There’s a hunger among entrepreneurs to find financing to get their businesses off the ground or to take the next big step in their expansion plan. Across the country, thousands of small businesses are searching for term loans, equipment financing, lines of credit, invoice financing, and real estate loans to help them hire and grow. But too often, they’re wasting time if they don’t have cold-calling and door-knocking skills to pave their way to a lucky break.

This is where technology steps in. Online matchmaking services pairing lenders with prospective borrowers comprise a multibillion dollar industry. Perhaps you’ve seen the TV commercial in which a creditworthy home buyer goes online and is delighted to find banks competing to finance her house. Small business lending is the next frontier for these matchmaking services. Using the power of the Internet, commercial lenders are finding creditworthy small business borrowers, while entrepreneurs are finding loan officers who are ready to sit down and talk.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) not only supports this concept, we’re implementing it. Last year SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet announced a new SBA initiative called LINC (Leveraging Information and Networks to access Capital), our matchmaking service that will help entrepreneurs get a date with a lender.

We spent months surveying our lending partners to discern what information they need before they’re ready to receive a loan pitch. Based on those talks, we developed a simple online form with 20 questions that takes minutes to fill out. Once completed, the form is blasted out to participating SBA lenders in an applicant’s county, as well as financial institutions with a statewide or national reach.

While a positive “hit” won’t ensure entrepreneurs will receive a loan, it will put them on a fast track, because they will have been pre-screened. If LINC doesn’t produce an immediate match, entrepreneurs will be directed to their local SBA adviser for additional assistance with their loan application.

LINC was originally as a pilot program and was available only to nonprofit lenders. Since that time, nearly 14,000 matches have been made. In early May 2015, the LINC matchmaking tool became available to all SBA 7(a) Loan Guaranty lenders nationwide, which constitutes a huge step toward giving small business entrepreneurs access to essential sources of capital in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.

LINC is expanding small business lending options beyond someone’s local bank. Instead, technology can help them get their foot in the door on their merits at one of many commercial lenders. SBA is committed to becoming as innovative as the small businesses we serve.

In the longer term, we also believe LINC could be modified to facilitate government contracting by connecting eligible small businesses with procurement officers, prime contractors, and federal buyers. The future is upon us, and the SBA is proud to be leading the way.