Getting a start up business loan is harder than financing an established business, because the thing most lenders rely on most, trading history, doesn’t exist yet. That doesn’t mean funding is unavailable. It means the path looks different, and knowing which options are actually realistic for a new business saves you from wasting time on lenders who were never going to approve you.
This guide covers what’s genuinely available to fund a new business in Australia, how much you can realistically borrow, and how to put together an application that gives you the best chance without a trading record behind it.
Standard business lending leans heavily on 6 months to 2 years of trading history and verified turnover. A new business has neither, which is why mainstream secured and unsecured business loans, covered in our Secured and Unsecured Business Loans guides, are largely closed to a business that hasn’t started trading yet.
This isn’t a dead end, it just means the assessment shifts. Lenders willing to fund a startup look instead at your personal credit history, any security you can offer, your industry experience, and the strength of your plan for the business.
Secured lending against personal assets. If you or a guarantor hold property equity, this is by far the most accessible route to meaningful startup funding. The lender is assessing the asset more than the (non existent) trading record, which is why this often works where an unsecured application would be declined outright.
A personal loan used for business purposes. Assessed entirely on your personal income and credit file rather than the business. Workable for smaller startup costs, though you take on the debt personally rather than through the business, and loan limits are generally lower than commercial lending.
Startup friendly unsecured lenders. A small number of non bank lenders will consider a newer business, particularly where the founder has strong personal credit and some relevant industry background, though approval is far from guaranteed and rates tend to sit higher than standard unsecured business lending.
Equipment and asset finance. Because the asset being purchased serves as its own security, equipment finance is often available to a new business when a general business loan is not. If the startup’s core need is a vehicle, piece of equipment, or machinery, this is worth exploring before a general loan.
Grants rather than loans. Before taking on debt, check the federal government’s Grants and Programs finder on business.gov.au, which lists funding and support programs by industry and state. Grant funding doesn’t need repaying, so it’s always worth checking first.
Indigenous Business Australia. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander founders, Indigenous Business Australia offers business finance with eligibility criteria distinct from mainstream lenders, including specific provisions for startups.
Family, friends, or your own savings. Not a lending product, but worth naming plainly, many successful businesses are initially self funded or funded by people close to the founder before any formal lending becomes relevant or necessary.
Waiting and building six months of trading first. Where the need isn’t urgent, this is often the single most cost effective option. Once a business has 6 months of consistent revenue through a dedicated account, it moves from the startup bracket into standard unsecured lending, which is a meaningfully cheaper place to borrow from.
There’s no fixed figure, it depends entirely on which of the options above applies. Secured lending against personal property can unlock a substantial amount, limited mainly by the equity available. A personal loan for business purposes is typically capped well below commercial lending limits. Startup friendly unsecured lenders tend to offer smaller amounts than they would to an established business, reflecting the higher risk they’re taking on.
Our Business Loan Requirements guide covers the broader eligibility criteria lenders apply once a business does have some trading history, useful context for understanding what you’ll move toward qualifying for as the business matures.
When there’s no trading history to assess, your business plan becomes one of the few things a lender has to judge the venture on. A plan written to tick a box rarely helps. One written to actually answer a lender’s questions does.
At minimum, a business plan for a loan application should cover:
Keep projections honest rather than optimistic. A lender who has seen hundreds of business plans will notice numbers that don’t hold together, and an overly rosy projection can hurt your credibility more than a conservative one that’s clearly been thought through.
If the funding need isn’t urgent and your main barrier is simply a lack of trading history, it’s worth genuinely weighing whether six months of building revenue first, even modestly, changes your options enough to justify the wait. This isn’t always realistic, some opportunities are time sensitive, but where it is realistic, it’s often the cheapest path to funding a new business that exists.
ASIC’s Moneysmart has independent guidance on business planning and understanding credit products, worth reading alongside whatever a lender or broker provides.
A broker can’t change the fundamental reality that a startup has no trading history, but they can quickly tell you which of the options above are realistic for your specific situation, rather than you discovering it through a string of declines. Lodestar Finance’s Business Loans service works with founders at the startup stage to identify which lenders, or which non lending options, actually fit.
FAQs
Not through standard commercial lending. Realistic alternatives include secured lending against personal property, a personal loan for business purposes, equipment finance, or grant funding, each covered above.
It varies by the funding route. Lenders generally want to see the founder has contributed personally, whether that's cash, equity in an asset offered as security, or both, rather than the business being entirely debt funded from day one.
Generally yes, since it's one of the few things a lender can assess when there's no trading history. A thin or generic plan weakens an application more than most founders realise.
A personal loan is assessed on your own credit and income and is often more accessible for a founder with no trading history, but the debt sits with you personally rather than the business, and limits tend to be lower than commercial lending.
If the need isn't urgent, building even a few months of trading history can meaningfully improve your options and pricing. If the opportunity is time sensitive, the alternatives above, especially secured lending or grants, are worth pursuing immediately instead.
A fast business loan can genuinely settle within 24 to 48 hours in the right circumstances, but “instant approval” in the literal sense doesn’t exist
Having bad credit makes getting a business loan harder, not impossible. Mainstream lenders rely heavily on your credit file, but it isn’t the only thing
A business loan broker compares finance options across multiple banks and non bank lenders on your behalf, rather than you approaching each one individually. The
