LeaseQ, an online marketplace connecting businesses, equipment sellers, and equipment finance companies to make selling and financing equipment fast and easy, today announced a partnership with alternative lending platform Fund Simple, Inc., a trusted and reliable source for small and medium-size businesses to obtain loans for expansion and growth. The strategic pairing of LeaseQ’s automated equipment financing platform and Fund Simple’s diverse customer base ensures that more borrowers, regardless of equipment type or credit profile, can shop for and secure the best financing option for their business.

Investment in business equipment and software is expected to grow 4.1 percent in 2015, according to a Q4 market report from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (ELFF). In fact, the equipment financing industry is growing consistently year over year, with new deal originations expected to top $1 trillion in 2015. With a cloud-based, automated platform and instant quotes, LeaseQ is capitalizing on the growth of the market, connecting lenders and equipment sellers in over 30 vertical equipment markets with small business borrowers in all credit classes looking to expand, while preserving cash flow.

“Equipment financing is a highly-fractured industry, and we pride ourselves in being experts who help borrowers, lenders and vendors navigate the messiness,” said Vernon Tirey, LeaseQ co-founder and CEO. “Our partnership with Fund Simple underscores our focus on professionalism, and allows us to reach more borrowers, with more financing options both online and on the dealer floor.”

Douglas Rovello, Fund Simple’s chief financial officer, said as Fund Simple’s equipment financing arm, LeaseQ has the ability to deliver a customized platform for their clients.

“LeaseQ’s automation in equipment financing gives us a level of diversity and transparency we can offer our end-merchant and vendor clients,” Rovello said. “The partnership benefits all parties involved, because we’re now offering a product and a program on a customized platform that no one else out there is offering.”

LeaseQ significantly lowers the cost of sales by delivering highly qualified lease applications to financing companies. A free underwriting engine, real-time-credit processing capability and BPO management system enables leasing companies to create an Nth number of risk tiers with variable lease pricing for each vertical market segment, generate instant lease quotes, and manage the lease application and lease closing process all online.