Scale Link & LoanWell: Closing the small business financing gap with an all-in-one lending solution

Our programs

Scale Link & LoanWell partnered to build a technology platform that matched small businesses seeking capital in North Carolina with local Community Development Financial Institutions.

How Scale Link & LoanWell are working to strengthen the small business ecosystem

  • With more than 10.5 million new business applications filed in 2021 and 2022, entrepreneur drove a historic surge in small business creation. But access to capital hasn’t kept pace.
  • Today, more than half of small business loan applications are for amounts under $100K — yet the average loan size is $663,000. These smaller loans are often too costly for banks to process efficiently, and CDFIs — while mission-driven — are limited in scale by their portfolio size and operational capacity. The result: a growing financing gap that makes it harder for small businesses to grow.
  • Scale Link and LoanWell have been working together since 2020 to address that challenge head-on. Scale Link aggregates and securitizes CDFI-originated microloans — creating opportunities for banks to invest in portfolios they previously overlooked. LoanWell complements that work with an end-to-end platform that powers everything from intake and underwriting to servicing and reporting — helping CDFIs streamline operations and extend their reach.

Program overview

Our work together

  • With support from Mastercard Strive USA, Scale Link and LoanWell launched a pilot marketplace in Charlotte, North Carolina — the Charlotte Small Business Growth Fund. This digital platform allows entrepreneurs to visit a single website, complete one application, and get matched with a CDFI lender in real time. The application performs a soft credit pull, bank history analysis, and identity verification — then uses LoanWell’s matching algorithm to align each applicant with a CDFI whose credit policy and risk profile are a strong fit. A process that typically takes days or weeks can now happen in seconds.

By the numbers

  • Across almost five years, Scale Link has purchased 4,789 loans from CDFIs, providing $78 million of capital back to CDFI partners. Scale Link has sold $45 million to bank partners and contributed $9.5 million of new revenue back to CDFI partners, benefiting underrepresented populations and promoting financial equity and inclusion.
  • Since launching their partnership, Scale Link and LoanWell have helped unlock new pathways to capital for small business lenders and borrowers alike.
  • Together, they’ve developed a shared platform that supports more efficient loan matching, origination, and portfolio management.
  • Early adoption includes multiple CDFI partners — with efforts underway to expand reach and impact.

“Our partnership with Mastercard Strive USA has created significant impact for both Scale Link and LoanWell, but more importantly it has created impact for entrepreneurs across the country. This impact has been short term, in creating the tools to match applicants to CDFIs, but also long term through the development of relationships for both firms within the larger ecosystem. Relationships that will deliver value for many years to come. We are incredibly grateful to Mastercard for their partnership! ”

Jonathan Brereton

CEO, Scale Link

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