Fundwell powers business growth

Helping businesses size up through funding

One of the biggest hurdles for businesses of all sizes is to grow from where they’re at to where they want to be. For a small business or a startup, it often comes down to the capital to get off the ground. For a larger, more established company, funding provides the jump to the next level of business.
Fundwell serves clients in all 50 states across this entire spectrum —  from small, privately owned to publicly traded companies — by helping match each one up with the right financial products. By sourcing from a substantial network of funding outlets and lending institutions, the NYC-based firm connects businesses with funders and financing options, like short-term funding, inventory financing, bridge loans, and factoring.
Mike Curry, Head of Engineering at Fundwell, explains why the company turned to Intelligent Content Management from Box. He says, “In the financial world — and when you're underwriting deals — having an organized structure is imperative. Content and files are a big part of the way we run our business, so we love to use Box. It's a very important part of our day-to-day operations.”
For Fundwell, organized content was key, but Curry says, “As we went down our implementation journey, we found out that there's just so much more to Box.”

Simplicity around finding files is just the first step

Prior to adopting Box, Curry recalls, “People were emailing back and forth like, ‘Hey, do you have this file? Where is this file? Who has this file?’ Those sort of questions.” Employees across the company were using various file management platforms and drives, so there was no guarantee you could find (or secure) a file.
With the upgrade to Box, Curry confirms, “The change has had a profound impact on our business, with folks coming into the picture knowing exactly where a file is going to be.”
This doesn’t just make it easier to find the right files. It also drastically enhances the company’s security posture, in particular when it comes to client data.

Grounding the customer journey in Salesforce

Like a lot of client-focused companies, Fundwell uses Salesforce to track and manage the lifecycle of each customer. Since Salesforce is such a central technology to the business, Fundwell sought a secure content platform that would integrate seamlessly and securely with Salesforce.
With Box, employees who are deeply reliant on Salesforce can get their work done in one secure place. Box is tightly integrated with Salesforce, which offers multiple benefits.

• One central place for content: Any file associated with a customer record is automatically stored in Box, using the approved folder structure
• Granular permissions: Even if a customer has multiple financial products with Fundwell, it’s intuitive to find, track, and manage permissions around content for each
• Real-time collaboration: When multiple people are  working together on a deal or another file, updates sync in real time in the cloud

With Intelligent Content Management, it’s easy to know exactly where files are at all times, and to be confident there’s no inadvertent file duplication, risk of breach, or compliance issue. In addition, Curry describes, “With the Box for Salesforce integration, the sales rep only has to click literally one button to send certain authorization forms to a client, and they can sign and send them right back.”

Smoothing out the flow of work in Box

With Box providing the content layer, critical workflows flow smoothly. Data comes in from an external source (the client) and is passed into the platform. From there, staff can share content with clients and  external funders via a simple shared link, without sacrificing security in the transition. The Fundwell sales team, underwriting team, and processing team all tap into Box to get work done in a more efficient and secure way.
The benefits of Box apply to the customer experience as well. When a prospective customer visits the company’s website, they can click “Apply Now” to launch a small-medium business loan application process. This incredibly streamlined, simple process (from the prospect’s point of view) is powered by a sophisticated Box Relay event on the backend. Box Relay automatically uploads their application and any supporting documentation to a new folder, incorporating e-signature via Box Sign, and creating a new account within Salesforce — all without human intervention.
Since going live with Box AI, according to Curry, “Our deals are able to get approvals at a much faster rate than before, and I can't emphasize enough how important speed is in this industry, because often, the company that gets the approval the fastest is the one that has the best chance of closing a deal.”

Secure and centralized sharing of sensitive client data

Stakeholders might include sales reps, underwriters, the legal team, the finance team, and external funders —a lot of folks handling content, which creates an unfortunate opportunity for security issues. Box remedies those. 
Right off the bat, when a new client comes on board, they are required to send along their three most recent bank statements. Fundwell then directly uploads those statements to Box via Salesforce before passing the baton to the underwriting team.
A year later, the client might decide to add on an additional Fundwell product. At this point, the account team has a year’s worth of tracked statements and data to refer to, all securely managed in a centralized place via Salesforce. “The compliance aspect is really appealing,” says Curry, “because throughout the whole lifecycle of the deal, all files stay on Box. We layer on other features of the platform, like Box Sign and Box Relay, to enhance the way the workflows are completed.”
That customer lifecycle begins with marketing, cements as clients are onboarded, and continues as they renew and add financial products. Along the way, Fundwell requires various financial documents be tracked, stored, and secured in order to fully understand the client’s financial needs over time and to issue client documentation to external funders without jeopardizing a client’s financial content.

Saving 30 hours a week with Box AI

The release of Box AI created an instant productivity boost for Fundwell. Now, employees can use the Box AI API to extract critical information from a file without even having to open it.
For instance, before they begin the underwriting process for a client, they have to comb through three to four months of bank statements from that client. In the past, a human from the underwriting team would scour all incoming documents (things like bank statements) to find details like the start and end balance of an account each month of the year.

Box AI helps expedite the process. How it works:

• Employee uploads bank statements to Box in the form of a Salesforce lead 
• Box AI checks to confirm they have three bank statements, each containing the right data
• Box for Salesforce automatically submits the documents to the underwriting team

The entire process happens in the background, thanks to Box AI. As Curry describes, “Box AI checks the folder when the application comes in. It makes sure all the files are there. It automatically classifies the files and renames them. And it  automatically takes the deal to the next stage without any human intervention.”
Box AI holds a lot of future potential for Fundwell as well. For instance, they can use Box AI to surface important data from sensitive client documents without having to even open those documents. The underwriting team could extract a potential client’s birthdate from their passport without having access to the entire document.
 

Even more insight with Box Hubs

Internally, the company also uses Box Hubs to make it easier for employees to find the content they need. Sales training materials organized into a Box Hub give new hires all the material they need in one place. Curry explains, “People can now directly self-serve instead of having to ask a manager or someone else.”
Fundwell has Box Hubs not just for sales training but for HR policy documents, onboarding materials, and more. Box AI makes it easy to pinpoint accurate information within the content on a Hub, which has made information-finding much easier across much of the company. Curry says, “We solved the problem of information silos by centralizing those internal documents into one place — the Hub.”
 

What’s possible with Intelligent Content Management

"We built Fundwell to be intuitive for business owners,” says Fundwell CEO Sruli Anatian, “and leveraging technology like Box allows us to streamline complexities into seamless experiences. It’s not just about efficiency. It’s about creating transparency and trust at every step."
Looking to the future, Curry predicts, “Fundwell is going to provide important business financial products to businesses all over the country, and Box is going to allow us to scale to a new level where people can access the financing they need in record time. 
Box has become a fundamental part of the way Fundwell operates. For this reason, Curry sees Fundwell’s partnership with Box not as a convenient solution to an existing problem but a platform that can grow along with his company, and says, “We’re so glad to have Box along with us on this journey.”

 

The real impact of Box unifying our files and content under one roof, on one amazing platform — it's enabled the business to scale and grow at a rate that we wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

—Mike Curry, Head of Engineering, Fundwell