Key Takeaways
- L-1A holders who are CEO of their own US subsidiary are a uniquely strong funding profile
- SaaS recurring revenue, services contracts, and product revenue all qualify
- VC rejection is common for non-citizen founders — revenue-based funding fills the gap
- SBA 7(a) closed to L-1 holders — Bankable is the principal alternative
- Decisions in 48 hours, up to $5M based on your US business revenue
The intersection of L-1A visa requirements and startup formation creates a category of founder that is both uniquely qualified and uniquely constrained. To qualify for L-1A status, an executive or manager must be transferring within the same multinational company — which means many L-1A holders are, themselves, the person who established the US subsidiary to qualify for the transfer. They are simultaneously the CEO of the foreign parent and the manager of the US entity they created. This is their company. They built it. And when they need growth capital, the funding ecosystem treats them like a transient guest.
Silicon Valley's L-1 visa population is massive. Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and every major tech company in the Bay Area has transferred thousands of engineers, product managers, and executives via L-1. A non-trivial percentage of these individuals have started side companies, built consulting practices, or transitioned their own foreign-founded startups into US entities using the L-1A framework. These are sophisticated operators with real US revenue — and essentially zero access to traditional business financing.
Bankable funds on what your US entity earns. MRR, ARR, services revenue, licensing fees — if it comes through your US business bank account and you have 6+ months of history, we can work with it.
The VC Gap for L-1 Tech Founders
Venture capital is theoretically available regardless of immigration status — but the reality is more complicated. Many institutional VCs avoid investing in companies where the founding CEO's departure would trigger a clause. L-1A-to-EB-1C green card timelines have lengthened. A founder on an L-1 with 3 years remaining has a ticking clock that complicates any 7-10 year VC fund return model. The result: many L-1 tech founders are passed over for venture rounds for reasons entirely orthogonal to their business quality.
Revenue-based funding fills this gap precisely because it is indifferent to your immigration timeline. We fund on what you have earned, repaid from what you will earn, without equity dilution or board seat requirements. For an L-1A founder who has built $500K in ARR and does not want to give away 25% of their company for a $2M round at a $8M pre-money valuation, Bankable's revenue advance is a fundamentally different product.
Tech Business Capital Use Cases
- Engineering team expansion: Hiring engineers in the US on H-1B or OPT adds $150K-$250K per hire in annual fully-loaded cost — funding helps bridge until new revenue covers it
- Cloud infrastructure scaling: AWS and GCP costs scale non-linearly with growth; working capital prevents you from throttling customers
- Sales and marketing build-out: B2B SaaS customer acquisition requires front-loaded spend months before contract value is recognized
- Patent filing and IP protection: Provisional and utility patents, trademark registrations, and international IP filing can total $50K-$200K
- Office space and lab equipment: Physical presence requirements for hardware startups, biotech, or government contractor status
Explore your Bankability Score or learn about our capital products.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. L-1A holders who established or manage a US subsidiary are a particularly strong profile for Bankable. We fund based on the US entity's revenue, which is often directly tied to your work as CEO or manager.
Bankable requires at least 6 months of documented US business revenue. Pre-revenue startups should explore angel investment, accelerator programs, or convertible notes while building to the revenue threshold that qualifies for Bankable funding.
Yes. Monthly recurring revenue from SaaS subscriptions is an excellent qualification metric. We analyze MRR trend, churn rate, and net revenue retention to determine the quality and predictability of your revenue base.
Yes. Payroll funding for engineering, sales, and operations hires is a common use case. Bankable funds working capital advances specifically structured to support headcount growth financed by future revenue.
The US subsidiary's revenue and bank account activity are the primary qualification factors. The existence of a foreign parent does not disqualify or penalize the application — it is often a structural feature of legitimate L-1A companies.
Bankable's process is confidential. Revenue data shared in underwriting is not disclosed publicly. NDA-level confidentiality is maintained throughout the application process.
Yes. VC rejection does not affect Bankable eligibility. Many of our tech borrowers have been passed over by VCs for immigration-related reasons unrelated to business quality. Revenue-based funding is fundamentally a different product that does not require equity dilution.
Up to $5M. The limit is determined by your US revenue volume. A tech company with $2M ARR typically qualifies for $500K to $1.5M in funding. Larger facilities require proportionally larger revenue bases.