Managing the MCA Deal Pipeline: Lead to Funded

The merchant cash advance pipeline is the path a prospective deal travels before a merchant exists — a business that is identified, applies, is underwritten, and is finally funded. It moves through five stages from Lead to Funded, with each stage adding more data, documents, and offers. In MCA Track the pipeline lives in the Leads list, where deals advance until the terminal Make Merchant action converts them into a live merchant.

Key takeaways

• A lead is the pipeline stage before a merchant exists — a prospective business being evaluated for an advance.
• Deals move through five stages: Lead, Application, Offer / Underwriting, and Funded, with a sixth status for existing merchants under review.
• Each lead is assigned a sales rep and an ISO and can carry one or more advance offers; the merchant accepts exactly one.
• The Make Merchant action copies business data, contacts, addresses, and the accepted offer into a new merchant and first cash advance.
• Only the accepted offer and core identity and contact details carry over — the financial profile, documents, and checklist items do not.
• Visibility into leads depends on role, from Funder Admins who see all leads down to sales reps who see only their own.

What is the MCA deal pipeline?

The MCA deal pipeline is the sequence of stages a prospective advance passes through before it becomes a funded merchant. A lead is the pipeline stage before a merchant exists — a prospective business being evaluated for an advance. The pipeline tracks that business as it supplies data, documents, and offers and is reviewed for funding.

In MCA Track the pipeline is the top of the funnel, managed from the Leads list. Deals progress stage by stage until they are either funded or set aside.

What are the stages of the lead pipeline?

A lead moves through five stages, and a sixth status covers existing merchants being reviewed for a new advance. Each stage adds more detail and brings the deal closer to funding.

What information does a lead capture?

A lead captures the business identity, a financial profile, the people behind the business, and supporting documents. Together these give underwriters enough to evaluate the deal before any money moves.

• Business identity: DBA, legal name, tax IDs, and incorporated state.
• Financial profile: monthly gross sales, deposit history, credit score, and card acceptance.
• Owners and principals, bank accounts, notes, and checklists.
• Uploaded documents such as bank statements, the signed application, and contracts.

Each lead is assigned a sales rep and an ISO and can carry one or more advance offers built by the funder.

How do you work a lead from start to funded?

You work a lead by entering its basics, completing the application, running risk checks, building offers, and sending it to underwriting — then converting it with Make Merchant. The steps below outline the flow.

1. Create a lead with the basics and optionally jump straight to Application.
2. Fill in the application using the full form or the simplified Quick Form.
3. Run an Experian credit check on an owner and a DataMerch industry lookup on the business.
4. Build one or more offers; the merchant accepts exactly one.
5. When the application is complete, send it to underwriting.
6. Use the terminal Make Merchant action to copy the business data, contacts, addresses, and the accepted offer into a new merchant and first cash advance, flipping the lead to Funded.

Only the accepted offer and core identity and contact details carry over to the merchant. The detailed financial profile, documents, and checklist items do not, so re-enter anything you still need after funding. The risk checks in step three are covered in depth in the MCA underwriting tools guide, and the conversion step is detailed in the create and fund a merchant guide.

Who can see and edit leads?

Access to leads depends on role. Funder Admins see all leads; Funder Underwriters see leads at the Offer stage or beyond; ISO Admins see all of their ISO’s leads; and sales reps see only their own. ISO users cannot edit a lead past Application unless the funder grants an override.

These rules are part of the platform’s wider user roles and permissions model. Once deals are funded, you can track them across the book on the MCA portfolio dashboard. For the full platform overview, see the MCA Track platform guide.

Want to see how leads flow into funded deals in practice? Book a walkthrough →

Frequently asked questions