Kapitus Funding Review

Updated on December 9, 2020
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Overview

Kapitus—known as Strategic Funding until the company rebranded in early 2019—is an alternative lender who offers a wide variety of small business loan options. Operating as an online marketplace, Kapitus allows business owners to submit one application in order to help them find and compare the products that are best suited for their needs.

That said, Kapitus is a direct lender, but also connects business owners to lending partners within their network as well.

Overall, although Kapitus seems to be able to offer fast funding that can serve different financing needs, as well as a range of business qualifications, they do not provide much information upfront about the actual amounts, rates, and terms of their products.

Pros and Cons

Green checkmarkPros
  • Range of financing products
  • Simple, streamlined application
  • Fast to fund
  • Can help you compare loan options for your business
Red X markCons
  • Lack of transparency about products; no information about amounts, rates, and terms
  • May require origination fee
  • Doesn’t report to personal or business credit bureaus

Kapitus Business Loans

Within their online marketplace, Kapitus (formerly Strategic Funding) offers eight different types of business financing:

  • Business term loans
  • Equipment financing
  • Helix healthcare financing
  • Invoice factoring
  • Business lines of credit
  • Purchase order financing
  • Revenue based financing
  • SBA loans

In general, Kapitus states that they provide flexible terms that fit your business needs, competitive rates as low as 6.25%, and approval in as little as four hours.

Additionally, they list their standard minimum loan requirements as:

  • Credit score

    625+

  • Time in business

    2 years

  • Annual revenue

    Average of $250,000

That said, however, you’ll find that Kapitus does provide some more specific details on certain types of financing. For example, for invoice factoring, they state that you can access industry rates as low as 1.25% and only six months in business are required to qualify. 

As we mentioned above, though, Kapitus does not provide concrete information regarding the actual terms, amounts, or rates for the majority of their financing products.

Kapitus Borrower Eligibility

Although the Kapitus requirements listed above seem strict, as an online marketplace, you can apply with Kapitus to receive a free quote and determine if you qualify for any of the types of business loans within their network.

With this in mind, however, there are some additional eligibility criteria you’ll want to consider when thinking about working with Kaptius (formerly Strategic Funding):

Restricted Industries

Kapitus does not work with businesses in the following industries:

  • Firearms
  • Law firms
  • Gambling
  • Auto sales
  • Escort services
  • Pornography
  • Franchises where a third party controls receivables

Financial and Business History

  • Kapitus does not offer funding to businesses that are sole proprietorships in New York, Arkansas, or Illinois.
  • Kapitus requires that you have a business bank account to qualify for financing.
  • Kapitus cannot work with businesses that have a history of negative bank account balances.
  • Kapitus requires that six months have passed since a borrower has filed bankruptcy.
  • Kapitus can work with borrowers with open liens on loans up to $50,000. On larger deals, borrowers must be on a payment plan if the amount of the lien is more than 60% of the funding amount.
  • Loan applicants applying to Kapitus must own at least 50% of the business.

What You Need to Apply

  • Basic information about you, the business owner, and your business
  • Three months of business bank statements
  • Your most recent personal and business tax return
  • Three business references

Depending on the type of business financing you’re applying for, you’ll likely need additional documentation as you progress through the underwriting process.

How to Get a Business Loan From Kapitus

Whether you know what type of Kapitus loan you’re interested in or you want to compare your funding options, you can start the process by getting a free quote on the Kapitus website. You can also use the Kapitus matching tool to get matched with a financing product or speak with a financing specialist to get started as well.

Let’s break down the application process:

Application and Underwriting Process

First, if you answer a few quick questions about yourself and your business you can get a free quote for business funding from Kapitus. You can opt to either speak to a representative or complete the full Kapitus online application.

The Kapitus loan application is simple and quick—it should only take you five minutes to complete—according to the Kapitus website. If you decide to speak to a Kapitus representative, the representative will reach out to you over the phone and talk to you about your business financing needs. 

The Kapitus representative can also help you complete and submit your initial business loan application. Once they receive your initial application, Kapitus will perform a soft pull on your credit history to verify your personal credit score (this will not affect your credit).

In general, you should receive a decision on your application in as little as four hours. As we’ve mentioned, the application and underwriting process may differ depending on the type of business financing you’re applying for.

Overall, if you’re approved for financing and decide to continue the funding process, Kapitus may ask for additional documentation to complete the underwriting process. Again, this may vary based on the type of financing and whether or not you’re being funded by Kapitus or one of their lending partners.

Funding Process

Once the underwriting process is complete, you should receive your final offer—this agreement will include all of the details of your Kapitus funding—amount, interest rates, terms, repayment schedule, and more.

You’ll want to review this agreement thoroughly and pay close attention to any terms and conditions, such as:

  • Origination fee: Kapitus charges an origination fee of 2.5% with a $395 minimum on their loans. 
  • Personal guarantee: Kapitus typically requires a personal guarantee from anyone who owns a majority share of the business.
  • Blanket lien: Kapitus applies a blanket UCC lien on the business for any deal over $5,000. They may also place a lien on your property, depending on which type of funding you borrow. 

Of course, if you’re funded by one of Kapitus’s lending partners, these terms and conditions may vary.

Repayment Process

Unfortunately, because Kapitus doesn’t provide much information about the terms of their financing products upfront, they also don’t give a lot of insight into their repayment process either. 

Overall, therefore, we’d say it’s safe to assume that your repayment schedule will vary—daily, weekly, or monthly—based on the type of Kapitus funding you receive. Along these lines, if you receive financing from Kapitus directly, you’ll be working with them to repay your loan, and if you receive funding from one of their lending partners, you’ll be working with that partner to repay your loan.

Similarly, although Kapitus does not charge prepayment penalties—meaning you can pay off your loan early without facing penalty fees—this may not necessarily be the case with their lending partners. 

Additionally, you won’t be able to build credit by borrowing money through Kapitus. This lender doesn’t report to the personal or business credit bureaus, so you won’t benefit from a higher credit score even if you pay your Kapitus loan back on time.

Kapitus Customer Service

Kapitus customer service is available by phone, email, and live chat.

The Kapitus funding phone number for customer service is (800) 780-7133. You can email customer service by completing the inquiry form here or emailing support@kapitus.com. The live chat customer service feature is available in the lower right hand corner of the Kapitus website.

Customer support representatives are available from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET from Monday through Friday.

Kapitus Customer Reviews

How do business owners rate their experience with Kapitus Funding (formerly Strategic Funding)?

In general, Kapitus reviews online are fairly positive. Kaptius has an average of 4.1 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot and 3.3 out of 5 stars on Google. Although Kapitus is not BBB-accredited, they have an A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau website.

They do, however, only have three reviews on the BBB website, with an average rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Taking these negative reviews with a grain of salt, looking holistically at some of the Kapitus reviews across the internet can perhaps give us a better sense of what it’s like to work with this alternative lender.

That said, positive reviews of Kapitus tend to focus on:

  • Fast and easy process
  • Professional, detailed, and helpful customer service
  • Great way to get the funding their businesses needed

On the other hand, more negative reviews tend to mention:

  • Expensive rates and fees
  • Problems removing liens
  • Confusion around the rates customers were quoted versus the actual cost of the debt
  • Incessant marketing tactics (phone calls, text messages, emails)

Overall, Kapitus has their fair share of both wholly positive and negative reviews across consumer review sites—with many borrowers giving either a 5-star or a 1-star rating—and not as many giving a 3-star or 2-star review. 

With that in mind, it’s also worth noting that unlike some of their competitors, Kapitus representatives don’t seem to consistently respond to reviewers (either positive or negative).

Top Alternatives to Kapitus

Kapitus

Fundera Score

2

OnDeck
BlueVine
Balboa Capital
Reliant Funding

OnDeck

BlueVine

Balboa Capital

Reliant Funding

Fundera Score

5

Fundera Score

5

Fundera Score

4

Fundera Score

4

Products Offered

Term loan; lines of credit

Products Offered

Invoice factoring; lines of credit

Products Offered

Short-term loans, lines of credit, equipment financing

Products Offered

Merchant cash advances

Interest rates

Starting at 29.9%

Interest rates

Starting at 0.25% per week; Starting at 4.8%

Interest rates

1.12 to 1.2 factor rate

Interest rates

Factor rates starting at 1.18

Disclosure

Rates based on loans originated in the half-year ending March 31, 2022

Minimum credit score required

530; 650

Minimum credit score required

No minimum

Minimum credit score required

525

Minimum credit score required

625

OnDeck

OnDeck

Fundera Score

5

Products Offered

Term loan; lines of credit

Interest rates

Starting at 29.9%

Disclosure

Rates based on loans originated in the half-year ending March 31, 2022

Minimum credit score required

625
BlueVine

BlueVine

Fundera Score

5

Products Offered

Invoice factoring; lines of credit

Interest rates

Starting at 0.25% per week; Starting at 4.8%

Minimum credit score required

530; 650
Balboa Capital

Balboa Capital

Fundera Score

4

Products Offered

Short-term loans, lines of credit, equipment financing

Interest rates

1.12 to 1.2 factor rate

Minimum credit score required

No minimum
Reliant Funding

Reliant Funding

Fundera Score

4

Products Offered

Merchant cash advances

Interest rates

Factor rates starting at 1.18

Minimum credit score required

525

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kapitus in Fundera's Network?

Kapitus is not in Fundera’s Lender Network. The Fundera team carefully vets all of the lenders in our network, and have determined that Kapitus either doesn’t have the technology to work with Fundera or does not offer a financing product that competes with the other lenders in its product class. We suggest considering another lender in this product class.

See if you qualify for similar products in Fundera’s Lender Network.

Randa Kriss
Senior Staff Writer at Fundera

Randa Kriss

Randa Kriss is a senior staff writer at Fundera.

At Fundera, Randa specializes in reviewing small business products, software, and services. Randa has written hundreds of reviews across a wide swath of business topics including ecommerce, merchant services, accounting, credit cards, bank accounts, loan products, and payroll and human resources solutions. 

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