First Business Bank: SBA Lending Profile
First Business Bank is an FDIC-insured bank, headquartered in Madison, WI. It is active in 36 states, concentrated around CA, FL, WI. Everything below comes from federal SBA loan records, not from the lender's marketing. This is what it has actually funded.
Loan sizes First Business Bank actually approves
The median SBA approval at First Business Bank is $765,000. The middle 80% of its loans fall between $331,500 and $2,595,700. The smallest funded approval in the available source window is $53,000 and the largest is $5,000,000. If the amount you need sits far outside that range, this is probably not the right first call, no matter what the website says.
Programs
| Program | Loans FY25-26 | Median size | Median rate | Median term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBA 7(a) | 71 | $765K | 9% | 10 years |
| 504 first mortgage (third party) | 3 | $1.1M | n/a | 22.5 years |
Industries it funds most
| Industry | Funded loans in source data | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Limited-Service Restaurants | 15 | 6.1% |
| Couriers and Express Delivery Services | 12 | 4.9% |
| Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses | 12 | 4.9% |
| Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers | 11 | 4.5% |
| Full-Service Restaurants | 11 | 4.5% |
| Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars | 8 | 3.3% |
| Offices of Certified Public Accountants | 6 | 2.5% |
| Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) | 6 | 2.5% |
| Child Day Care Services | 5 | 2% |
| All Other Amusement and Recreation Industries | 5 | 2% |
| Pet and Pet Supplies Retailers | 5 | 2% |
| General Automotive Repair | 4 | 1.6% |
How fast First Business Bank actually funds
Approval is not money in the bank. Across 235 loans where both dates are on record, the typical gap between SBA approval and first disbursement at First Business Bank is 27 days. Half its loans fund between 15 and 61 days. The typical SBA lender takes about 20 days, so this is roughly in line with the market.
Lending momentum
First Business Bank is expanding its SBA program. Approvals are up 22.2% from FY2023 to FY2025, which usually means an active appetite and a team that wants deals.
Funded approvals by SBA fiscal year (October to September). FY2026 is excluded because it is still in progress.
Conventional small business lending, beyond SBA
SBA loans are a fraction of most banks' small business lending. Under the Community Reinvestment Act, First Business Bank reported 623 small business loan originations in 2024, totaling $181M, at an average of about $290K per loan across 21 states. 17.8% of those loans went to businesses with under $1M in annual revenue.
Borrower profile
- 38.7% of its funded SBA records with known business age went to startups or businesses under two years old, which is high, most SBA lenders skew heavily toward established companies.
- Collateral was taken on 97.5% of its recent SBA loans.
- 2.9% of its loans carry fixed rates; the rest are variable.
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Sources and limits. Figures are derived from U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan-level records (data as of 2026-06-30, retrieved 2026-08-08) and FDIC public institution data. Conventional small business lending figures from FFIEC CRA disclosure data (2024 activity year); CRA loan counts include business credit card originations at some institutions. Funding speed is the median gap between approval date and first disbursement date in SBA records. Some lenders report disbursement at month end, which can round the figure upward. They describe past lending activity only. They are not rate quotes, not current offers, and not an indication that any business will qualify. Lender programs and criteria change. Big Brain Funding is not affiliated with or endorsed by First Business Bank.