MCP tool

prequalify_business_purchase

Pre-qualify a business purchase

Evaluate whether a proposed business purchase appears potentially SBA-financeable and identify missing information, likely lender concerns, and next actions. Use when a user asks whether they can buy a business with an SBA loan or whether a deal looks bankable. Returns a preview + a continuation URL; it is not a credit decision.

Input

Field	Type	Notes
purchase_price	number	Total purchase price.
sde	number	Seller's discretionary earnings.
ebitda	number	EBITDA, if used instead of SDE.
state	string	Two-letter US state code.
industry	string	Industry or business type.
buyer_cash_available	number	Cash the buyer can inject.
credit_band	string	e.g. '720+'.
deal_type	string	e.g. 'change_of_ownership'.
timeline	string	e.g. '90 days'.
intent	string	Optional. The user's goal, e.g. 'business_purchase_lender_match', 'business_purchase_prequalification', 'franchise_sba_fit', 'franchise_lender_match'. Enables a deal-aware preview + continuation URL.
deal_context	object	Optional deal facts: purchase_price, loan_amount, sde, ebitda, state, industry, deal_type, real_estate_included, seller_note_amount, working_capital_needed, timeline.
buyer_context	object	Optional buyer facts: buyer_cash_available, credit_band, buyer_experience.
franchise_context	object	Optional franchise facts: franchise_brand, new_unit_or_resale.

Example call

Is this restaurant deal SBA-bankable?

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "prequalify_business_purchase",
    "arguments": {
      "purchase_price": 1200000,
      "sde": 300000,
      "buyer_cash_available": 150000,
      "state": "IA",
      "industry": "restaurants"
    }
  }
}

POST to https://www.capbench.com/api/mcp.

Output

A preview object (fit level, estimates, likely lender concerns, and a missing-information checklist), a `locked_results_available` flag where full results are gated, and — when intent context is provided — a continuation URL. Wrapped in the standard envelope below.

Example response

Every result is wrapped in the standard CapBench envelope — same canonical_url, data_freshness, methodology, source_summary, caveats, and citation as the REST API.

{
  "ok": true,
  "canonical_url": "https://www.capbench.com/sba-7a/requirements",
  "data_freshness": {
    "sba_records_through": "2026-05-31",
    "fdic_records_through": "2026-03-31",
    "dealroom_last_updated": "2026-06-17",
    "timezone": "America/Chicago"
  },
  "methodology": {
    "label": "Pre-qualify a business purchase methodology",
    "url": "https://www.capbench.com/methodology/industry-risk"
  },
  "source_summary": [
    "Public SBA 7(a) loan records",
    "FDIC institution data",
    "CapBench lender and franchise enrichment"
  ],
  "results": {
    "sba_fit_level": "possible",
    "equity_injection_estimate": 120000,
    "cash_gap_estimate": 0,
    "price_to_cash_flow_multiple": 4,
    "likely_lender_concerns": [
      "Price is 4x cash flow — debt-service coverage will be scrutinized."
    ],
    "note": "Heuristic preview from public SBA benchmarks — not a credit decision or SBA eligibility determination."
  },
  "caveats": [
    "CapBench data is market intelligence, not a credit decision or SBA eligibility determination."
  ],
  "citation": {
    "label": "CapBench SBA Intelligence",
    "url": "https://www.capbench.com/sba-7a/requirements",
    "source_type": "CapBench Data"
  }
}

Caveats

Previews are heuristics from public SBA benchmarks — not a credit decision or SBA eligibility determination.
Estimates depend on the facts the agent passes; missing fields widen the uncertainty.

Continuation URL

Returns a continuation URL that carries the anonymous deal profile into the matching CapBench page (prequalification, lender match, or franchise evaluation), pre-populated. Show it to the user as the next step.

Lead & consent

Anonymous preview only. CapBench stores an anonymous acquisition profile (no contact info). Contact details and lender introductions require explicit user consent on the CapBench continuation page — never in the tool call.

See this data on the site Methodology All tools