Online payment giant PayPal plans to buy north Wilmington-based Swift Financial for an undisclosed amount.
Swift Capital was established in 2006 to provide funding for small businesses with the help of online technology.
The company survived the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and has steadily grown since that time. It has been ranked as one of the nation’s 5,000 fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine.
PayPal, has been working in the same space and launched PayPal Working Capital in 2013, a business financing product that has provided access to more than $3 billion in funding to more than 115,000 small businesses.
According to a PayPal release, “Swift’s technology will allow us to assess supplemental information to more fully understand the strength of a business and provide access to complementary financing products to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses. With these capabilities, Swift Financial will help accelerate our efforts to democratize financial services by enabling PayPal to further fill the small business funding gap.”
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“We founded Swift Financial in 2006 with the notion that small business owners should be able to access the funding they need to grow based on the strength of their business. We’ve made great strides to help entrepreneurs reach their potential, providing funding to over 20,000 businesses and being recognized for customer service excellence while delivering some of the best credit performance metrics in the industry.
Harycki added, “PayPal and Swift Financial have a common vision to help business owners achieve their dreams. Swift’s platform and expertise complement PayPal’s ongoing efforts to make financial services more accessible, fair, and convenient. By joining forces, we’ll accelerate our efforts to provide expedient access to working capital that keeps America’s small businesses moving forward. We look forward to continued growth and success in fulfilling this mission as a part of the PayPal team.”
The acquisition is expected to close later in the year, subject to regulatory clearances.
Harycki, an MBNA alumnus, founded the company as an alternative to the barriers small businesses sometimes face in obtaining lines of credit.
PayPal, which is based in California’s Silicon Valley, has been ramping up efforts to lure business customers after spinning off online auction service eBay.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that company has about 250 employees, nearly equally divided between the headquarters in north Wilmington and a site in Conshohocken, PA.
