Data snack: Square ends 2021 as the top SMB digital lender by volume
- Square Loans closed 2021 at record small business loan origination levels - $2.5 billion - higher than its pre-pandemic volumes.
- The fintech also inched ahead of rivals PayPal and OnDeck for the first time, making it a market leader in the digital SMB lending space.

Square Loans, Block’s small business lending division, ended the year 2021 with $2.5 billion in loans originated – a new annual record – placing it ahead of rivals PayPal and OnDeck for the first time ever in the digital small lending space.
The fintech’s record numbers compared to $1.8 billion of loans at both PayPal and OnDeck. Square was also the only one to have exceeded pre-pandemic loan origination volumes.
As shown in the chart below, Square historically trailed below PayPal and OnDeck’s SMB lending divisions, but gradually started to inch ahead in the first quarter of last year.
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