Cash Buoy
Revenue-based advances from $2,500 to $250,000, delivered as a share of your daily sales instead of a fixed bill on a calendar date.
- Amounts
- $2,500 to $250,000
- Speed
- Days
- Repayment
- A share of each day's sales
- Structure
- A purchase of future receivables, not a loan
- Qualifying floor
- About three months operating and roughly $5,000 a month in revenue
- Cost written as
- A factor rate, not an interest rate
What Cash Buoy actually is
Cash Buoy is an advance, and the distinction from a loan is not a technicality. You are not borrowing a sum and repaying it with interest. A funder is buying a slice of your future sales at a discount and collecting it as a small percentage of each day's take until the agreed amount is delivered.
That structure is the product. In a busy week you deliver more and finish sooner. In a dead week you deliver less and the timeline stretches. For a business with genuinely uneven months, that flexibility is worth real money, because a fixed weekly payment in a slow February is exactly where thin businesses get hurt.
It is also the most expensive money on this page, and we would rather say that plainly than sell around it. The price is written as a factor rate, which is a multiplier rather than an annual rate, and it does not fall if you deliver early. Speed and flexibility are what you are buying, and they are priced accordingly.
The qualifying bar is low by design. Roughly three months operating and about $5,000 a month in revenue puts the conversation on the table. Sales history does most of the work in the file, which is why this is often the option that clears when credit-driven underwriting will not.
How it works
Send recent sales history
A few months of bank or processing statements. That history is the file here, far more than a credit report is.
Underwriting sizes the advance
The offer comes off what your daily sales can comfortably carry rather than off the number you ask for. That ceiling is a feature, not an obstacle.
You get the total in writing
The amount advanced, the factor rate, the total you will deliver, and the share of daily sales it comes out of. We translate all of that into plain dollars before you sign.
Funded in days, then it flexes
The money lands quickly and delivery runs as a share of sales. Busy weeks move faster, slow weeks ease off.
What Cash Buoy costs
This is the most expensive option on the page and it is also the fastest. The price is written as a factor rate rather than an annual rate, which makes it easy to underestimate, so we convert it into dollars for you before anything gets signed.
How the price is written
A factor rate, meaning a multiplier on the amount advanced. Advance times factor equals what you deliver in total, and that total does not shrink by finishing faster.
What drives your number
Consistency and volume of daily sales, months operating, and your industry. Steady daily receipts price better than the same annual revenue arriving in lumps.
The tradeoff
You are paying for speed and for delivery that flexes with a slow week. If your months are steady and you can wait a week, a fixed-term loan through ARF is materially cheaper.
Finishing early
Because the cost is a fixed total rather than something that accrues over time, delivering early generally does not save you money. Ask us to confirm it on your specific offer, and plan around the full number.
We put the total delivery amount next to the total payback on a fixed-term loan, in dollars, so the real gap between fast money and cheap money is visible before you choose.
An advance is the right tool for a narrow set of problems and the wrong tool for most of them.
We place it when speed genuinely matters or when the numbers will not clear anywhere cheaper, and we say so out loud when a slower option would cost you less. The failure mode we see most often is an owner stacking a second advance on top of a first, and we will tell you when that is the road you are heading down.
We place working capital with more than one partner, so the recommendation follows your numbers rather than one funder's pitch. Bring us the offer you like, including one you found somewhere else, and we will put the real total cost of each side by side before you sign.
Who it fits
- Businesses with steady daily card and cash sales
- About three months operating and roughly $5,000 a month in revenue
- Owners whose credit would stall a traditional application
- Genuinely uneven months, where a fixed payment is the risk
- A time-sensitive need: inventory at a discount, an urgent repair, a short bridge
Who it does not fit
If your months are steady and your timeline allows a week, this is the expensive way to solve the problem, and ARF is where we would send you instead. It also does not suit a business without regular daily receipts, or a large planned purchase where equipment financing through SURV would secure a better price.
We carry more than one option here precisely so we never have to push the wrong one on you.
Cash Buoy, answered
Is this a loan?
No, and the difference is worth understanding. A funder is purchasing a portion of your future sales at a discount. There is no interest rate and no fixed monthly bill, and it is delivered as a share of daily sales.
What is a factor rate?
A multiplier rather than a percentage per year. At 1.3 you deliver $1.30 for every dollar advanced. Converted to an annual cost it is usually higher than it sounds, which is exactly why we convert it for you first.
What happens in a slow month?
You deliver less, because it is a share of what you actually sell. The timeline stretches instead of a payment bouncing. That is the core reason to choose this structure.
Does finishing early save me money?
Usually not, because the total is set at signing rather than accruing over time. Ask us to confirm the specific terms of your offer before you sign, and budget for the full amount.
How fast can this fund?
Days, and it is the fastest option we place. If your problem is genuinely urgent, this is normally the answer.
How much can I get?
The published range is $2,500 to $250,000, but the practical ceiling comes off your daily sales. We will give you a realistic number before you apply rather than after.
Not sure Cash Buoy is the one?
Tell us what you are trying to do and we will walk the options with you, in plain dollars, before anything gets signed.