Non-dilutive funding is capital you raise without selling ownership. No equity, no board seats, no liquidation preferences, no investor consent rights over how you run the company. Y Millennial Funding provides revenue-based funding only, not grants or venture debt, to companies generating $50,000 or more in monthly revenue, including software, AI and technology services, healthcare technology, and service businesses. Not all applicants qualify.
Why Founders Look Past Equity
For a founder with real revenue, equity is often the most expensive capital there is, and selling a slice of the company to bridge a nine-month gap is a permanent price for a temporary problem. The numbers add up fast. Carta's Q2 2026 benchmarks put median Series A dilution at 18.7%, and Carta's Founder Ownership Report 2026 found founding teams hold about 56% of equity after seed and roughly 36% after Series A. Every round also resets the valuation on record and adds people to the decision table.
Non-dilutive capital is repaid and ends. That trade makes sense when the need is bounded and the revenue to repay it already exists. It makes less sense when the risk genuinely belongs on an investor, like an unproven product with no revenue yet.
How It Works
Underwriting looks at your revenue rather than your cap table: recent bank deposits, revenue consistency, and the trajectory those show. There is no pitch deck and no partner meeting. Send bank statements and we review your file. Timing depends on your documentation and underwriting. Capital is repaid as a fixed daily or weekly remittance or a share of revenue, and when it is repaid the relationship ends. You still own what you owned. We fund deals directly. If yours doesn't fit our guidelines, we may refer it to a partner funder. Not all applicants qualify.
Comparing Your Options
| Option | Ownership | What it usually needs | Offered by YMF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equity round | Dilutes founders and adds investor rights | Pitch, diligence, a priced valuation | No |
| Venture debt | Usually no or limited dilution, sometimes warrants | Generally an existing institutional round | No |
| Grants | No dilution | Eligible program and application cycle | No |
| Revenue-based funding | No dilution | Consistent deposits and revenue history | Yes |
| Merchant cash advance | No dilution, a purchase of future receivables, not a loan | Card or bank deposits | Yes |
Revenue-based funding and a merchant cash advance are both repaid from revenue, but they are structured differently. A merchant cash advance is a purchase of future receivables, not a loan. Read the disclosure on any offer and compare total cost, not just the remittance. Our guide to equipment financing vs revenue-based funding covers another common comparison.
By Industry
Software and SaaS. Recurring subscription revenue shows up as steady deposits, which is what underwriting reads. Common uses are hiring ahead of booked contracts and bridging the gap when annual deals pay on net-60 or net-90 terms.
AI and technology services. Compute and infrastructure bills often land before customer revenue does. Companies with contracted or recurring revenue use revenue-based funding to cover that timing gap without pricing a round. See our page on AI and technology services funding.
Healthcare technology. Payer and enterprise contracts can take months to pay. Revenue-based capital can carry operations through long collection cycles when deposits show consistent revenue.
Service businesses. Agencies and professional firms with steady client billing use it for staffing up on a new contract or covering payroll while receivables catch up.
When Non-Dilutive Funding Is the Wrong Fit
Revenue-based capital is repaid from revenue, so it needs revenue to work. A pre-revenue company, a business whose deposits swing widely with no pattern, or a founder trying to fund a multi-year research bet is usually better served by equity or grants, where the investor or program carries the risk. It is also a poor fit when the use of funds has no clear payback, because the remittance starts right away while the return may take a long time. Stacking several revenue-based or MCA positions on top of each other can squeeze cash flow the same way it does for any business, so look at the total daily or weekly outflow before adding capital.
What Underwriting Reads in Your Statements
Underwriting looks at how much revenue lands each month, how consistent it is, and whether the trend is flat, rising, or falling. It looks at the average daily balance, negative days or overdrafts, and existing debits to other funders. For subscription and contract businesses, it also helps to show who your larger customers are and when they pay. Clean, complete statements make the review simpler.
Who It's For
Founders and operators with revenue who need capital for a specific, bounded purpose: a hiring push, a contract that requires upfront cost, infrastructure or compute spend, a bridge between funding rounds, or growth capped by cash rather than demand. It fits companies that are post-revenue and pre-exit and do not want to price a round, reset a valuation, or add investors to the decision-making table.
Key Benefits
No equity dilution and no board seats. No valuation event, which helps when your last round was priced higher than the market would price you today. A review process that is often shorter than raising a round. Underwriting on revenue rather than credit score, pitch quality, or investor introductions. We fund deals directly. If yours doesn't fit our guidelines, we may refer it to a partner funder.
Common Uses
Hiring ahead of contracted revenue, infrastructure and compute costs, sales and marketing spend with measurable payback, inventory or hardware, bridging between rounds, and covering the gap when enterprise customers pay on net-60 or net-90 terms. Cash timing is a common pressure. In the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, the most common reason employer firms sought financing was to meet operating expenses, cited by 56%.
Qualification
Y Millennial Funding generally looks for $50,000 or more in monthly revenue and an active business bank account. Underwriting is driven by deposit patterns and revenue consistency rather than credit score, profitability, or investor backing. Not all applicants qualify.
Repayment
A fixed daily or weekly remittance, or a share of revenue, sized to your deposits for a defined term, after which the obligation is complete. If you already carry merchant cash advances, see MCA consolidation before adding another position.
Before You Sign
Read the full disclosure on any offer. Compare the total amount you will remit against the amount you receive, check how the remittance is calculated, and look for any terms on prepayment, additional funding, or what happens if revenue drops. If you are comparing a revenue-based offer with a term product or an equity round, put the total cost and the ownership impact side by side rather than comparing a daily payment to a percentage of the company. If you are in New York or another state with commercial financing disclosure rules, the disclosure should show the figures those rules require.
Why Banks Fall Short
Venture capital is not designed for bounded working capital needs. It is designed to buy ownership in outcomes, and it prices accordingly. Venture debt generally requires an existing institutional round. Banks want collateral, profitability, and multi-year history that growth-stage companies rarely have. Revenue-based funding sits in the gap: capital priced as capital, not as ownership.
A merchant cash advance is a purchase of future receivables, not a loan. Not all applicants qualify.