Your Platform Is Now Your Bank 💳

Welcome to Advance Genie, weekly newsletter that helps operators in highly stigmatized industries find alternative financing methods.

There might be a financing offer sitting in your Shopify admin right now. Or your PayPal dashboard. Or your Square account.

Shopify, PayPal, and Square have collectively originated over $57 billion in merchant financing. Merchants who take Shopify Capital grow 36% faster than those who don't. PayPal borrowers come back 90% of the time. Square approves 95% of applicants.

This isn't a backup option when traditional financing falls through.

For a growing number of operators, it's the first call - and increasingly, the only one they need to make.

Here's why platform capital has quietly become the smartest financing move for growth-focused businesses.

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Shopify Capital Just Crossed $5 Billion

Shopify Capital has now funded over $5.1 billion to merchants since launching in 2016.

That's not a typo. Five billion dollars - to small businesses that traditional banks are hesitant about.

In 2024, Shopify originated approximately $3 billion in merchant funding, up 50% from the prior year. 

Through the first nine months of 2025, they've already deployed $2.8 billion, putting them on pace to shatter last year's record.

Q2 2025 alone? 

$1 billion in loans and merchant cash advances. Q3 maintained that momentum with another billion-dollar quarter.

But here's the number that actually matters: merchants who receive Shopify Capital funding average 36% higher sales than merchants who don't.

That's not correlation. That's capital doing what capital is supposed to do - fueling growth.

"With Shopify Capital, our revenue increased by 40% to 50% - a direct result of expanding our inventory with new products," said Jordan Lee, owner of The Public Pet.

Alison Ables runs Prelude & Dawn, an LA-based retail business. After just two rounds of Shopify Capital funding, she moved into a new retail space and doubled her revenue.

"I started borrowing a little bit from Shopify Capital, and that first amount allowed me to get better, and more inventory, which resulted in higher annual revenue," Alison said. "Through Shopify Capital, I ended up growing even more than I ever expected. I doubled my revenue."

Pashion Footwear used Shopify Capital to grow holiday sales by 375% year-over-year during the supply chain crisis. PIRAL scaled from $100 to seven figures using Capital funding.

How it works:

No credit check. No personal guarantee. No fixed payments.

Shopify looks at your store's performance data - sales history, consistency, growth trajectory. If you qualify, you'll see an offer in your Shopify admin. Funding amounts range from $200 to $2 million.

Repayment happens automatically as a percentage of your daily sales. The average is around 10%. Sell more, pay more. Sell less, pay less. On days with zero sales, you pay nothing.

Funds hit your bank account within 2-5 business days.

In 2025, Shopify doubled its geographic footprint by expanding to Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, and Spain. They've also added product innovations: monthly-fee repayment options, rolling capacity that lets you top up before your current round is fully repaid, and multiple loan options displayed in your dashboard.

For operators in high-friction industries, here's what matters: Shopify doesn't see your industry classification. 

They see your sales data.

PayPal's $30 Billion Proves Platform Lending Is Mainstream

In March 2025, PayPal announced it had crossed $30 billion in global loan originations since launching Working Capital in 2013.

Let that sink in. Thirty billion dollars. 

More than 1.4 million loans to over 420,000 business accounts.

This isn't alternative lending anymore, this is mainstream business finance - just not through banks.

In Q2 2025, PayPal purchased approximately $1 billion in merchant receivables, up from $774 million in the same period of 2024. Their outstanding merchant loan book now stands at $1.7 billion, up 41% year-over-year.

What's driving the growth? Results.

PayPal Working Capital users see a 36% increase in their total PayPal payment volume after taking funding. Business Loan users see a 16% increase.

And they keep coming back. Over 90% of PayPal borrowers renew their loans or access funding again on a repeat basis. Net Promoter Scores hit 76 for Working Capital and 85 for Business Loans - numbers most banks would kill for.

D'Shawn Russell founded Southern Elegance Candle Co. in Raeford, North Carolina. Her story captures why platform lending matters for underserved entrepreneurs.

"One of the key challenges I've faced as an entrepreneur who is a woman of color is securing access to capital," Russell said. "Too often, small business owners get turned down from traditional banks, so being able to get access to funding through PayPal Working Capital has really been an integral part of growing my business."

"When I took out my first PayPal Working Capital loan, I was making $100,000 in sales. I've since benefited from several working capital loans, which have helped my business grow into a multi-million-dollar business."

From $100K to multi-millions. That's the power of accessible capital.

How PayPal does it differently:

PayPal offers two products. Working Capital launched in 2013 and is repaid as a percentage of your PayPal sales - similar to Shopify's model. Business Loans, launched in 2017, offer fixed repayments and don't require you to process payments through PayPal.

The application process is entirely online, no lengthy paperwork, no extensive credit checks. Approved loans are funded within minutes.

PayPal's advantage is data - they see your actual cash flows, transaction patterns, and customer behavior. They know your business better than any loan officer reviewing a paper application ever could.

Square Approves 95% While Banks Approve 13%

Square has now originated over $22 billion in small business lending since launching Square Capital in 2014.

In 2024 alone, they deployed $5.7 billion. 

Q1 2025 added $1.59 billion. 

Q2 2025 added another $1.64 billion. 

They're on pace for $6.5 billion in 2025 - maintaining their position as one of the largest small business finance companies in America.

But the headline number isn't the volume. It's the approval rate. Square approves 95% of loan applications.

Traditional banks approve 13%.

That gap isn't about risk tolerance, it's about understanding modern business.

Square's algorithm looks at your sales history, payment frequency, and customer mix. They don't need a credit check because they already have something better: your actual transaction data flowing through their system every single day.

More than 50% of Square Loans in 2024 went to states with the lowest small business loan approval rates. The capital is flowing exactly where banks refuse to go.

The inclusion numbers:

• 57% of Square Loan recipients are women-owned businesses. The industry average for small business lenders is around 20%.

• 34% go to minority-owned businesses, up from 27% in early 2023.

• 15% go to Black or African American-owned businesses - more than twice the rate of SBA 7(a) loans.

How it works:

You can't apply for a Square loan. You get invited.

If you process payments through Square, their algorithm continuously evaluates your eligibility. When you qualify, an offer appears in your Square Dashboard. You accept or decline. That's it.

Loan amounts range from $100 to $350,000. Repayment happens automatically through a fixed percentage of your daily card sales. The percentage stays constant, but the dollar amount adjusts with your volume.

Maximum term is 18 months. There's no interest in the traditional sense - just a fixed fee you know upfront.

The contrast with Amazon is instructive.

Amazon launched merchant lending in 2011, offering loans to sellers on its marketplace. By March 2024, they shut it down entirely - discontinuing in-house underwriting and pushing sellers to third-party providers like Parafin, Lendistry, and Marcus by Goldman Sachs.

The seller forums lit up with complaints about confusion, inconsistent terms, and poor communication between Amazon and its lending partners.

Square, PayPal, and Shopify doubled down on direct lending while Amazon retreated.

Why? 

Platform lending requires commitment to the merchant relationship. It's not a side business you can outsource. The platforms winning in embedded finance treat capital as a core product, not an afterthought.

In August 2025, Square launched the Cornerstone Grant Program - $10,000 grants paired with 12 months of expert support for selected sellers. It's another signal that Square sees merchant success as inseparable from their own.

For high-friction operators: Square's 95% approval rate exists because they're underwriting based on what you actually do, not what category you fall into.

Worldpay Just Made Embedded Finance Plug-and-Play

In September 2025, Worldpay launched the Embedded Finance Engine - a suite of pre-built financial products that software platforms can integrate with a single API connection.

The offering includes embedded lending, banking, and commercial card issuing. It's available to any partner integrated with Worldpay for Platforms.

Why does this matter for operators in high-friction industries?

Because it means embedded finance is about to show up everywhere.

Every POS system. Every inventory management tool. Every vertical SaaS platform serving your industry. The software you already use is becoming a financing channel.

Inktavo, a leading software provider for branded merchandise makers, was an early adopter. CEO James Armijo explains what happened:

"By integrating Worldpay's capital lending into our software and payments solution, we addressed a critical need, stood out from competitors, and made a significant impact. We issued our first loan in 13 days, have funded $14.2 million so far, and expect that number to grow significantly."

Thirteen days from integration to first loan funded. $14.2 million deployed through a merchandise software company.

Worldpay handles all regulatory requirements and risk management. 

Software platforms don't need compliance teams or fraud prevention infrastructure, they integrate once, then activate new financial products as they become available - without extra costs or dedicated resources.

"Our goal is to empower partners to become the everything platform for their users," said Matt Downs, President of Worldpay for Platforms. "The platforms that thrive aren't just offering basic functionality - they're embedding comprehensive financial capabilities so seamlessly that their clients can't imagine operating without them."

For operators in stigmatized industries, the implication is clear: financing options are about to multiply. 

The software tools you use every day are becoming capital sources. Your relationship with your POS provider or inventory system may soon matter more than your relationship with any bank

What Made This Possible

These platforms succeeded because they solved a problem banks couldn't - or wouldn't.

Banks withdrew from small business lending after 2008. Regulatory changes made small loans unprofitable. Risk departments flagged entire industries as untouchable. 

Approval processes stretched to months.

Small businesses got left behind.

Platforms filled the gap by doing what banks refused to do: actually understanding modern business.

The platform advantage: they see your real-time sales data, not a static credit report from six months ago. They understand cash flow patterns, seasonality, and growth trajectories. They can underwrite in hours instead of weeks because they're already processing your transactions.

They don't need collateral because they have something better: a direct line to your revenue.

And critically, they don't categorize businesses by "industry risk." They categorize by performance. A cannabis-adjacent business with strong sales metrics looks the same to Shopify Capital as a pet supply store with strong sales metrics.

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