LendAPI Recognized as Top FinTech Emerging Company Nominee at Finovate 2026

IRVINE, CA — July 27th 2026 — LendAPI, the leading no-code digital onboarding and loan origination system (LOS) platform, today announced that it has been selected as a nominee for Top FinTech Emerging Company of the Year at Finovate 2026. The prestigious award will be presented during Finovate, held September 9–11, 2026, at The Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York.

Being nominated by Finovate—the world’s premier fintech event series—marks a momentous milestone for the LendAPI team, validating its mission to transform how financial institutions, fintechs, and non-financial brands launch and scale modern credit products.

The LendAPI Journey: Beginning, Expansion, and the Road Ahead

The Beginning: Solving a Broken Paradigm

LendAPI was co-founded by industry veterans Timothy Li and Sam Xia, born out of a shared frustration with the traditional financial technology landscape. Historically, launching a new lending product required months—or even years—of bespoke software development, expensive system integrations, and rigid core infrastructure. Financial institutions were routinely bogged down by slow time-to-market and disjointed third-party vendors for fraud detection, credit decisioning, and compliance.

LendAPI was established to eliminate these bottlenecks. The founders envisioned a developer-first, infrastructure-centric platform that offered a "DIY and Launch-Yourself" experience. By combining modular APIs with an intuitive, no-code Product Studio, LendAPI set out to make product creation as simple as drag-and-drop, enabling teams to build complete loan origination engines in a fraction of the traditional time.

The Expansion: Scaling the Ecosystem

As financial institutions sought greater agility, LendAPI quickly gained traction among community banks, credit unions, emerging fintechs, and embedded finance providers. Backed by top-tier venture firms including AlleyCorp, Plug and Play Ventures, Cohen Circle, and Techstars, the company expanded its capabilities far beyond basic onboarding.

LendAPI introduced its robust Rules Studio, sub-50ms Decision Engine, and an expansive Marketplace featuring over 250 pre-built integrations with top credit bureaus, KYC/AML providers, and core banking systems. Through this growth, clients were able to cut go-to-market timelines by up to 85%, transitioning embedded finance from a complex tech challenge into a plug-and-play reality.

Where LendAPI Stands Today

Today, LendAPI serves as critical infrastructure powering over 100 million applications processed worldwide. The platform empowers diverse financial products—ranging from personal loans, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and auto financing to specialized legal fee, medical, and green energy financing solutions. LendAPI continues to break down barriers to financial inclusion, giving institutions of all sizes the flexibility to experiment, iterate rapidly, and adapt instantly to market demand.

A Milestone Moment for the LendAPI Team

To the entire team at LendAPI, this nomination is far more than a corporate accolade—it represents a powerful validation of their hard work, dedication, and visionary approach to building open financial infrastructure.

"Being recognized as a nominee for Top FinTech Emerging Company of the Year by Finovate is a deeply humbling and exhilarating honor for all of us at LendAPI," said Timothy Li, Co-Founder and CEO of LendAPI. "Finovate has long been the global gold standard for discovering the ideas and technologies that reshape modern banking. To stand on this stage alongside the industry’s top pioneers validates the relentless work our team puts in every single day."

"From an engineering standpoint, our mission has always been to solve the complex tech debt that holds lenders back," added Sam Xia, Co-Founder and CTO of LendAPI. "Building a platform that delivers enterprise-grade security, lightning-fast decisioning speed, and seamless integration in a single, no-code environment was an ambitious goal. This Finovate nomination reflects the technical breakthroughs our team has achieved to make modern credit deployment accessible to everyone."

"This nomination is a tremendous signal to the market that lenders no longer need to accept multi-year implementation timelines," noted Bennett Krieger, Head of GTM. "Our rapid growth is driven by the fact that institutions can bring new credit products to market in days rather than months. Being spotlighted by Finovate validates that our go-to-market momentum is fundamentally shifting how financial products are launched."

"Every department at LendAPI has poured incredible passion into scaling this platform and supporting our partners," shared Eric King, Chief of Staff. "Being named a finalist on a stage as distinguished as Finovate is a proud moment for our entire organization. It reinforces that our collaborative culture, customer-first focus, and drive to innovate are making a meaningful impact across the fintech ecosystem."

About LendAPI

LendAPI is a digital onboarding platform and Loan Origination System (LOS) builder that enables banks, credit unions, fintechs, and brands to design, deploy, and scale lending products in days. Featuring a no-code Product Studio, automated credit decisioning engines, and an extensive marketplace of pre-integrated data and compliance partners, LendAPI provides the essential core infrastructure for the next generation of embedded finance.

To learn more or request a demo, visit www.lendapi.com.

Media Contact

Eric King

Chief of Staff, LendAPI

Email: eric.king@lendapi.com

Website: www.lendapi.com