Sorry ... Page Not Found
I'm sorry, but the page you're looking for could not be found. Below are our most recent articles. Perhaps you'll find what you're looking for there.
Industry’s Mystery Fraudster Extradited to the United States
A primary suspect in the small business finance industry’s long running mysterious fraud has been extradited to the United States. Saul Shalev, indicted this past August under seal (and unsealed in October) had eluded authorities for years but was finally arrested in Spain. On January 23, 2026, he was extradited to the United States and appeared before a US Magistrate Judge.
Shalev faces a nine-count indictment.
Between approximately December 2019 and November 2022, Shalev defrauded more than 20 small and medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”). As part of the scheme, Shalev obtained information about commercial loans received by the SMBs and offered the SMBs the opportunity to refinance the loans or to obtain additional financing, either from the original lender or from a new lender. Shalev, using stolen identities and making fraudulent representations, acted as a broker between SMBs and potential lenders. After obtaining new or additional financing for an SMB from a commercial lender, Shalev provided fraudulent payoff instructions to the SMB with respect to a prior loan, causing the SMB to send all or part of the loan proceeds to an account he controlled. Shalev also fraudulently received a commission from the lender.
The official DOJ announcement can be read here.
VOX Funding and Cloudsquare Partner to Accelerate API-Driven Capital Automation
New York, NY – VOX Funding, a leading fintech provider of fast and flexible capital solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, has partnered with Cloudsquare, the premier Salesforce-native alternative business lending CRM for brokers. Together, the companies are introducing a next-generation, API-powered funding workflow designed to eliminate manual handoffs and accelerate deal flow across the entire broker ecosystem.
This integration enables real-time submissions, faster approvals, and cleaner funding processes – reducing reliance on email communication and eliminating delays caused by traditional back-and-forth exchanges.
A Seamless, Fully Connected Lending Experience
Through this partnership, VOX Funding has expanded the reach of its SYNQ API by integrating directly with Cloudsquare’s Salesforce-powered platform. ISOs using Cloudsquare can now submit deals to VOX instantly, enabling a smoother and more transparent process from initial application through final approval.
Brokers and merchants gain true end-to-end visibility into the funding journey, including offers, documents, stipulations, and real-time status updates, all within the systems they already use.
“Too many brokers who submit to VOX are limited by CRMs that cannot support API submissions, and building their own integration is not realistic for most teams,” said Jeffrey Morgenstein, Co-Founder and CEO of Cloudsquare. “This partnership creates a seamless upgrade path so brokers can transition to Cloudsquare and work with VOX more efficiently, with improved speed and total transparency.”
Positioning VOX for Scalable Growth
For VOX Funding, this integration represents a major leap forward in scalability and partner enablement. By reducing manual touchpoints and automating key workflow steps, VOX can serve its broker network with greater speed, accuracy, and operational efficiency.
“Our mission is to make capital access fast, flexible, and tailored to the unique needs of every business,” said Louis Calderone, Co-Founder and President of VOX Funding. “Cloudsquare’s API-driven platform brings speed and transparency, allowing us – and our partners – to work smarter and deliver better outcomes for the clients who rely on us.”
About VOX Funding
VOX Funding delivers fast, flexible, and creative capital solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. By tailoring funding to each business’s needs — often within 24 hours – VOX helps merchants seize opportunities, expand operations, and achieve sustainable growth without delay.
www.voxfunding.com
About Cloudsquare
Cloudsquare is the leading end-to-end lending platform, uniquely powered by Salesforce, to deliver unparalleled flexibility and innovation for lenders and brokers. With a commitment to optimizing lending processes through cutting-edge technology, Cloudsquare provides robust, scalable solutions that empower clients to achieve greater efficiency and growth. Celebrated by industry leaders, Cloudsquare has earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list as one of America’s fastest-growing companies and is consistently rated a top service provider on platforms like Salesforce AppExchange, G2, Clutch, and Manifest.
View PostdeBanked MIAMI on Track for Record Event
deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2026 taking place on February 12 at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach is currently on pace for deBanked’s largest event turnout in history. If you were on the fence about going, this is the event to go to if you work in or with the small business finance industry. Due to capacity, registration could shut off in advance of the event so be sure to have your tickets already. You can REGISTER HERE.
No, Texas Did Not Ban Merchant Cash Advances
When Texas passed HB 700 last June, deBanked was among the first to point out that its most notable component was a prohibition on automatic debits of a recipient’s deposit account by a commercial sales-based financing provider unless they had a perfected first position. Some observers were quick to tell us that we had it all wrong, that MCAs had effectively been “banned” entirely and that we should have reported it that way. This was premised on a belief that perfecting a true first position on a recipient’s deposit account was a near-insurmountable obstacle (for MCAs that rely on ACHs instead of credit card splits) and thus a nuanced discussion of how to comply with the new law a moot debate.
But if the state legislature had intended to ban sales-based financing outright, it simply could have done so. Instead, it codified a framework for how to legally provide sales-based financing. It provided guidance on registration, disclosure, and oversight. And it even went as far as to say that the Finance Commission of Texas cannot “adopt a maximum annual percentage rate, finance charge, or fee for commercial sales-based financing transactions.” This was an incredible signal: No cost cap on sales-based financing.
The Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner (OCCC) even held an open forum this past November to hear from impacted parties on the best way to craft and enforce the rules going forward. And so while they’re now busy promulgating those precise rules, collective minds have returned back to the original language surrounding that “certain automatic debits” are “prohibited.”
CERTAIN AUTOMATIC DEBITS PROHIBITED.
A provider or commercial sales-based financing broker may not establish a mechanism for automatically debiting a recipient’s deposit account unless the provider or broker holds a validly perfected security interest in the recipient’s account under Chapter 9, Business & Commerce Code, with a first priority against the claims of all other persons.
This language does not say that merchants cannot pay sales-based financing providers entirely. Others agree. deBanked spoke with one company, MCA Pay, which analyzed what the law says and they created a tool for merchants to pay sales-based financing providers in an orderly easy manner so that funders do not in fact have to automatically debit a recipient’s deposit account at all. Though there are some layers to how it’s done, merchants are, on their own volition, setting up a system to initiate payments to whichever funder they choose. They’re in control.
Far from theoretical, this methodology is already being used by merchants in Texas to pay sales-based financing providers, according to MCA Pay.
“We’re comfortable from a regulatory perspective, but I encourage everybody who uses this platform to run this by their counsel,” a representative said. “We’re putting the control back into the merchant’s hands.”
The two main partners at MCA Pay, Gavriel Kalfa and Moshe Klar, do not hail from within the industry, but they worked with experienced operators in the industry while building out the system. MCA Pay is not the payments provider or a law firm, they’re just the platform that loops the pieces together.
“Hopefully we’ve made a product here that’s going to allow MCA to continue in Texas compliantly for everybody,” they said.
View PostEnova: On the Ground, Small Businesses Optimistic
Enova reported $1.6B in small business loan originations for Q4 2025, a big jump from the $1.4B in the prior quarter.
“There’s been a lot of noise over the year of 2025 around the impacts of tariffs and the macro economy and where we are,” said Enova CEO Steve Cunningham during the earnings call. “But I think what I wanted to highlight in my commentary is that it’s not quite as gloomy as it seems on the ground. It seems that small businesses are looking forward positively. And I think it’s reflecting in the demand that we’re seeing.”
On the ground that they see, credit quality and net charge-offs have also remained stable.
“Our internal and external data highlight that SMBs continue to express confidence in the economy and expect favorable operating conditions during 2026,” Cunningham said.
In its latest study and report it published with Ocrolus, they found that “Overall, growth expectations amassed an all-time high with 94% of small businesses projecting growth over the next 12 months.”
Enova also expects to close its acquisition of Grasshopper Bank in the 2nd half of this year and said that both companies are business as usual until that happens.
View PostThe Average MCA Deal? $58k Report Says
According to NerdWallet, a leading business loan matching marketplace, the average funded amount of an MCA deal is $58,331. That’s based entirely on the company’s own internal data from July 2024 to June 2025.
Medium-term loans (2-5 years) came in with the highest average of $192,294 and short-term lines of credit produced the lowest average of $22,565.
NerdWallet depends heavily on web traffic to generate leads so this is potentially representative of merchants who use Google or ChatGPT to find financing versus all possible channels.
View PostBecoming a Successful Broker
ARE YOU READY FOR DEBANKED CONNECT MIAMI 2026?!
Check out the full agenda for February 12th at the Fontainebleau.
There will also be tech demos happening non-stop on the show floor. This event is one you won’t want to miss.
REGISTER BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
DailyFunder Mobile App Update 2.1.3
DailyFunder 2.1.3 Mobile Update
• Opens right to Activity Feed
• 1-tap to show you’re going to the next industry event
• See who else tapped and DM them
• Deal Bin in the Activity feed
• Recent industry news headlines in Activity Feed
• See event info and who’s exhibiting
DailyFunder has > 17,000 members in the industry.
Event networking integration on the Desktop browser
More features and fixes to come. App/Site registration is still limited to the Desktop browser version of the site.
View Post
