Raising funds for a small business is essential to having success, but can sometimes be very tricky. Depending on your financial history, credit score, or other factors, you may have a difficult time obtaining a conventional loan from a bank or credit union. Sometimes, financial institutions will simply be inflexible wth their lending requirements.

In such cases — and, potentially, in others — it may be useful to consider alternative lending options. These methods — including crowdfunding, asset-based lending, and B2B lending — can be enormously useful in letting a small business access cash.

1. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding’s popularity has grown in recent years, in part through the popularity of platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and others. Under that widely understood form of crowdfunding, businesses solicit donations from a large pool of generally small dollar donors, in order to fund a business creation or other project. In some cases, it lets entrepreneurs raise huge amounts of funds through the internet, particularly with effective social media campaigns.

Of course, for every business that is successful by this method, many are not. Typically, it requires a fairly wide social network to draw from, or some level of fame.

Another crowdfunding method involves seeking out much larger investments from wealthy investors or groups, in exchange for an ownership stake in your business. This can be very useful, depending on your industry, but requires giving up some control over the direction of your business.

2. Asset-Based Lending

An asset-based loan is not essentially unconventional: it refers to a loan acquired based on the collateralized value of some “asset.” The asset in question may be real estate, inventory, equipment, or something else valuable for your business. 

Asset-based lending is typically quick to secure, and not especially restrictive in terms of use of funds. However, a default can be extremely costly, both personally and professionally.

3. B2B Lending

A B2B loan is essentially a loan from one business to another. The virtues are obvious: the lending business gets to make interest on an investment, while the borrowing business gets access to cash that might otherwise be difficult to obtain. It can also lead to closer business ties between companies and serve to strengthen the local economy.

If you are looking for financing for a small business, any of the above three options may be helpful alternatives to consider. Moreover, these are hardly the only methods of alternative financing, meaning securing funding for a business even under challenging conditions may be possible for you.