Why this finalist deserves to win Best Tech Startup:
Before founding Innovation Finance USA LLC in January 2018, Bill Verhelle served as founder and CEO of First American Equipment Finance (from 1996-2015) and Harvard Partners LLC (2015-present).
Bill was already a front-running leader for founding First American (a salesperson-based organization and a $1 Billion company). But he has truly revolutionized the equipment financing industry by starting Innovation Finance USA. This is due to his customer-oriented mentality and his groundbreaking proposition: businesses are paying far too much in time and money with their current equipment financing processes.
Innovation Finance was born out of desire to create a platform that puts the interest of the customer first - a drastic change from any other equipment financing company in business today. Bill, along with President/CTO Mark Tomaselli (former CIO at First American), COO Nate Gibbons (former VP of Learning and Development at First American), and CFO Mike Ziegelmann (former Chief Credit Officer at First American) committed to streamlining the equipment financing process so much that customers are 100% aware of how transparent QuickFi® is. From showing businesses their low, fixed interest rates up front, to their simple and fair financing contract that requires only one digital signature. Mark, Nate, and Mike are focused on integrating APIs and automations into their Product, Operations, and Finance departments.
Innovation Finance does not only hire tech leaders. Innovation Finance is also committed to finding young, intelligent go-getters. Young minds offer a fresh take on technology and strategy; crucial fundamentals for building a business that is a complete 180 degree turn from an antiquated legacy process.
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Innovation Finance has created incredible work environments both internally and externally. Internally, Innovation Finance has implemented a flat organizational structure to keep us free of the rigid hierarchies that stifle creative thinking and agility. Our flat structure is complimented by our trendy, modern office building with open spaces, large desks, the most modern technology, and lots of windows that overlook the scenic Erie Canal.
Our staff is diverse in ethnicity, gender, age, and experience. Diversity is key to innovation; it widens our collective perception in a way that provides thorough consideration of all angles of our product, strategies, and overall business model. Employees are constantly asked for their opinions on practices to create a cohesive, collaborative space. Innovation Finance holds weekly meetings for each department, and anyone, no matter their job title, is welcome to join. This open-meeting agenda allows for different perspectives on business goals. Curiosity flourishes and empowers colleagues to challenge the status quo and contribute unique ideas.
The forward-thinking industry leaders of Innovation Finance provide knowledge and guidance for younger employees. These gifts result in incredible inspiration, and through inspiration, passion shines through and drives every day staff operations. Employees are encouraged to continually learn and grow, but are given the freedom to choose how they approach personal and professional development. Innovation Finance offers compensation for any external programs and educational/academic courses that enable colleagues to meet their highest potentials.
Other Innovation Finance "work perks" include unlimited Paid Time Off, 401k matching, graduate tuition support, company bicycles, an office building nestled into a beautiful, lively community, endless free snacks and beverages in our kitchen, and options to work remotely.
Externally, Innovation Finance has a 24/7 customer service policy; our local Support Team can be contacted by email, phone, or live chat. We do not force our customers to communicate with us at any time during their QuickFi® experience, but we are always here if they need us. We supplement our clients with an informative Help Center website, stream How-To videos about the QuickFi® app, and consistently implement the feedback our customers give us about the QuickFi® Platform. Keeping our clients happy is our #1 goal.
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Innovation Finance's mission is to be the first equipment financing company to have the customer's best interest in mind, not company profit, by creating a 100% automated, self-service, mobile tool that a company can use to efficiently complete an antiquated process. Innovation Finance is currently disrupting the $1 Trillion equipment financing industry within the United States.
Innovation Finance is the creator of QuickFi®, the equipment financing industry's first and ONLY self-service equipment financing platform; designed for CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, heads of procurement, financial controllers, and the like.
The forefront of the platform is the QuickFi® mobile application (currently in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store); the only tool a QuickFi® customer needs to initiate and complete an equipment lease or loan transaction. The QuickFi® app turns the current lengthy, arbitrary process of equipment financing (originally clocking in from 3 weeks to 3 months) into ONLY 3 MINUTES. How? By eliminating the need for salespeople, a credit department, an approval process, paperwork, multiple document signatures, and countless phone calls and emails.
To eliminate these needless factors, Innovation Finance automated the entire equipment financing process, from start to finish. Using many data sources and APIs, companies are pre-scored and analyzed based on their public information before they even download the QuickFi® app. This pre-scoring eliminates the need for a traditional credit department and approval processes. Then, a company onboards themselves directly within the QuickFi® mobile application in only 5 minutes, as well as views their low, fixed interest rates directly on the Home screen. This onboarding process is automated and eliminates an entire traditional sales department - no more unwanted back-and-forth communications, negotiations, or waiting periods to obtain a credit line to finance your equipment. To initiate financing, simply upload equipment invoices (by taking a picture of a physical invoice, uploading a file from a cloud folder, or emailing a PDF invoice to upload@quickfi.com) to the QuickFi® app. Then, directly within QuickFi®, simply select the deal term (in months) and the structure of the deal (either a lease or loan). To finish, sign the simple contract with one single digital signature. Your vendors will be paid within the next business day.
These automations are accomplished by configuring advanced technology including artificial intelligence, optical character recognition (OCR), biometric feature scanning for security, customer relationship manager APIs, and Blockchain technology.
Our competitors claim to offer traditional "marketing benefits" such as competitive rates or good customer service. But "good customer service" at traditional equipment financing companies is often backed by money-motivated loan officers. QuickFi® increases customer trust because we've actually eliminated the "salesperson" from the equipment financing process - a highly compensated individual that is paid to maximize profit, not customer satisfaction. In addition, no competitor offers the level of trust and transparency that Innovation Finance offers. Our transparency is displayed within our lease and loan contracts. The contracts are fair, simple, and consistent for every deal - and they are audible, immutable, and accessible at any time on our Blockchain. Additionally, we show customers their low, fixed interest rates as soon as they log into QuickFi®. QuickFi's rates rival even the largest banks because automation and the absence of highly paid sales personnel has drastically reduced operating costs.
QuickFi® is so disruptive within our industry that other equipment financing company could not create or adopt a similar product, because it would deem their fleets of salespeople and credit teams useless.
In the vendor space, QuickFi® opens up a world of partnership opportunities. Companies like Dell, Apple, and John Deere could instruct their customers to finance their products through the QuickFi® mobile app. Consider us the "PayPal" financing tool of corporate leases and loans.
Innovation Finance's mission is to restore the trust aspect of the equipment financing industry. Business processes should be transparent and fair - not complicated and stressful. After saving time, money, and effort with QuickFi®, we couldn't imagine why anyone would defer back to their old equipment financing process. QuickFi's 100% automated system leaves no room for trickery, elongated processes resulting in extra fees for the borrower, or unwanted interactions with pesky salesmen. Ultimately, we've given corporate borrowers valuable gifts - time and control. You can now access and manage the funding your business needs all by yourself - in a matter of 3 minutes. Innovation Finance USA is here to restore the trust between corporate borrowers and equipment financing.
