Wyles Daniel
Despite the importance of small businesses to the U.S. economy, securing funding has become increasingly complex even for the most successful small businesses.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses account for 99.9 percent of all businesses in the country, employing more than 62 million people across 36.2 million companies. These firms represent 46 percent of American workers, but funding these essential organizations remains a challenge.
New lending to small businesses with less than $1 million in revenue peaked in 2020 at more than $100 billion, but SBA data show that new lending dropped to less than $85 billion in 2023.
This lack of funding has a significant impact on the nation’s economy through employment and exports. Of all U.S. exports in 2023, 97 percent were from small businesses, representing $588 billion in exports, or 33 percent of all exported goods and services.
Meeting a Need
Traditional funding sources have been unable to step in to return small business funding to previous levels. Regulatory requirements categorize small businesses as higher-risk investments, especially without real estate or collateral. These barriers make it less profitable for traditional banks to fund small businesses, which often lack strong credit history or traditional proof of income. Even SBA loans can be time-consuming and cumbersome.
Even if a small business can secure a loan from traditional sources, there may be time delays that are unsustainable for companies with small margins. With payroll to meet and a lack of capital, it is a significant challenge to keep small businesses alive long enough to wait for traditional funding.
With a history as an executive who has helped other entrepreneurs grow, Ethan Aiem is acutely aware of how difficult it can be for small businesses to scale. After founding and consulting several firms spanning consulting, digital marketing, e-commerce, and artificial intelligence, Aiem developed expertise in business growth, finance, strategic planning, and, importantly, alternative financing. The result has been a solution that offers entrepreneurs a unique option to scale their operations.
“When I launched my first businesses, I saw how fast an owner could go from ‘growing’ to ‘struggling’ simply because a bank took six weeks to respond,” Aiem said. “That gap between timing and reality is where thousands of good businesses fail.”
Building Foundational Experience
Ethan Aiem is a European entrepreneur, investor, and business strategist who developed an interest in helping founders scale efficiently while optimizing finances. He began his career by founding DEA Brands and Marketing in 2020, focusing on e-commerce brands and helping them grow their digital presence with efficient marketing.
In 2023, Aiem’s consulting firm partnered with management consultants Bottom Line Concepts to help small businesses access government-backed tax credits and refunds. He led efforts that helped more than 500 businesses across the U.S. recover over $15 million in previously unclaimed tax refunds. These funds allowed founders to stay operational, retain staff, and reinvest during one of the most uncertain economic climates in recent history.
He later became an investor and consultant in a tech-based AI startup where he developed marketing plans and was active in vision-setting and optimizing internal systems. Before the age of 25, he had already founded multiple companies while developing expertise in building scalable financial infrastructure and automating operating systems.
As a serial entrepreneur and advisor, he became an expert in business financing and was sought out byNerdWallet and Powerhomebiz as a source on business strategy and the impact of the recent government shutdown on small businesses.
His experience as a young entrepreneur who founded companies and advised others helped him identify an ever-present challenge: finding alternative funding.
Searching for Alternatives
In 2024, Aiem founded Klendify, which has quickly established itself as a financial advisory platform supporting businesses in the United States and Canada by providing access to operating capital, strategic planning, and streamlined workflows.
“Klendify offers founders and entrepreneurs a simplified way to secure additional funding when traditional underwriting criteria often disqualify solid businesses. Klendify uses a more nuanced approach,” Aiem explains. “We analyze cash-flow and bank behavior — not just credit score.”
Klendify’s funding applications require months of financial information rather than years, and applicants don’t have to demonstrate business profitability or have a minimum credit score. As the business grows, Klendify can help entrepreneurs find additional funding along the way. Aiem has developed a way to boost the broader economy while assisting founders to realize their dreams, even in a tumultuous economic environment.
Tailored Solutions
Klendify connects small businesses to funding by leveraging a multi-lender marketplace, working with dozens of partners with different risk profiles to match applicants with appropriate funding. Leaning on automation and data-driven underwriting powered by artificial intelligence, the platform analyzes bank statements, cash flow patterns, and seasonality rather than relying on a generic credit score. The AI-developed, nuanced profile for the applicant helps candidates quickly match with an appropriate funding source.
Aiem has kept the operation lean, utilizing technology for underwriting and data collection, allowing the company to work with smaller companies that more labor-intensive organizations couldn’t afford.
“The goal isn’t just to secure capital,” Aiem said. “It’s to structure funding in a way that keeps a business alive six months later. Growth only matters if the company can survive the journey.”
Funding the Future
Aiem’s impact on small businesses and entrepreneurs has helped them grow and scale. Klendify offers over 25 financing products to businesses across 250 industries and the firm has more than 50 top-tier lending partners who have helped deliver essential resources to growing businesses.
When several banks declined Texas-based telecommunications provider A & P Telecom’s request for working capital, the firm turned to Klendify. Despite the company’s stable contracts and recurring revenue from small business clients, traditional lenders either refused to extend credit or offered short-term facilities with unfavorable terms that would have added pressure on A & P to increase cash flow.
Rather than a blanket risk profile, Aiem provided a tailored breakdown of the company’s finances to Klendify’s multi-lender marketplace, developing a solution that fit the needs of both the business and the lender. Aiem’s network helped A & P secure a $52,000 working capital facility with a term three times as long as that from traditional funding sources. The extra time secured by Klendify enabled A & P CEO Kayathiry P. to grow and upgrade in ways that would not have been possible without a bespoke profile and a diverse funding network.
“Every other lender treated us like a risk because we didn’t fit their standard template,” Kayathiry P. said. “Ethan was the first person to study how our business works and then used that understanding to open doors we couldn’t open on our own. The funding he helped structure wasn’t just a quick fix — it changed the trajectory of our company.”
Aiem’s contributions to the small business community are not only helping an essential sector of the economy grow, but also creating substantial new possibilities for small business owners who increasingly have fewer options to grow their businesses. Aiem’s model offers a scalable alternative to outdated small-business lending — one that could influence how funding is accessed for years to come.