The best of the post-GFC fintech start-ups are starting to pull clear of the pack of also-rans; these leaders are the ones making real revenue, supporting employees and doing deals that matter with major players. The latest effort comes from online business lender Prospa, which will test drive a true partnering deal with Westpac Banking Corporation. According to Prospa's joint-chief executive officer, Beau Bertoli, the pilot is an "excellent initiative" that will help Westpac provide a fast, flexible loan application process to small business owners, while building up his firm's scale of operations.At its simplest, this is a taste and try exercise - Prospa will gain access to hundreds of thousands of small business owners while Westpac gets to see how a smaller, more nimble operator might keep some of its SME customers happy with relatively small loans with a fast turnaround.Bertoli denied this was the start of an exit strategy - rather he saw it as an expansion strategy, a more efficient way to find many small businesses needing loans.So far, Prospa's tech-enabled solution to SME funding has worked, returning around 6700 per cent over the baseline profitability, set three years ago. The firm has expanded from 2 founders to 70 staff, lending up to A$80 million annually, backed by large players such as Ironbridge Capital and Carlyle group in the US.And to cap off a good day in the office for Bertolli and his business partners, Prospa was last night named Australia's fastest growing technology company at the annual Australian Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards. Prospa led the pack, racking up almost 7000 per cent revenue growth from 2013 to 2015. "Prospa has solved a very real problem for small businesses by providing them with the opportunity to access fast and easy finance to grow. Through our investment in technology and our team, we've developed an Australian-specific unsecured small business loan product with cash flow friendly repayments and a fast, easy online application that meets the demand of a hugely underservice market," Bertoli said. Prospa's ranking in the Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 will be announced in Honk Kong early next month.