FM Gator, LLC provides working capital financing to small and mid-sized businesses. We exist for the gap between money going out and money coming in — the one that has nothing to do with whether a business is profitable, and everything to do with timing.
Who we are
FM Gator, LLC is a non-depository lender — we don't take deposits and we aren't a bank. We provide working capital financing to small and mid-sized businesses: money for the operating cycle rather than for buildings or long-term expansion.
Almost every business that comes to us is solvent. That is worth stating, because it is the part banks' credit models often handle badly. A company can be profitable on paper and still unable to make payroll — because the stock was bought in March, the wages were paid in April, and the customer pays in May. That is a timing problem, not a viability problem, and it needs a different kind of answer.
What we offer is speed and flexibility where a bank offers scale and low cost. Both are legitimate; they suit different situations. Where a bank facility fits better, we will say so. Sending a business into expensive short-term money it doesn't need is bad for them and, eventually, bad for us.
Profitable businesses fail on cash flow. That is the whole reason we exist.
Financing for the operating cycle, not fixed assets
Built for decisions measured in days, not quarters
The full cost in writing before anything is signed
We'll tell you when a bank is the better route
Financing options
Working capital isn't one product. What fits depends on whether the gap is one-off, seasonal, or built into how your customers pay.
A fixed amount for a defined need — a large stock purchase, a contract that requires spending before it pays, or a one-off gap with a clear end date.
Draw what you need, repay, draw again. Suited to businesses whose shortfalls recur unpredictably rather than arriving as a single event.
Advance against invoices already issued to creditworthy customers. If your problem is purely that clients pay on long terms, this is usually the most direct fix.
For businesses that earn in a few months and spend across twelve. Structured around your actual season rather than an even monthly schedule.
Short-term funding while a longer-term facility, refinancing or expected payment completes — with a defined exit rather than an open-ended commitment.
Capital to buy stock or fulfil a large order you couldn't otherwise fund — where the financing is repaid from the sale it makes possible.
How we work
This corner of finance has a reputation, and a good deal of it is deserved. Sixty-second approvals, daily debits nobody explained properly, costs quoted as a "factor" so they can't be compared to anything — these are marketing techniques, not products.
We work differently, and not out of virtue: businesses that understood what they signed are the ones who repay and come back.
What you repay in full, not a rate designed to be hard to compare
Amounts and timing walked through before signing, not discovered later
Take the terms away and think. An offer that expires in an hour is a warning sign
A conversation at the start of trouble beats one at the end of it
Is this right for you?
Working capital financing is a tool with a narrow proper use. Here is our honest read on both sides of that line.
How it works
What the money is for, what will repay it, and when. That framing tells us most of what we need.
Recent financials and bank activity, looked at by people rather than only by a scoring model.
Amount, total cost and repayment schedule, explained in full before you commit to anything.
Once agreed, funds are released — and we stay reachable for the life of the facility.
Client feedback
We won a contract far larger than anything we'd handled and needed to buy materials months before payment. Our bank wanted a quarter to decide. What I valued was being shown the total repayment figure in the first conversation, not the fourth.
They turned us down, and explained why: our issue was margin, not timing, and borrowing would have made the following year worse. Nobody in this industry had ever said that to us. We fixed the pricing problem and came back a year later.
Our business earns in five months and spends across twelve, which most lenders never quite grasp. The schedule here was built around our actual season instead of an even monthly figure that would have crushed us in February.
FAQ
Get in touch
What the money is for, what will repay it, and when you need it. That's enough to start — and if we're not the right answer, we'll say so.