Kabbage, Inc., a data and technology company providing small businesses cash flow solutions, launched the Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index. Drawing from the 2 million live data connections Kabbage maintains across its customer base of over 200,000 small businesses, the Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index is the only interactive tool analyzing live revenue trends of U.S. small businesses.

The Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index aggregates the anonymized financial data of Main Street America small businesses—a segment whose live financial trends have historically been unavailable for public consumption and research. Of the businesses represented in the Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index, 83 percent have fewer than 10 employees and a median annual revenue of $280,000. The result is a free-to-access tool for any small business to evaluate how their company’s revenue growth may compare to similarly-sized business in their state, industry and across the U.S.

The Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index calculates revenue trends by analyzing transactional data from the business banking accounts small businesses connect to the Kabbage platform. With historical growth trends beginning in 2017, the Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index indicates:

• Small business revenue grew 19.2 percent between January 2018 and January 2019.

• Small business revenue grew 18.5 percent from Q2 2018 to Q2 2019 and 7.6 percent from Q1 2019 to Q2 2019.

• Small businesses had the most significant year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth in April and May 2019 (19.9 and 23.3 percent, respectively) compared to any other YoY observation in the Index.

• The Transportation and Warehousing industry generated the greatest revenue growth (71.9 percent) since January 2017, slightly outpacing the Construction industry at 71.8 percent.

• Small businesses in Vermont had the greatest revenue growth since January 2017 with an increase of 118.2 percent.

“The Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index is unlike other tools or resources that supply small business growth trends as it analyzes the live data of companies instead of relying on static reports, survey responses or lagging research,” said Kabbage Head of Data Analytics and Strategy, David Snitkof. “This is the only tool available with an ongoing pulse on the financial health of local American small businesses, such as restaurants, hair salons, dentists, lawn care providers, boutique shops and more.”

“Technology has the power to transform the world of small businesses for the better,” said Karen Mills, senior fellow at Harvard Business School and the former administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. “Collecting and leveraging data on small businesses can illuminate the barriers and frictions that have prevented many businesses from getting the funds they need to grow and succeed. Given that small businesses make up half of America’s jobs, this data will be even more important in a recession.”

To provide ongoing review and analysis of the Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index, a Kabbage Index Committee was formed comprised of leaders in academia and public research. The committee includes:

Peter Schott, Juan Trippe Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management:

“Recent research in academic literature indicates that U.S. business dynamism has declined in recent decades. Unfortunately, publicly available data useful for studying small business activity are scarce. By publishing the Small Business Revenue Index, Kabbage is hoping to promote research into these firms, as well as greater understanding of the factors that promote and inhibit entrepreneurial activity.”

Jackson Mueller, Associate Director at the Center of Financial Markets, Milken Institute:

“The impact small businesses have on the economy is significant. Too often small businesses can be over-generalized in local and national political debates and the Kabbage Index provides an empirical analysis which can be a foundation to frame policy discussions aimed to support local business across states and industries.”