If you’ve ever worked on a mobile app and had the admirable success of actually launching it, you’ll know one of the biggest funding issues quickly becomes how long the app stores hold on to your money. You can make money, but it takes a while to touch it.
You may have a marketing strategy and you may be ready to execute on it. You’ve even got a track record; people out there are showing you that they want what you’ve got. But with the cash flowing like mud out of the app store, it’s going to be nearly impossible to execute on that strategy.
So you go to a bank and more often than not, they assign you their best loan officer, Buzz Killington. Buzz doesn’t really understand your business. He thinks your app is swell, and he’s happy it’s live, but he can’t wrap his head around the value of promotional investment shortly after launch. He offers you a breath mint. It is worth zero dollars.
The fact is, you could have the next Angry Birds on your hands, but without the funding for proper marketing and distribution, there’s a good chance it never catches on.
So Aprenita stepped in. They’re a startup that lends money to startups. But they lend money specifically to mobile app startups. That’s it. That’s their specialty, that’s their business. They’re an online, on-demand capital-as-a-service provider dedicated to funding mobile app developers.
Just as intriguing as their niche is the model behind their method.
To apply for a loan you first provide some basic information. Then give them a link to your app and to your analytics account (Mixpanel, Localytics, etc). Aprenita then crunches the numbers using an advanced algorithm. Very quickly you find whether or not you’re qualified for a loan and if so, for how much.
Guts and emotions are pretty much taken out of the equation. They have a grip on the signs of success in the mobile space so that’s what they focus on. It’s about dollars, so they focus on the numbers.
“We’ve spent years studying the complex correlations and predictive behaviors of these massive datasets, and that gives us confidence to make loans where other providers cannot. We’ve essentially created an algorithmic-based credit rating system to assess risk and make a lending decision within moments.”
Now, be forewarned: like most niche lenders the payback terms can be aggressive. Also, the rates float between 6-20%, which is pretty close to what you’d get from a bank, if you got anything from a bank.
The key though is quantifiable industry expertise and quick turnaround.
If your mobile app is exiting the startup stage and you are at the donning of a new era of Growth (with a capital G), Aprenita is probably worth checking out if you’re even considering a trip to Buzz Killington’s office.
Oh, and apparently, depending on your business and your numbers, they could fund up to $1 million without taking any equity.
Slightly nerve-racking in the face of aggressive payback terms? Maybe. Infinitely more helpful than a breath mint? Definitely.
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I always wondered what it would cost to build a mobile app from the ground up. I mean, would I need a loan at that point, or would the extra money come in handy until people are making in-app purchases to help me feed my family?