Specialist SME lender Prospa is readying itself for a post lockdown revival, and aiming to become more than an alternative lending platform.
This strategy was outlined yesterday, when the company released details of several new cashflow management products and tools, some of which are still under development.
Prospa's executives told investors yesterday that the company planned to expand its online lending platform into, effectively, a single business management system, boosting profits by cross-selling new products and services to a wider range of customers.
Crucial to its future plans is what Prospa calls its "All-in-One" business transaction account, with an overdraft facility of up to A$100,000, along with an integrated Visa business card, and business accounting systems that will create, send and track invoices, make payments and manage bills.
The business transaction account will be initially launched in Australia.
Other moves announced during its investor day presentations included:
• scaling existing lending for small business from the current limit of $300,000 to secured loans of $500,000 for larger businesses; and• launching a line of credit facility in New Zealand.
While its executives were quick to enthuse over the prospects for growth, several of the All-in-One cashflow management features are still being developed in-house, with Prospa counting on its high customer engagement scores as a lender to kick-start the new product range.
"We continue to experience growth from existing products and believe the new product strategy will increase customer engagement and lifetime value," said Greg Moshal, Prospa co-founder and CEO.
The operating expenses for these new solutions will not be cheap either, with Prospa aiming to spend around 15 per cent of its revenue on research and development.
What Moshal and his fellow c-suiters did not expand on is the potential for this strategy to allow Prospa to become, in effect, a small business bank without the banking licence and balance sheet. Banking Day understands Prospa will rely on an as yet unnamed ADI to hold its customers' funds.