Cross River acquires small business software provider Betterfin

Cross River Bank is expanding its mission to provide access to financial services with a new acquisition.

On Nov. 2, the Fort Lee-based lender said it acquired Betterfin, a financial platform that offers small business owners a range of financial products, capital markets data and the ability to manage their own lending and cash flow processes.

Betterfin is now wholly owned by Cross River’s parent company, CRB Group Inc. Its team joins Cross River’s nearly 700, and growing, global employees.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cross River Bank founder and CEO Gilles Gade delivers remarks at a celebration for the company’s new headquarters in Fort Lee on April 29, 2021. – CROSS RIVER BANK

“For over a decade, Cross River has redefined financial services for fintech partners, communities and individuals around the globe,” said Cross River founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Gilles Gade in a statement. “With the addition of Betterfin, its team of professionals led by Eric Griego, its technology stack and market intelligence, the combination of our core infrastructure and small business offerings will become another powerful tool of our growth engine.”

In its announcement, Cross River said that addition of Betterfin would see the bank reimagine the Small Business Administration loan process to digitize the complete workflow, and build a more efficient and technology-focused platform. Loan applications, origination and underwriting; broker submission; and the hand-off to closing and servicing partners will all be digitized.

Under the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program, Cross River originated the second-most loans nationwide, the bank said.

“Cross River has always stood apart from the pack by leading in innovation,” said Betterfin founder Eric Griego in a statement. “We are excited to join a cutting-edge technology stack and together expand the ability to help business owners at scale.”

Fintech Betterfin was founded in 2017 by Griego and Dan Gabrieli. The Y Combinator-backed business created a lending-as-a-service solution that allows financial institutions to offer commercial loans, Cross River said.

Betterfin’s tools allow the firm to create end-to-end loan workflows for clients which include flexible front-end framework and UX, proprietary AI-based lending logic, and a back-end loan management system.

In June, Cross River announced its acquisition of data and analytics company PeerIQ.