SAN JOSE, Calif. – Credit unions looking to dive deeper intosmall business lending can seek help from the San Francisco-basedSizeUp, one of the presenting companies at FinovateSpring 2015.

SizeUp FI is a new service that enables financial institutionsto provide members and customers with valuable businessintelligence directly through its own website. Using analytics andinformation gathered from hundreds of public and privateinformation sources, the system analyzes whether a business'projections are reasonable. The data also helps the financialinstitution create stronger partnerships with business customersand helps the businesses succeed.

“We're trying to work with financial institutions to help themwork with their small business clients,” Anatalio Ubalde, CEO ofSizeUp, said. “In an information economy if you don't haveinformation you don't have economy.”

Credit unions are in an ideal position for SizeUp because creditunion, need a scalable solution, Ubalde maintained.

“We have a different solution,” he said. “We have becomeindustry experts on relevant, everyday, unique businesses.”

Solutions such as these are timely since credit union memberswill soon have greater access to capital to start or expand a smallbusiness, due to a joint initiative between the U.S. Small BusinessAdministration (SBA) and the NCUA.

The SBA and the NCUA recently signed a memorandum ofunderstanding to expand the accessibility of small-dollar SBA loansfrom credit unions. By collaborating, the two organizations wish toescalate awareness about the SBA's loan programs.

“Since 2011, the outstanding balance of SBA loans by creditunions has seen nearly a 50% increase – from $810 million to $1.2billion,” Maria Contreras-Sweet, administrator of the SBA, said. “This signals a growing demand for SBA loan programs.Millions of Americans have used their credit union to finance theircar, home or children's education. We want to empower credit unionsto finance small business start-ups, too.”

Once approved for a loan, the SBA uses its resources to offerfree counseling and technical assistance to help small businessowners deploy their working capital and grow their businesses andrevenues, the SBA said.