loan contract document and for loans which are over $150,000. Prospa does not generally take a mortgage over a borrower’s home, although it could be considered as part of the asset-based securitisation process.

Prospa business loans have no compounding interest, no penalties for early repayment and no additional fees (as long as clients keep up with repayments on time – missed repayment fees are common in the industry).

Launch of Prospa Business Account

Prospa has launched a free and easy-to-use everyday transaction account to help small businesses manage cash flow and reduce admin. 

The account includes a Prospa Visa Business Debit Card to make payments and withdraw money at ATMs. Compatible with Apple Pay & Google Pay, the card can be used wherever in the world Visa is accepted.

Prospa adopts fraud controls, 2FA and data encryption to protect you just like you’d expect from a business account. You can easily freeze or unfreeze your card in the app, report your card lost or stolen, turn off contactless payments or change your PIN instantly.

With no monthly fees and fee-free digital payments, the Prospa transaction account is rated as one of the best small business bank accounts in Australia in 2023.

Soon, Prospa Business Account holders will also be eligible to apply for a business overdraft, providing account holders the flexibility to manage cash shortages accordingly. This will be supported by other product launches such as foreign exchange, bill pay and expense management.

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Prospa Business Loans Client Reviews

Clients love Prospa. This is their main selling point, and in all honesty, one of the reasons we think so highly of the Australian lender. Below are the Prospa review statistics aggregated from across the internet:

Analysis of Client Reviews:

We have found a staggering number of Prospa Financial reviews online – over 8,000. This is a rarity in the lending space. What’s even more rare is that virtually every single Prospa review reports that Prospa provides an excellent lending experience (as of April 2023 Prospa Australia had just four negative reviews in the last year and Prospa NZ is yet to have a negative review full stop). It appears that even if Prospa interest rates aren’t the lowest in the business, people are happy to pay them for the great service they receive.

As well as the quick application and efficient processing times, what stands out most is the customer service. In virtually all reviews, clients specifically mention their account manager or customer service representative, highlighting what an incredible job they’ve done. Prospa takes the time to respond to each review too – we think demonstrating that the customer really is at the heart of everything they do.

Client Reviews Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

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Prospa.com Website Review:

Prospa boasts one of the nicest websites in the business lending industry. The site is clear, straightforward, attractive, mobile friendly, and so too is the application process.. All in all, you don’t have to fill in excessive amounts of details to sign up and make your application either, unlike some other lenders.

They even include a ‘How to Prospa’ (blog) section providing a whole host of non lending related advice for small businesses such as tax, marketing and recruitment.

The FAQ’s are really nice, the About page is complete, and there are a number of customer success stories for prospective borrowers to view and gain a better understanding of the borrowing process. Prospective borrowers can also access Prospa’s online business loan calculator to get an indication of costs (or try our own business loan repayment calculator).

The lender underwent a rebrand in January 2023, building on its minimalist and simplistic approach. Prospa’s website is intuitive, informative and applying for a business loan is easy. This is all we would expect of the most popular online lender in Australia today.

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Prospa Loan Compatibility

• Startup: Prospa prefers to work with companies who have been in business for at least 6 months and have a consistent cash flow established.
• Bad credit: Not accepting, only established businesses.
• Sole trader: Yes, Prospa can fund sole traders.
• Established business: Yes, Prospa will accept any established business.

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Prospa Rates & Pricing

Interest Rate / Factor Rate

Prospa uses a risk-based pricing model to determine the interest rate for each individual customer based on a number of different factors. This includes things like the industry a business operates, the years that a business has been trading and their current and expected cash flow. Given that banks have a very specific qualification criteria that lots of small businesses will not meet, these businesses can pay higher fees with an online lender than they do with a bank, often because a bank wouldn’t have helped them in the first instance. Applicants can always expect to pay higher fees for shorter-term and unsecured business loans anyway, no matter the provider.

Online lenders can price with either interest rates or a factor rate. Prospa offers its business loans with interest rates. For SMEs borrowing for a term of under a year it’s always worth understanding how rates are relative to a full 12 month borrowing period. Understanding the annual percentage rate (APR) is important to make a comparison between different loans, particularly if some are presented as factor rates and others interest rates.

As Prospa is a public company, we can see they had a 34.8% annual portfolio yield in H12023. According to Prospa’s definition, portfolio yield represents the interest (excluding transaction costs) and fee income earned during the period on the average portfolio balance during the respective period, annualised. So in effect, this tells us the average APR with Prospa is 34.8% (i.e. total cost of interest rate + all loan fees).

Origination Fee

Origination fees (also referred to as establishment fees) typically lie somewhere between 2-3% for Australian business loans. With Prospa charging 3%, it is at the higher end of the online lending market. 

Client Reviews on Prospa’s Pricing

With an overwhelming majority of online reviews for Prospa being positive it appears customers are understanding of the cost, believe it to be fair, and relative to the increased flexibility, fast application times and excellent customer service that Prospa offers small businesses. 

We’ve been able to find one review that specifically criticises Prospa for charging excessive rates but there are also a number of reviews directly mentioning that they were happy with the rate they agreed with Prospa.

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