Fourteen kinds of child care program. One set of criteria.
Naptime Capital funds every category of child care and early education — including home-based providers, seasonal camps and hourly drop-in care, which most lenders decline on sight. The criteria are the same for all of them: $15,000 a month in deposits, 6 months in business, no minimum credit score for working capital. Tuition and subsidy deposits both count.
- Licensed child care centers
- Preschools & pre-K
- Infant & toddler programs
- Home-based & family child care
- Montessori & specialty schools
- After-school programs
- Summer & day camps
- Faith-based centers
- Franchise child care centers
- Multi-site operators
- Drop-in & hourly care
- Early intervention & special needs programs
- Enrichment & tutoring centers
- Employer-sponsored & on-site centers
Licensed child care centers
Full-day licensed centers serving infants through pre-K, private-pay, subsidy or mixed.
- Cash cycle
- Tuition drafts weekly or monthly; subsidy and voucher reimbursements post on the agency’s cycle, typically weeks after the care month. Payroll runs every two weeks regardless. The gap between delivering care and being paid for it is the working-capital problem this whole site is built around.
- Finances
- Payroll bridges during reimbursement lags, fall staffing, a new classroom and a capacity increase, licensing repairs.
- Underwriting note
- Subsidy, voucher, food-program and private-pay deposits all count in full. We size the payment against your slowest month, not your best, so a holiday-week dip does not break it.
Preschools & pre-K
Half-day and full-day preschools, pre-K programs and private kindergartens.
- Cash cycle
- Enrollment turns over every fall. Hiring, curriculum and classroom setup happen in August; the first full tuition month clears in September or October. Summer is light for school-year programs.
- Finances
- August staffing ahead of fall tuition, curriculum and furniture for a new room, summer rent in a school-year program.
- Underwriting note
- Send four months of statements so the summer floor is in the window. A line opened in a full-enrollment month is the cheapest way to cover next August.
Infant & toddler programs
Infant rooms and toddler programs, standalone or inside a larger center.
- Cash cycle
- The tightest staff ratios in child care mean the highest payroll per seat. A single teacher out on leave can force a ratio hire before the next tuition draft, and an infant room that drops a seat loses a large share of its revenue until the waitlist fills it.
- Finances
- Ratio-driven hires, leave coverage, crib and sleep-safety upgrades, a second infant room.
- Underwriting note
- High fixed payroll against a short enrollment list reads as a stable, predictable file. We underwrite the deposits, not the margin per seat.
Home-based & family child care
Licensed family child care homes and large group homes operating as a business.
- Cash cycle
- The same subsidy lag and tuition rhythm as a center, on a smaller deposit base, and often with a personal and business account that have only recently been separated.
- Finances
- A dedicated business account, a second provider to raise licensed capacity, a backyard play area, a vehicle.
- Underwriting note
- Approved. Most lenders decline a home-based provider by the business type alone. We need $15,000 a month in deposits into a business account and 6 months in business — if you are just under the floor, call and we will tell you what would change it.
Montessori & specialty schools
Montessori, Reggio, language-immersion, nature-based and other specialty early-childhood programs.
- Cash cycle
- Mostly private-pay with annual or semester tuition cycles, which creates large deposits a few times a year and thin months in between. Materials and trained staff are the main cost.
- Finances
- Materials and classroom sets, a trained-teacher hire, a second campus, summer programming.
- Underwriting note
- Lumpy tuition is fine. Show us the enrollment calendar and we structure a weekly payment against the months between tuition cycles.
After-school programs
Before- and after-school care, school-site programs and district-contracted providers.
- Cash cycle
- Revenue follows the school calendar: nine or ten months of enrollment, a summer that goes quiet or flips to camp mode. Programs paid by a district or a school are paid on the district’s invoice cycle.
- Finances
- Summer bridge for salaried staff and rent, vans and transport, a new school site, district-contract timing.
- Underwriting note
- District and school invoices on net terms may be factorable, which is cheaper than an advance for that exact pattern. Tuition from families is underwritten as deposits.
Summer & day camps
Summer camps, day camps, school-break camps and seasonal enrichment programs.
- Cash cycle
- The whole year’s revenue lands in a few months. Registration deposits arrive in late winter and spring; staff, insurance, transportation and site costs go out before the first session opens.
- Finances
- Pre-season hiring and training, buses and gear, site deposits, insurance.
- Underwriting note
- Approved. A seasonal file is not a decline reason here. If your season is three months, send us all twelve months of statements and we underwrite the shape of the year, not a single quarter.
Faith-based centers
Church- and congregation-affiliated preschools and child care programs operating as a business with their own accounts.
- Cash cycle
- Often a blend of private tuition and subsidy children, with facilities shared with the congregation and capital projects decided slowly.
- Finances
- Facility upgrades required at licensing, a new classroom, staffing before fall.
- Underwriting note
- We need the program to have its own business bank account and deposits. If the program runs inside the congregation’s accounts, call us first and we will tell you what we can and cannot read.
Franchise child care centers
Single-unit franchisees through multi-unit development groups of national child care brands.
- Cash cycle
- Brand-mandated build-out and curriculum standards, royalty payments on a schedule, and the same reimbursement and tuition rhythm as an independent center.
- Finances
- New units, brand-mandated image and safety upgrades, furniture and curriculum packages, acquisitions of existing units.
- Underwriting note
- Tell us the brand first. SBA Franchise Directory listing is what makes the franchise fee financeable, and it changes which product we start with.
Multi-site operators
Owners of two or more centers under one entity or a group of entities.
- Cash cycle
- Each site has its own enrollment ramp, license and lease; cash moves between them to cover the one that is behind. A reimbursement delay hits every site at once.
- Finances
- Opening the next site, consolidating advances across sites, a group line of credit, buying out a partner.
- Underwriting note
- Send statements for every operating entity. A group file is underwritten on consolidated deposits, which usually supports a larger line than any single site would.
Drop-in & hourly care
Drop-in centers, hourly care, evening and weekend care, and care attached to gyms, retail and employers.
- Cash cycle
- Revenue arrives in small, frequent card and cash deposits with no enrollment contract behind it. Hours are long and staffing is hard to match to demand.
- Finances
- Staffing, build-out, a second location, point-of-arrival check-in and security systems.
- Underwriting note
- Approved. A high deposit count and low average ticket is a working business to us, not a red flag. Lenders that want to see a tuition contract decline this category; we read the bank statement.
Early intervention & special needs programs
Early intervention providers, therapeutic preschools, inclusion programs and special-needs child care.
- Cash cycle
- Paid by a mix of families, agencies, school districts, hospital systems and managed-care organizations, each on its own authorization and billing cycle. Specialized staff are the main cost and the hardest to replace.
- Finances
- Specialist hires, sensory and accessibility build-outs, agency and MCO billing timing.
- Underwriting note
- Agency, district and MCO invoices may be factorable. Family-paid tuition is underwritten as deposits. We will tell you which side of your revenue fits which product.
Enrichment & tutoring centers
Enrichment, tutoring, STEM, arts and language centers serving children after school and in the summer.
- Cash cycle
- Session-based revenue that follows the school calendar, with registration deposits ahead of each term and quiet weeks between them.
- Finances
- A new location, instructors ahead of a term, kits and materials, summer programming.
- Underwriting note
- Deposit timing by term is normal here. Send four months so a between-terms month is in the window and the payment is sized against it.
Employer-sponsored & on-site centers
Centers operated for an employer, a hospital system, a campus or an office park, on contract or with subsidized slots.
- Cash cycle
- A contract with the sponsor pays on the sponsor’s terms, often net-30 to net-60, alongside family tuition. The sponsor’s invoice is the receivable; the families’ tuition is the deposit base.
- Finances
- Contract timing, staffing to the sponsor’s required ratios and hours, build-out of the sponsor’s space.
- Underwriting note
- Sponsor invoices are usually factorable, and the family-tuition side supports working capital or a line. Many on-site operators run both.
What a child care center needs to qualify.
Every number below is a real criterion. If you clear these, apply. If you don’t, call us and we’ll tell you what would change it.
| Minimum monthly revenue | $15,000 in business bank deposits — tuition, subsidy and voucher deposits all count |
|---|---|
| Minimum time in business | 6 months |
| Minimum credit score | None for working capital or factoring. 600+ for a line of credit. 650+ for a term loan. 680+ for SBA. |
| Funding range | $10,000 to $2,000,000 for working capital. Up to $5,000,000 for term loans, SBA, and factoring facilities. |
| Time to a real offer | About 4 business hours on a complete file. |
| Time to funding | 24 hours. Same day if a clean file is signed before 11:00 AM ET. |
| Documents required | Application plus your 3 most recent months of business bank statements. 4 months if your program is seasonal (camps, school-year-only programs). |
| Contract length | 2 pages. |
| Repayment | Fixed daily or weekly ACH from your operating account. No split funding. No holdback percentage. No lockbox. |
| Prepayment discount | Up to 30% off the remaining cost of funding when a working capital advance is paid off within the first 30, 60, or 90 days. |
| Subsidy & voucher income | Counted. State subsidy reimbursements, voucher payments, food-program reimbursements and private tuition are all deposits, and we underwrite deposits. |
| Tuition software requirement | None. Whichever billing or attendance system you run, or paper and checks — underwriting reads the bank statements, not the software. |
| Program types approved | Licensed child care centers, preschools and pre-K, infant and toddler programs, home-based and family child care, Montessori and specialty schools, after-school programs, summer and day camps, faith-based centers, franchise centers, multi-site operators, drop-in and hourly care, early intervention and special-needs programs, enrichment and tutoring centers, employer-sponsored and on-site centers. |
| Not required | Collateral for working capital. A business plan. Tax returns under $500,000. A minimum enrollment count. A minimum number of locations. A pending license upgrade to be complete. |
| Open to | U.S. businesses with a U.S. business bank account. All 50 states. |
Four minutes. Three bank statements. No credit impact to apply.
Questions by program type.
Do you fund home-based and family child care?
Yes. Licensed family child care homes and large group homes are approved at Naptime Capital, where most lenders decline them by business type alone. The criteria are the same as a center: $15,000 a month in deposits into a business account, 6 months in business, and no minimum credit score for working capital.
Are the criteria different by program type?
No. The same criteria apply to all fourteen types: $15,000 a month in business bank deposits, 6 months in business, and no minimum credit score for working capital or factoring. What changes by type is which product fits and how the payment is structured.
Do you fund summer camps and other seasonal programs?
Yes. A seasonal file is not a decline reason. If your season is three months, send twelve months of statements and we underwrite the shape of the year. Payments are sized against the floor, and a weekly structure usually fits a camp better than daily.
My center is mostly subsidy and voucher children. Does that hurt me?
No — it helps, here. Naptime Capital underwrites business bank deposits, and agency reimbursements are deposits. A center that is 70% subsidy-funded is underwritten on the same terms as a private-pay preschool. We also understand the reimbursement lag and read a late month as timing, not lost revenue.
Do you fund drop-in and hourly care?
Yes. Lenders that want to see an enrollment contract decline this category. We read the bank statement: many small deposits and a high deposit count is a working business.
Your program is on the list.
Including the three most lenders decline. $15,000 a month, six months open, no minimum FICO for working capital.