Slope, a lending startup that uses AI to underwrite small businesses, has struck a new partnership with Amazon that could make it easier for U.S. sellers to access working capital without leaving Seller Central.
The program launched Tuesday, December 16, 2025, and offers eligible Amazon sellers a reusable line of credit backed by a JPMorgan Chase credit facility, with applications and approvals handled inside the Amazon seller dashboard. Approvals can arrive in minutes, according to Slope, with sellers able to draw funds as needed to match inventory and cash-flow cycles.
How the credit line works
Slope says its financing is designed to feel more like a modern, integrated “capital tool” than a traditional loan application. Sellers apply through Amazon, and underwriting pulls from granular seller performance signals—think sales patterns and operational data—alongside Slope’s AI-driven risk models.
A key compliance detail: loans are originated by Lead Bank (Member FDIC). Slope is providing the underwriting and user experience layer, while JPMorgan’s facility supports the funding structure.
Slope says rates can be as low as 8.99% APR for top sellers, with terms that can run up to 12 months depending on the draw and seller profile. The company hasn’t disclosed the financial terms of its deal with Amazon.
Why Amazon sellers are the target
Slope co-founders CEO Lawrence Lin Murata and Alice Deng frame the product as a fix for a persistent pain point: even established sellers can struggle to get fast, flexible capital on good terms, especially when inventory timing is tight.
“Most people don’t realize that sellers… are kind of the backbone of Amazon and e-commerce in general,” Deng told CNBC, citing Amazon’s long-running statistic that more than 60% of sales in the Amazon store come from independent sellers.
Deng also positioned Slope’s approach as oriented toward more mature operators—sellers large enough to need “bank-grade” financing—rather than smaller-ticket products that dominate some third-party funding options.
What happened to Amazon’s own lending?
Amazon has offered seller financing programs in various forms for years. In recent messaging, Amazon has indicated that Amazon Lending now connects sellers with financing partners rather than providing Amazon-issued loans directly—setting the stage for partnerships like this one.
Early demand claims, with a big asterisk
Slope says it trialed the Amazon integration before launch and told CNBC it’s seen strong demand so far, including a claim that applications were growing 300% week over week during the test period. That figure hasn’t been independently verified, but it signals the kind of momentum Slope wants the market to see: fast approvals, tighter integration, and underwriting built on real-time commerce data.
For Slope, the pitch is simple: use better data and automation to make credit decisions faster—then pass some of that efficiency back to sellers as a more usable product.