BlueVine Business Loan Review
This review of BlueVine will highlight the reputation, services, and history of small business lender BlueVine. We delve into the pedigree of Bluevine’s senior management team and run through the impressive backing they’ve received. We also look at the three main products BlueVine offers borrowers. Read our comprehensive BlueVine review to learn more.
BlueVine Review in Numbers: 2022 Updated
💰 Loan Amount |
$5,000 to $250,000 |
💸 Loan Term |
6 to 12 months |
⛔ Unsecured? |
Secured |
⌚ Requirements |
Different per product but standard term loan as follows:
|
⭐ Client Reviews |
92% |
🌐 Website: |
Bluevine.com |
🌝 Easy to Apply: |
Yes |
📃 Required: |
|
💳 Minimal Interest Rates |
4.8% |
💌 Online Feedback: |
4.6 / 5 Trust Score on TrustPilot |
🏆 Awards and Recognition: |
|
BlueVine Review Summary
Overall
-
Credibility - 90%
90%
-
Client Reviews - 92%
92%
-
Website - 95%
95%
-
Compatibility - 98%
98%
Editor's Conclusions
BlueVine is a competitive financing company that has an edge over many of its competitors. Its website is nearly flawless, it is accomodating to startups, and it has a low starting interest rate. There are more options than just a $250,000 term loan too, such as invoice factoring up to a value of $5 million and lines of credit. Overall, the company has a good reputation among its customers, and it’s clear to see why.
Credibility & Company Story
How BlueVine Started
BlueVine began in 2013, founded by Eyal Lifshitz, Moti Shatner, and Nir Klar. Eyal received an MBA from the University of Chicago before working for a consulting firm McKinsey and eventually being a VC at Greylock IL for three years.
Eyal left his job in 2013 to start BlueVine with Moti, a serial business founder and Nir (the tech leader), and it only took them 2.5 years to raise $64 million in funding and was doubling in size each with every quarter that went by.
Moti has always been involved in Machine Learning and AI, so it’s no surprise he combined this with his Financial Master’s degree to help create BlueVine, which revolves around both. Moti isn’t mentioned anywhere on the Leadership page unlike Nir and Eyal, so he may have a more passive or distant involvement in the company. Nir is perhaps the most technical, with a background in R&D, internet and communication as well as a software engineer.
ReadWood City in California is home to BlueVine’s headquarters. They have however expanded to a total of 3 locations — all within the USA. The other two are in Gretna and Jersey City.
How did BlueVine Become an Industry Leader?
Having only been founded in 2013, BlueVine has grown quickly. In part, this is down to their substantial backing from wealthy investors. Today, they have delivered over $3 billion in loans to over 25,000 small businesses — an impressive feat for a loan company that’s hardly 7 years old.
To grow this quickly in a competitive market, you must have some unique selling points. Well, BlueVine’s is that they’re accommodating to startups, they have a five-minute application and rates “as low as 4.8%”.
Leading Private Investors in BlueVine
BlueVine has undergone a lot of investment rounds — 13 to be exact. Their most recent, Series F, raised $102.5m towards the end of 2019, with ION Crossover Partners being the lead investor. In total, they have raised a huge $692.5m from all the funding rounds.
Lightspeed
83NORTH
Menlo
Citi
Silicon Valley Bank
Rakuten
Nationwide
M2
ION Crossover Partners
In Detail: What BlueVine Does
BlueVine offers term loans of up to $250,000, as stated in the table above. This can be quite limiting for larger businesses, as it is slightly lower than some of its competitors.However, BlueVine does also offers invoice factoring up to the value of $5 million. This is a separate product, that will, of course, require substantial monthly invoices, hence why we have kept it separate.
The rate of BlueVine’s term loan can be as low as 4.8%, and the application takes all of five minutes. Like their competitors, Bluevine focuses on speed, so they claim that funds can be deposited within just a few hours.
Repayments are a fixed weekly rate between 6 and 12 months. BlueVine may appear to be very similar to its competitors (there’s only so much you can differentiate), but they do have a stand out quality: accessibility. Businesses that have only been operating 6 months with $10,000/month revenue can be approved. Many competitors require a business to be operating for a year, or sometimes 2 or 3 years.
Blue Vine only offers secured loans, though they do not require a specific amount or value of the collateral. Instead, it’s secured “by a general lien on the assets of the business”, but also backed by a personal guarantee. In other words, personal assets are not taken as security.
BlueVine Invoice financing and Line of Credit
As mentioned above, BlueVine does more than just term loans. The invoice factoring product essentially allows companies to use their unclaimed invoices (receivables) as “security” for a cash advance. The rates are as low as 0.25% per week, and approval can come within 24 hours. You will need a 530+ credit rating for this, as well as $10,000 in monthly revenue, and of course, significant invoices.
The line of credit, on the other hand, is pretty similar to the term loan in terms of interest rate and maximum amounts. The biggest difference is that you only pay for what you use, with the funds being available on demand. Lines of credit have the same qualification requirements as terms loans, you need a 600+ credit rating and 6 months in business, instead of 3 months and 530 + like for the invoice financing.
BlueVine Business Loans Client Reviews
There are 1,392 BlueVine reviews on TrustPilot out of which 85% are ‘excellent’, 9% ‘great’, 2% ‘average’ and only 3% ‘bad’.
The Feedback:
BlueVine Reviews are mostly all positive from their clients. Some of the comments include:
“We have been working with BlueVine for approx 5 years now and they have a great team and great product. Line of credit and term loans at very affordable rates. Communication is great, clients get set up with their own portal with fast online checkout. Love working with them!”
“Caitlin at Blue Vine was spectacular! She made sure my medical practice had the funding it needed within 1 day in order to purchase our next office building. The process was absolutely seamless and only took a few minutes!”
Analysis of Client Reviews:
The majority of positive BlueVine reviews are about their excellent team of professionals that provide great customer support. The clients are also happy with how easy the platform is to use and how seamless and fast the funding is. With only 3% of BlueVine reviews being negative, it is safe to say that overall BlueVine’s clients are happy with the service.
BlueVine.com Website Review
BlueVine’s website is very similar to its competitors — with almost the same menu as OnDeck. The home page sums up all the products in a concise way and the design is appealing as it is easy to navigate. The FAQ page is easier to find than many of its competitors (in the footer and the menu), and it’s extremely comprehensive.
Finally, the contact information and About Us is easy to find and very helpful. Really, there couldn’t be many improvements made on the site, apart from its speed. It’s considered slow by Google, taking 3.4 seconds to load — this can hinder user experience when flicking through the pages.
BlueVine Loan Compatibility
Startup: BlueVine are accommodating to startups — only 6 months of trading history is needed
Bad Credit: BlueVine are reasonably accommodating to bad credit, with varying credit scores required for different products
Sole Trader: Accepting
Established Businesses: Accepting, but capped at $250,000 loans
BlueVine Short Review
BlueVine is a safe, competitive option. It may not have been around for as long as its competitors, but there are some flexible options with a competitive starting rate. BlueVine is a good option for startups, as only 6 months of trading history is required. For larger businesses, it may be limiting as the cap of the term loans is $250,000. Overall, customer experience is very positive, which is evident from the website’s functionality alone.
Submit an Expedited Application to BlueVine the link below.