New investment will fuel ApplePie’s growth and its continuing transformation of franchise finance

ApplePie Capital, the leading provider of innovative growth financing for franchise businesses, today announced a $6.5 million Series C round, led by Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG), the leader in unsecured business and personal loans, and creator of the largest community bank loan and product network in the United States. ApplePie also revealed that the company recently surpassed $1.25 billion in loans originated to franchise businesses since it began lending in 2015.

“BHG has a proven track record of holistically addressing the financial needs of the small business healthcare vertical, so they uniquely understand ApplePie’s opportunity to do the same in franchising,” said Denise Thomas, CEO and co-founder of ApplePie Capital. “With BHG’s backing, we can now give even more franchisees efficient access to capital and help them achieve their growth potential. We look forward to enhancing our relationship with BHG over time, collaborating on mutually beneficial business opportunities.”

In addition to equity, ApplePie and BHG anticipate a commercial relationship, allowing BHG to purchase ApplePie’s proprietary Core loan product for distribution through their deep capital network, including future securitizations. The partnership will enhance natural synergies between the two companies and leverage each other's unique capabilities and assets, with ApplePie benefitting from the full capabilities of BHG’s platform.

“We’re thrilled to enter a relationship with ApplePie Capital and look forward to adding strategic value while initiating opportunities for growth,” said Al Crawford, CEO and co-founder of BHG. “Not only does ApplePie operate with franchisors and franchisees’ best interest top of mind, but the company constantly evolves its approach to help dedicated and hard-working entrepreneurs achieve their business goals, a mission that we are also passionate about.”

Strategic growth investor JM Family Enterprises also participated in the Series C. JM Family Enterprises owns Home Franchise Concepts, which oversees several brands including Tailored Living, AdvantaClean, Budget Blinds, Concrete Craft, Kitchen Tune-Up and Bath Tune-Up. JM Family Enterprises and ApplePie intend to explore ways to deepen their partnership and strategically support Home Franchise Concepts franchisees.

Since it started lending in January 2015, ApplePie has formed partnerships with 60 franchise brands. The company’s focus on quality credits is reflected by the financial profile of its borrowers (average 770 FICO score; $2M median net worth) and stellar credit performance of its Core portfolio through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Franchising is a strong segment of the U.S. economy with rapidly rebounding capital demand as the country emerges from the pandemic. ApplePie’s research indicates there is approximately $105 billion in annual debt capital demand within franchising. The 2021 Economic Outlook for Franchising from FRANdata and the IFA projects that more than 26,000 new franchised businesses will open in 2021, recovering most of the losses felt in the previous year. Franchises will employ some 8.3 million people, adding nearly 800,000 new jobs and $477 billion to the economy.

About ApplePie Capital

Headquartered in San Francisco, ApplePie Capital’s franchise loan marketplace brings a new economy to franchise financing, enabling single- and multi-unit franchisees to efficiently obtain financing to start or expand their franchise business. ApplePie Capital also enables investors to earn attractive fixed-income returns with established high-quality franchise brands. Since it started lending in January 2015, ApplePie has formed partnerships with 60 franchise brands and facilitated the funding of over $1.25 billion in franchise loans. For more information, visit www.applepiecapital.com.

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