ApplePie Capital
ApplePie Capital is a U.S. specialty lender that provides franchise-specific conventional and SBA-bridge financing to franchisees, operating a web-based origination platform, a network of 100+ franchisor partnerships, and branded loan products made through Cross River Bank.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What ApplePie Capital does
ApplePie Capital is a private, San Francisco-based franchise-finance platform founded in 2013 by CEO Denise Thomas, operating exclusively in the U.S. market. The company provides franchise-specific capital solutions to first-time and multi-unit franchise operators, anchored by three branded products: the ApplePie Core Loan (a 10-year fixed-rate conventional loan with no personal collateral requirements or prepayment penalties), the ApplePie Spring Loan (accelerated financing to bypass SBA friction for new unit openings), and the Recap & Grow program (which enables existing franchisees to leverage equity in current units to fund new openings or acquisitions). Branded loan products are made by Cross River Bank, a New Jersey State Chartered Commercial Bank, with ApplePie Capital, Inc. originating and ApplePie Capital Funding Solutions, LLC providing prequalification and referral services to the lender network.
The company's go-to-market combines a web-based lending portal (nCino-powered origination, document submission, and loan tracking) with a relationship management team averaging 9+ years of franchise financing experience. ApplePie has cultivated preferred-lender relationships with over 100 franchise brands — including Anytime Fitness, Jersey Mike's, Orangetheory Fitness, Ben & Jerry's, Club Pilates, My Salon Suite, Hand & Stone, and Nothing Bundt Cakes — serving franchisees across 200+ brands and amassing $3B+ in cumulative loan originations. Revenue derives from origination fees, interest on retained loan participations, and referral fees routed to its lender network.
ApplePie is venture-backed (over $45M in cumulative equity from QED Investors, Kleiner Perkins, Mohr Davidow, Sequoia Capital, Fifth Third Bank, Signia Venture Partners, and others), acquired Funding Solutions in March 2017 to absorb institutional franchise-lending expertise, and is led by an experienced financial services executive team including a Chief Credit Officer (former HSBC, Capital One, Wells Fargo) and a Chief Solutions Officer (former Wells Fargo, American Express). The company holds California Finance Lender License 60DBO-178796 and NMLS 2321502, and operates as a regulated specialty lender rather than a marketplace broker.
ApplePie Capital firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ApplePie Capital
- Legal name
- ApplePie Capital, Inc.
- Website
- https://applepiecapital.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ApplePie Capital is a U.S. specialty lender that provides franchise-specific conventional and SBA-bridge financing to franchisees, operating a web-based origination platform, a network of 100+ franchisor partnerships, and branded loan products made through Cross River Bank.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ApplePie Capital industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Franchise Lending
- NAICS
- Sales Financing (52222), Commercial Banking (522110)
- SIC
- Loan Brokers (6163), Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159)
- akta.pro primary industry
- SME Term Loans & Growth Capital (FSAKAGAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- SME Business Lending (Term Loans, Lines of Credit, Overdrafts) (FSABABAB)
Keywords
Where ApplePie Capital is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
ApplePie Capital business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Loan Origination and Interest: ApplePie Capital generates revenue through loan origination fees and interest on the loans it originates and participates in. The company offers its own branded loan products (ApplePie Core Loan, ApplePie Spring Loan) and connects franchisees with a network of lending partners.
- Referral and Prequalification Services: ApplePie Capital Funding Solutions, LLC provides prequalification and referral services to the ApplePie network of lenders. ApplePie Capital, Inc. offers its own branded loan products made by Cross River Bank.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | ApplePie Core Loan - 10-year fixed-rate conventional loan |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
ApplePie Capital product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ApplePie Capital is a franchise-focused financing platform that originates and participates in loans for franchise businesses. Its flagship ApplePie Core Loan is a 10-year fixed-rate conventional loan with no personal collateral requirements or prepayment penalties, complemented by the ApplePie Spring Loan for accelerated new unit openings and the Recap & Grow program for equity-based recapitalization of existing franchisees. The company delivers these products through a web-based lending platform and a network of dedicated relationship managers.
Product overview
ApplePie Capital is a franchise-focused financing company that offers a platform of lending products. The core offerings include the ApplePie Core Loan (10-year fixed-rate conventional loans) and ApplePie Spring Loan (for accelerating new unit openings), along with the Recap & Grow program for existing franchisees to leverage equity in their existing units for growth. The company matches franchisees with capital solutions across a network of lending partners through a single online application process.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ApplePie Core Loan: A 10-year fixed-rate conventional loan product offered by ApplePie Capital, Inc., made by Cross River Bank, with no personal collateral requirements or prepayment penalties.
- ApplePie Spring Loan
- Recap & Grow
Products and services
- ApplePie Core Loan A 10-year fixed-rate conventional loan product offered to franchisees, with no personal collateral requirements or prepayment penalties. It is used to finance new franchise units, acquisitions, and refinancing for qualified operators.
- ApplePie Spring Loan An accelerated loan product for select franchise brands that helps franchisees open new locations faster, avoiding the typical delays of SBA new unit financing.
- Recap & Grow A recapitalization program that allows existing franchisees to use the equity embedded within their business to access growth capital, enabling them to open new units or acquire existing units without cash out of pocket.
Quantifiable outcome
- 141% higher customer satisfaction than industry average (NPS)
Companies that use ApplePie Capital
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
ApplePie Capital technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
ApplePie Capital partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- SweatHouzcoreSweatHouz, a contrast-therapy franchise brand operating infrared sauna, cold-plunge, and vitamin C shower suites, launched eligibility for the ApplePie Capital Core Loan Program on January 13, 2026. This partnership gives qualified operators access to 10-year fixed-rate conventional loans with no personal collateral requirements or prepayment penalties, removing capital access barriers for franchisees and supporting multi-unit franchise development.
- 100+ Franchise Brand PartnerscoreApplePie Capital partners with over 100 franchise brands including Anytime Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, Jersey Mike's, Ben & Jerry's, Hand & Stone, Club Pilates, My Salon Suite, Scooter's Coffee, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and many others to provide financing solutions to their franchisees.
- EscapologyminorEscapology, an escape room entertainment brand founded in 2014 in Orlando, Florida, is one of the franchise brands whose franchisees can access ApplePie Capital financing. ApplePie is shown as a partner brand on the ApplePie website.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ApplePie Capital competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Guidant Financial: Guidant Financial specializes in SBA loans and rollovers-as-startup-funding (ROBS) for franchise and small business buyers, directly competing with ApplePie Capital for the same franchisee borrower and the same franchisor partnership channels.
- Benetrends Financial: Benetrends is a long-standing franchise financing specialist offering SBA loans, ROBS, and conventional financing to franchisees — competing head-to-head with ApplePie in the same franchise-vertical customer base.
- FranFund: FranFund is a franchise financing marketplace that connects prospective franchisees with SBA, conventional, and ROBS lenders, overlapping with ApplePie's referral and prequalification function (ApplePie Capital Funding Solutions, LLC).
- Franchise America Finance (FAF) / The Siegel Financial Group: FAF provides brand-based credit modeling and captive lending programs for franchisors — directly comparable to ApplePie's franchisor-partnership preferred-financing model. ApplePie's own brand ambassador Ron Feldman was a co-founder and CEO of FAF.
- Lendio: Lendio operates a small-business lending marketplace connecting borrowers to a network of lenders, including franchise SBA loans — overlapping with ApplePie's role as a referral/prequalification layer for a multi-lender network.
- SmartBiz: SmartBiz is an SBA-focused online small business loan marketplace and direct lender, targeting the same SMB borrower ApplePie serves via conventional and SBA franchise loans.
Emerging players
- Fundbox: Fundbox provides working capital and small business credit lines; while not franchise-specialized, it competes for adjacent SMB lending dollars that franchisees might otherwise access through a franchise-focused lender like ApplePie.
- BlueVine: BlueVine offers working capital, lines of credit, and term loans to small businesses including franchise operators, providing an alternative funding source competing with ApplePie's Core Loan product.
Broad incumbents
- JPMorgan Chase Small Business / Franchise Finance: JPMorgan Chase operates a large-scale commercial banking franchise finance practice that competes with ApplePie at the multi-unit enterprise end, offering deposit, treasury, and credit products to the same franchisee customers.
- Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG): BHG is a non-bank specialty lender in healthcare, dental, and other professional verticals whose CEO (Tyler Crawford) sits on ApplePie's board; BHG represents a comparable specialty-lending platform model that could expand into franchise lending.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ApplePie Capital social profiles
Digital presenceApplePie Capital financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ApplePie Capital leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
ApplePie Capital subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
ApplePie Capital funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors10 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ApplePie Capital M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ApplePie Capital
What does ApplePie Capital do?
ApplePie Capital is a franchise-focused financing platform that originates and participates in loans for franchise businesses. Its flagship ApplePie Core Loan is a 10-year fixed-rate conventional loan with no personal collateral requirements or prepayment penalties, complemented by the ApplePie Spring Loan for accelerated new unit openings and the Recap & Grow program for equity-based recapitalization of existing franchisees. The company delivers these products through a web-based lending platform and a network of dedicated relationship managers.
Is ApplePie Capital a public or private company?
ApplePie Capital is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was ApplePie Capital founded?
ApplePie Capital was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ApplePie Capital based?
ApplePie Capital is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does ApplePie Capital make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Loan Origination and Interest is the primary driver. The others are referral and Prequalification Services.
Who are ApplePie Capital's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Guidant Financial, Benetrends Financial, FranFund, Franchise America Finance (FAF) / The Siegel Financial Group, Lendio and SmartBiz. Emerging players are Fundbox and BlueVine. Broad incumbents are JPMorgan Chase Small Business / Franchise Finance and Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG).
Does ApplePie Capital have an API?
No public API is recorded for ApplePie Capital.
What industry is ApplePie Capital in?
ApplePie Capital's product category is Franchise Lending. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAKAGAB, SME Term Loans & Growth Capital, with a secondary code of FSABABAB, SME Business Lending (Term Loans, Lines of Credit, Overdrafts). Its NAICS code is 52222 and its SIC code is 6163.