HR
Helena Reyes
Co-Founder & CEO
Spent 12 years in commercial credit before deciding the model was broken. Helena sets Meridian's underwriting philosophy and still reviews the toughest files herself.
Our story
We built the lender we wished existed.
Meridian Growth began with a simple frustration: good businesses kept getting filtered out by lenders who only read the score. We thought capital deserved a point of view.
Read the whole business.
140 Meridian Plaza
Chicago
In 2016, our founders spent a decade inside traditional lending and watched the same story repeat: a profitable HVAC contractor turned away for a thin file; a restaurant denied because last winter was slow. The numbers said no. The businesses said otherwise.
Meridian Growth was founded on the conviction that underwriting is a craft, not a checkbox. We read cash flow, seasonality, customer concentration, and trajectory — the texture of a real operating business. Then we make a decision a human can stand behind.
Eight years and more than $1 billion later, that conviction has funded over 10,000 businesses. Nine in ten come back. That renewal rate is the only review that matters to us.
A credit score is a snapshot. A business is a story. We fund the story.
Four principles we underwrite by.
01
Clarity over complexity
One page of terms, in plain language. No fine-print fees, no surprise prepayment traps. You always know the full cost.
02
Speed with judgment
Fast doesn't mean careless. We move in hours because our analysts are sharp — not because we skip the thinking.
03
The right structure
Sometimes the honest answer is a smaller, cheaper product than you asked for. We'd rather earn the renewal.
04
Partnership, not transaction
A dedicated advisor learns your business and stays with you across every renewal, season, and stage of growth.
$1B+
Capital deployed
10k+
Businesses funded
90%
Renewal rate
22%
Referral rate
The people behind the point of view.
Operators and underwriters who've sat on both sides of the table.
MT
Marcus Thorne
Co-Founder & COO
A former small-business owner who lived the cash-flow crunch firsthand. Marcus built the 24–48 hour funding engine and obsesses over removing friction.
AK
Aisha Kone
Chief Risk Officer
Leads a team of analysts who read businesses, not just scores. Aisha's models balance speed and prudence — and keep losses well below industry norms.
DC
Daniel Cho
Head of Client Advisory
Oversees the advisors who stay with clients across every renewal. Daniel's team is the reason 9 in 10 customers come back.
A decade of momentum.
From a two-person idea to a billion-dollar lending platform.
- 2016
Meridian is founded
Helena and Marcus open shop with a single conviction and a spreadsheet underwriting model.
- 2018
$100M funded
We cross our first major milestone and add invoice factoring and equipment financing.
- 2020
Same-day funding launches
Our funding engine delivers same-day disbursement — a lifeline for owners during a hard year.
- 2022
SBA preferred status
Meridian becomes an SBA-experienced lender, guiding owners to the lowest-cost capital available.
- 2025
$1B+ and 10,000 businesses
We cross a billion in capital deployed — with a 90% renewal rate to show for it.
Join 10,000+ owners
See what a lender with a point of view can do.
Apply in five minutes. No hard credit check, no obligation.