CHARLOTTE – A Charlotte-headquartered financial technology companies is emerging from stealth mode to launch a digitized commercial lending platform.
Foro, which is backed by former Bank of America CEO and chairman Hugh McColl, Jr., has an additional $8 million in funding to fuel the company’s foray into the commercial lending marketplace.
Business owners and commercial lenders remain uncertain about the future of the North Carolina and the U.S. economy, especially as there are signs that economic growth is slowing in North Carolina.
But Foro’s leadership team believes that its platform is arriving at a critical juncture in time.
“Even during economic uncertainty, capital is always available – everything just gets a little tighter. Lenders become more selective with their loans, and business owners become more conservative, seeking guidance on who to approach and how to best tell their story in order to secure the funding they need,” said Dave Godsman, the CEO of Foro, in a statement. “By using Foro, businesses can secure capital more efficiently and with more support than the current model, while lenders can access a pre-screened pool of businesses that already fit their lending parameters.
Foro noted in its statement that it can take a 30-day process down to seven days. And by streamlining the lending process, the company believes that it can provide velocity of capital from lenders to qualified small- and mid-sized businesses.
“The fact that we’re emerging now, in an unpredictable market, is not a coincidence — our platform delivers a more streamlined and objective process for commercial lending at a time when it’s needed the most,” said Godsman.
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Platform can combat ‘inherent inequalities’ in existing lending systems
According to the company’s statement, its platform is also built to combat “some of the inherent inequities that have plagued the industry for decades.”
That includes a platform construction that prevents systemic racism, as prior studies cited by the company show “that after controlling for creditworthiness and other characteristics, minority-owned businesses, particularly Black-owned businesses, are more likely to receive loan denials and higher interest rates for accepted loans.”
The company’s platform launched last week, and is available for use.
“The goal of increasing access to capital, particularly for business owners in underserved communities, is what sets Foro apart,” said Hugh McColl Jr., a founding investor in Foro as well as the former Bank of America CEO and Chairman. “They’ve built a platform that streamlines the loan process and enhances lending strategies for financial institutions, and provides all business owners with the opportunities, tools, and confidence they need to grow their business.”
Foro’s $8 million Series A fundraising round was led by TTV Capital, with participation from Fin Capital, Correlation Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures, among others, the company said in a statement.
