How to Secure Gap Funding for a Business Acquisition (When Traditional Lenders Say No)
How to Secure Gap Funding for a Business Acquisition (When Traditional Lenders Say No)
How to Secure Gap Funding for a Business Acquisition (When Traditional Lenders Say No)
You negotiated hard. You signed the LOI. The seller is engaged. Your debt provider lined up eighty percent of the purchase price. Everything looks ready until it does not. A capital shortfall emerges right when you need certainty. The lender capped leverage or the equity partner pulled back. Suddenly, you are missing critical dollars needed to close. Welcome to the gap funding problem.
What is Gap Funding in Business Acquisitions?
Gap funding refers to short-term capital that fills the space between committed senior debt and the total funds needed to close. It is used to cover final purchase price adjustments, working capital needs, or sponsor-level equity contributions that cannot wait for other financing layers to finalize.
Without it, deals fall apart at the eleventh hour. Sellers get spooked, brokers move on, and your time and legal fees evaporate into nothing. Gap funding solves this by bringing rapid liquidity into committed deals that simply need to cross the finish line.
Why Banks and Equity Providers Will Not Help
Traditional lenders love safe capital stacks. They do not like surprises, soft collateral, or last-minute funding gaps. Private equity firms focus on control and major capital allocations, not incremental shortfalls. Friends and family are usually tapped out or hesitant to jump into deals this late in the process.
This leaves buyers with real deals in a tough spot. They need capital quickly but find few institutional options willing to engage on flexible terms with rapid execution timelines.
What Serious Sponsors Use to Solve It
Professional buyers and M&A operators solve gap funding through private credit structures tailored to fast-moving transactions. Financely works with capital groups who provide options such as unsecured short-term notes, secured second position loans behind senior debt, preferred equity with priority repayment, and investor bridge loans with fixed repayment terms.
Each structure serves one goal. Ensure that if the rest of the capital stack and the deal are sound, money does not stop you from closing. These are not cheap facilities. They exist to keep deals alive when timing and reliability matter most.
What You Need to Access Gap Funding
Before any private investor will step up, your deal needs to show three things. First, clear documentation proving you have secured senior debt or majority equity. Second, signed agreements showing the seller, key stakeholders, and transaction terms are finalized. Third, a concise exit plan outlining how the gap funding will be repaid at or after closing. No one funds vague opportunities. They fund transactions that simply require help bridging timing or shortfalls.
Have a Business Acquisition Gap You Need to Fill?
If your deal is signed and missing a small but critical piece, Financely can help structure and distribute your file to private capital groups ready to move quickly.
Most gap funding can be secured within five to ten business days after submission and approval of a clean file. Fees typically range from four to eight percent flat or involve profit participation when structured as preferred equity or bridge notes. Pricing reflects the risk and speed required to rescue or complete a live transaction.
The Financely Advantage
We specialize in capital solutions for sponsors who have already secured deals and simply need the final layer. We do not chase broad
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Disclaimer:
Financely provides financing based on due diligence and feasibility.
Approval is not guaranteed, and past performance does not predict future outcomes. All terms are
subject to review. Financely primarily assists with structuring and distribution. Qualified parties
carry out the project if the client approves the proposal.
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About Financely
Financely advises growth-focused businesses on accessing capital by introducing their opportunities to professional investors. Financely is not a securities broker or dealer. Where appropriate, engagements are coordinated with regulated broker-dealers, investment banks, legal counsel, and other specialists.
Financely does not solicit, offer, or accept orders to buy or sell securities and makes no assurance regarding capital-raising outcomes.
Services are strictly business-to-business. Financely does not provide personal finance, consumer credit, or retail advisory services.
Advisory services are reserved for post-revenue companies that recognize the time and resources required for professional underwriting.
All mandates start with an RFQ. We review submissions, issue a brief Go/No-Go memo, and where bankable, release a Term Sheet that leads to funding. We arrange capital across Senior Secured, Unitranche, Second Lien/Mezzanine, Preferred Equity, and Gap Solutions. We do not process deals by email or chat.
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Move forward to secure working capital and keep goods moving. Submit the RFQ to start underwriting for funding.
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Financely Inc. (“Financely”) provides corporate-finance advice and is wholly owned by Aurora Bay Trust, a trust formed under Bahamian law, together with its authorized affiliates. Depending on deal structure, jurisdiction, and local rules, engagement may be carried out through Financely Group LLC, a non-deposit-taking non-banking financial company; Ashford Capital Advisory LLC; or another related entity. Financely and its affiliates are not registered as securities broker-dealers. When a mandate involves the purchase or sale of securities and a registered intermediary is required, all orders are introduced to and executed by a U.S. broker-dealer registered with the SEC and FINRA, acting as “chaperone” under SEC Rule 15a-6 (17 C.F.R. § 240.15a-6). Nothing here constitutes an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell any security. Before proceeding, read our Terms of Service to confirm that engaging Financely Group LLC, Ashford Capital Advisory LLC, or any affiliate aligns with your legal and regulatory requirements.In the United States, we operate as anexempt foreign private adviserpursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, subject to applicable exemptions from certain regulatory requirements. Our services and regulatory status may vary based on the location and nature of the transaction. Clickhereto download our brochure.