Bridge, a Citi-backed AI-powered lending platform, has announced the launch of a $500M direct lending fund specifically designed for CPG brands and retail suppliers fulfilling purchase orders for America's largest retailers. Since spinning out from Citi in 2023, Bridge has deployed over $800M and facilitated financing for hundreds of growing businesses. This fund launch marks the next phase of Bridge's growth, driven by demand from suppliers selling into major retailers.
The new fund comes at a critical time for suppliers, who often face a significant financing gap between winning an order and receiving payment. When a brand lands an order from a major retailer, it must pay for manufacturing, raw materials, packaging, freight, and compliance before the goods are delivered, long before the retailer pays. This timing mismatch can force strong brands to drain operating cash, raise equity for routine production, delay fulfillment, or turn to costly and opaque financing options.
Bridge's AI-driven underwriting looks forward at upcoming orders rather than backward at historical profits, allowing it to fund up to 100% of a brand's production costs on expected or confirmed orders. The company structures repayment around when brands receive payment from retailers, aligning with the retailer's payment cycles. This approach helps growing suppliers access capital quickly, often in days, to fill large orders without giving up equity.
One notable example is DogSauce, a pet-food super broth meal topper. Through Bridge's work with Walmart, DogSauce expanded from 1,200 to over 3,000 Walmart stores on a single order that nearly doubled the brand's prior year revenue. Dakota Sheets, founder of DogSauce, highlighted the importance of this financing: "When Walmart calls with an expansion like this, you don't want to say no. But the financing gap between production and payment is real, and Bridge makes it possible to fill the orders without giving up equity."
Rohit Mathur, CEO and Co-Founder of Bridge, emphasized the broader industry context: "Retail is being reshaped by volatility in tariffs, freight, oil prices and consumer demand, and the pressure often lands first on the growing suppliers that have the least room to absorb it. Bridge is using AI to put capital to work for the businesses that need it. By analyzing the business, the order, and the retailer relationship more deeply than legacy underwriting allows, Bridge can move faster and get from no to yes for strong suppliers that traditional lenders might miss."
Walmart's Senior Director of Global Treasury, Brandy Newhof, noted, "Bridge's Purchase Order Financing Program gives Walmart suppliers an additional option for funding their orders. Expanding the range of capital options available to our suppliers is one of the ways we support our supplier community."
Harte Thompson, Co-Founder and COO of Bridge, added, "Plenty of lenders are happy to extend capital once a brand has delivered the goods and there's an invoice out. Lending against the credit risk of a major retailer like Walmart isn't hard. But Bridge supports growing brands when they actually need it, when they are building the inventory to fill an upcoming order. That's the moment capital is hardest to find, and when it's not there, good brands get pushed into expensive, opaque financing or dilutive equity raises just to fund routine production. Bridge was built for that moment instead."
This fund launch is significant because access to production capital is one of the clearest ways to help businesses scale and keep shelves stocked. By providing fast, transparent financing tailored to the specific payment cycles of each retailer, Bridge aims to empower suppliers to say yes to bigger orders without putting their businesses under pressure. For more information, visit bridge.co.
