While nobody enjoys a crisis, I’ve learned that hard times allow businesses to reflect, grow, and innovate. This has been especially true for fintech lenders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have had to innovate on the fly, adapt to the ever-changing market, and support the small businesses and customers in their communities.
In our recent Fintech Shares webinar, I talked to a few fintechs about how the COVID-19 pandemic sparked innovation and how they plan to move forward post-crisis.
The Influx of PPP
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is an SBA loan that helps businesses keep their workforce employed during the coronavirus crisis. And when these loans became available, the impact (and volume of applications) was massive and required lenders to adapt and innovate like never before.
Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF) founded Connect2Capital—a marketplace that matches small business owners to CDFIs—and recently launched a new product called Spark.