OnDeck Australia is cutting the birthday cake to celebrate four years in Australia. It’s quite a milestone, and we’ve achieved plenty in that time backed by the support of our small business customers.
OnDeck first launched in Australia in 2015 backed by equity stakeholder MYOB. Cherie Habashi, Head of People and Culture at OnDeck, says it was a good fit from the start.
From day one, our CEO Cameron Poolman, has championed the funding needs of small business.
He recalls, “We were confident OnDeck would be the game-changer Australia needed to give small businesses the financial resources to reach their full potential[2].”
Creating a win-win for SMEs and brokers
For the past four years, OnDeck’s customers have been at the heart of everything we do. And our growth has been backed by strong relationships with mortgage brokers.
“Our partnerships with brokers mean SME owners can turn to a trusted broker about their finance needs,” says Cameron. “And it’s a win for brokers too, providing opportunities for brokers to forge deeper relationships with customers while also diversifying and growing their own business.”
Determined to give brokers the highest level of support, OnDeck has invested heavily in its broker services, including a threefold expansion of our broker team. It’s an investment that has paid off. In 2019, OnDeck recorded 70% growth in broker-generated lending.
Helping SME owners know their business better
In 2016 we launched OnDeck’s free online credit score calculator in response to our own research that found nine out of ten SME owners were unaware of their business credit score[3].
Today, over 10,000 small business owners have used OnDeck’s credit score tool to get to know their business better.
As Cameron notes, “Once a business owner knows about their credit score they have a much clearer picture of the financing options available to them.”
Committed to fairness and transparency
Through 2018 and early 2019, the Banking Royal Commission unveiled some deeply concerning practices in the financial sector. However, fairness and transparency have been a consistent hallmark of OnDeck’s approach since 2015.
“We successfully drove the adoption of the SMARTBoxTM loan comparison tool, which uses plain English to explain pricing for small business loans – something we believe is critical to support the success of Australia’s small business economy,” says Poolman.
Our focus on people
Throughout the past four years, OnDeck has maintained a focus on people – both our customers and our team. Every Friday, since 2015, Cameron Poolman has hit the road for a face-to-face catch up with at least two OnDeck clients.
Our own people matter too, and OnDeck was recently certified as one of the top 100 “Great Places to Work” in Australia.
Just as exciting, 2019 saw OnDeck take out the AMA award for 2019 FinTech Lender of the Year.
“It was a tremendous accolade for the OnDeck team,” “And it helps to alert Australia’s SMEs and the broking community to the possibilities offered by online lenders such as OnDeck,” says Cherie. “And it helps to alert Australia’s SMEs and the broking community to the possibilities offered by online lenders such as OnDeck.”
After five very rewarding years, we’re not about to rest on our laurels.
We let our CEO have the last word, “every one of us at OnDeck shares a real passion for the small business sector. We’ve always focused on helping SMEs reach their full potential through faster, easier access to capital, and that’s what we plan to keep doing well into the future.”
[1] https://www.ondeck.com/press-releases/leading-u-s-small-business-lender-ondeck-expands-australia
[2] https://www.ondeck.com/press-releases/leading-u-s-small-business-lender-ondeck-expands-australia
[3] https://www.ondeck.com.au/news/sme-unaware-credit-score/
