AFO · Debt financing
Every flavour of debt, sized to the business and the use of proceeds.
From the $50K equipment loan through to a $25M mezzanine layer, debt is rarely a single instrument. The right answer is usually a structure — senior plus ABL, senior plus a grant, equipment plus a working-capital revolver — modelled before you walk into any lender meeting.
What makes this family distinct
- Senior, asset-based, and subordinated tiers — chosen on coverage and balance sheet, not lender pitch.
- CPA-prepared package: normalized financials, coverage analysis, projection model.
- Term-sheet review covers covenants, MAC clauses, prepayment, and guarantee scope.
What this family is
Debt
Government-guaranteed, conventional senior, asset-based, equipment, and subordinated debt.
Conventional senior debt from a chartered bank is the cheapest tier of capital, but it demands the cleanest financial presentation: normalized historicals, debt-service coverage, and covenant headroom modelled to the lender's credit-box. Most owner-operator businesses don't have that package built out — which is why first-time conversations stall on "send us the financials" rather than progressing to a term sheet.
Asset-based lending and equipment financing trade higher pricing for less restrictive eligibility. ABL revolvers grow with receivables and inventory; equipment loans are secured against the equipment itself. These are the right answer when the business is working-capital-intensive (distributors, manufacturers, staffing) or making a specific capital investment that the asset itself collateralizes.
Subordinated debt — mezzanine and private credit — fills the gap when senior capacity is exhausted. It's expensive (12–18% all-in) and usually carries a warrant, but it preserves equity in a leveraged buyout or acquisition where dilution would be unacceptable. The CPA models the leverage stack and the blended cost of capital before any provider is approached.
7 programs in the catalog · 4 live
The programs in this family.
Each card links to the program profile. Coming-soon programs are surfaced honestly — the screener routes there with a consultation CTA instead of a self-serve apply link until the integration is wired through.
Government-backed term loan for equipment, leasehold, and real property. Up to $1.15M.
Cash-flow-underwritten facility from a chartered bank, credit union, or Schedule II lender.
ABL Revolver (Asset-Based Lending)
Coming soonRevolving line tied to eligible receivables and inventory. Scales with the business.
Equipment-specific term loan or lease at 75–90% LTV on the equipment.
Mezzanine Debt
Coming soonSecond-lien or subordinated debt when senior capacity is exhausted.
Private Credit / Unitranche
Coming soonBespoke debt structures from non-bank private credit funds. Big-ticket only.
Immediate cash against outstanding receivables. Suits B2B businesses with long DSO.
Other families
Compare against the other capital options.
Most real-world deals end up stacked — senior plus a grant, RBF plus a tax credit, equity plus a working-capital revolver. The full picture is rarely one family.
- 8 programs
Grants & refundable tax credits
Federal and provincial grants plus refundable tax credits don't dilute ownership, don't carry interest, and don't have to be repaid. The trade-off is that every program is project-scoped with specific eligibility criteria, application windows, and reporting obligations a CPA needs to manage carefully.
Explore the family
- 1 program
Equity
Equity is the most expensive capital — once you've sold a share of the company you can't buy it back at the same price. The Capital Toolkit equity bucket exists to introduce founders to the right type of capital partner at the right stage, with the cap-table impact modelled before any term sheet is on the table.
Explore the family
- 3 programs
Alternative structures
Revenue-based financing, royalty deals, equity crowdfunding, and hybrid structures fill specific gaps where conventional debt is too restrictive and equity is too dilutive. Each instrument has a distinct cost profile that the CPA models before commitment — the apparent simplicity often hides a higher effective cost of capital than the headline rate suggests.
Explore the family
Land on the right instrument before the first conversation.
Twenty-minute call. Bring the use of proceeds and a rough sense of where the business stands today — we’ll walk through which instrument or stack fits, what the providers will want to see, and how long the engagement takes.