Prospa is a leading online small business lender within Australia that's just won first place at the Smart50 Awards in Melbourne.

Using a proprietary technology platform and an online application process, the company can approve loans and provide funding within 24 hours.

The Awards recognise Australia's top 50 fastest growing SMEs and was mainly dominated by fintechs and retailers. Prospa was awarded first place with incredible growth of more than 1000% over the past three years.

Beau Bertoli, joint CEO of Prospa, says they're thrilled to be named #1 in Australia.

“Winning demonstrates that we understand the finance needs of small businesses. However this is just the beginning of our journey. We'll continue to innovate and create ground breaking finance experiences to help Australian small businesses succeed,” he says.

“We're the leading online lender to small business in Australia and determined to stay there. We have quality partners that share our values and we put customers at the centre of everything we do.

Bertoli explains that both him and his joint CEO Greg Moshal have very big goals to change the face of business finance.

This award announcement caps off a successful quarter for Prospa, who last week announced they hit the $200 million mark in loan originations and secured an additional $50m debt funding from a large institutional investor.

Prospa was also recently named the leading Australian fintech in KPMG's Top Fintech Innovators and a was a finalist in the Telstra Business Awards 2016.