LoanWell

LoanWell is a Durham, North Carolina fintech company that provides an end-to-end software platform for community lenders covering application intake, origination, task and workflow management, underwriting, closing, servicing and portfolio reporting. Lenders can deploy a custom-branded (white-label) borrower landing page and login experience, configure intake questions with tools such as monthly payment and savings calculators, and store applicant documents in an encrypted file manager. Applicant tracking sends automated email follow-ups to move borrowers toward application completion, and workflow tools let lenders assign different team members to individual stages of the process.

Underwriting can be performed with LoanWell's auto-decisioning, including credit pulls, or with a lender's own models via an Excel-like underwriting module that imports self-reported borrower and team data. The platform embeds e-signature sessions for closing packages, moves money through ACH disbursement and one-time or recurring repayments, and automates servicing with auto-drafted payments and collections email sequences configured to the lender's policy. Identity verification and KYC use LexisNexis Instant ID together with a banking partner. Reporting lets lenders view their portfolio using their chosen KPIs and visualizations. The company also operates a borrower-facing marketplace that matches small businesses seeking loans of up to $250,000 at fixed rates with its mission-driven lending partners, via a short application or a referral form.

The company describes itself as building the "Squarespace for Lenders." It also supports grant technology alongside lending, and infrastructure runs on Amazon Web Services with AWS KMS encryption; LoanWell states it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant.

Founding story

Bernard Worthy, who grew up in Atlanta in a family of small-business owners that struggled to access capital to scale, observed that community lenders relied on multiple disconnected systems that excluded the same groups of borrowers. After moving to Durham, North Carolina, he partnered with Justin Straight to consolidate those systems into a single software product, founding LoanWell in 2017. As a Black-owned fintech, the company headquartered at American Underground, a former tobacco factory turned tech hub near Durham's historic Black Wall Street.

Business model

LoanWell sells business-to-business lending software to financial institutions, having pivoted from an earlier direct-to-consumer model. Lenders license the platform to digitize origination and servicing, with the stated value proposition that lower origination cost and time make small loans (under $100,000) economically viable. A separate marketplace channel routes small-business borrowers and referrals to LoanWell's lending partners.

Software provided to lender customers; the sources describe an estimated annual revenue figure but do not detail pricing or contract structure.

Traction

In the year preceding April 2022 reporting, LoanWell facilitated approximately $140 million in small-business loans through 25 lender customers; more than 60% of those loans went to ethnic minorities and 46% to female business owners. Following the B2B pivot the company went from serving hundreds of small businesses to thousands and helped facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars in loans within roughly a year.

Latest developments

The seed capital was earmarked for doubling team size and launching self-service tools to scale operations, refining the applicant management system, accelerating the Excel-like underwriting module and custom closing process with embedded e-signature, and enhancing servicing technology. The company operates a marketplace matching small businesses with mission-driven lending partners for loans up to $250,000.