New Pipe Campaign: The American Economy is Built on the Big Dreams of Small Businesses, But Financial Services Are Failing Them

Pipe, a fintech company offering embedded capital products to small businesses, today launched its “Small Business, Big Dreams” campaign, highlighting the impact of small businesses on the American economy, their persistent struggles with financial services, and what they can achieve with access to the working capital they’ve been lacking.

Small businesses contribute more than 40% of America’s annual GDP and almost 80% of small businesses employ less than 10 people, but face economic insecurity—with the average American small business only having 27 days of cash reserves on hand, according to J.P. Morgan research. Despite their broad importance to the American economy, banks with more than $10 billion in assets held only 3.6% of their assets in small business loans.

The Pipe Small Business Big Dreams program shows how systemic financial gaps make it harder for small and medium-sized businesses to come up with new ideas across the country.

Banks have a rigid risk assessment model that doesn’t fit the way a small business operates. The typical application takes weeks to complete, requiring years of business tax returns, months of bank statements, a profit and loss analysis, detailed personal information, good personal credit and personal guarantees.

Turning on capital access to enable big dreams

Pipe’s campaign spotlights the stories of three small business owners: Verdure, an African fusion fine dining restaurant in Atlanta, Swella Braid Bar in Atlanta/Charlotte, and Ridgeline Well and Pump in Charlotte. Verdure was looking for working capital, where Ridgeline Well and Pump and Swella Braid Bar were looking for capital to grow their businesses. All three found the door shut in their face by big banks. Through a capital offer through the software they used to manage their business, the businesses found the investment they needed to grow and expand. Verdure is now looking at opening a second location, Swella expanded to Charlotte, and Ridgeline Well and Pump could buy the equipment it needs to support its business.

“Fixing this problem for small businesses is about more than just equity. The economic benefit of getting it right will be significant,” said Luke Voiles, CEO of Pipe. “Small businesses contribute so much to the American economy, despite all the hurdles they face getting access to capital. It’s amazing to think how much more we could enable the dreams of this group of entrepreneurs, if we actually gave them the tools to succeed.”

To get the funds they needed to grow, all three of these businesses took offers from Pipe Capital, embedded inside the vertical platforms they use to manage their business everyday, like Housecall Pro, targeted at home service professionals, and Boulevard, targeted at salon owners. By partnering with these providers, Pipe is able to access live cash flow and sales data and provide personalized capital offers based on forecasted revenue. Pipe only surfaces pre-approved capital offers to small businesses, and for those pre-approved, 98 percent of the time they will receive that capital.

With Pipe Small Business Big Dreams, Pipe brings attention to the urgent need to update small business financing so that business owners can reach their goals.