Shopify opens funding stream for Aussie online retailers

eCommerce platform Shopify has launched a new financing service for Australian businesses called Shopify Capital.

Merchants who run their stores on the platform can receive offers of up to $2.5 million within two business days – once their applications are analyzed by Shopify Capital’s team using data-informed and machine learning models.

The company says 67 percent of Australian merchants are deterred by high-interest rates and 53 percent are turned off by lengthy application processes and timeframes. Almost 40 percent of home-grown merchants sell internationally through Shopify Markets generating up to $39 million in economic activity.

“Australian businesses are concerned about the increasing cost of capital, inflationary pressures impacting margins, and declining consumer confidence impacting sales,” Shaun Broughton, Apac MD at Shopify, said.

“Shopify Capital is remitted only when a sale is made, so Australian merchants can be confident that they can afford to invest in their businesses.”

Merchants repay funding based on an ‘agreed’ fixed percentage of daily sales helping reduce cashflow risks and uncertainty around compounding interest rates and hidden costs.

Shopify Capital was first introduced in US, UK, and Canada in 2016. It has provided $5.51 billion in funding to thousands of businesses so far.