C2FO and the Schultz Family Foundation have partnered to provide access to working capital to small and diverse businesses.
The partnership will leverage data from the C2FO on-demand working capital platform and a $10 million investment from the Foundation to deliver an additional $100 million in projected loans in the next year, C2FO said in a Tuesday (March 7) press release.
“We know that when businesses have equitable access to the capital they need — when a financial system is truly inclusive — we all win,” C2FO founder and CEO Alexander “Sandy” Kemper said in the release. “Our partnership with the foundation will increase the number of loans we are able to give, supporting even more businesses than ever with easy, equitable and flexible access to capital.”
The partnership encourages diverse business owners and entrepreneurs to apply, bases loans on the unique potential of each business and provides flexible loans at competitive rates, according to the release.
The initiative aims to enable businesses to expand their operations without diluting the business owners’ equity interest, create jobs and build wealth in historically marginalized communities, the release said.
“Providing working capital to help diverse businesses meet customer demand and scale has enormous potential to be a powerful economic catalyst for the country as a whole and historically marginalized communities in particular,” Howard Schultz, co-founder of the Schultz Family Foundation and CEO of Starbucks, said in the release.
This announcement follows several other partnerships entered into by C2FO.
In August, the firm teamed up with Vic.ai on an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered invoice acceleration solution that they said will help enterprise customers reduce payment cycles for their supply chains.
During that same month, C2FO entered into a strategic partnership with Supplier Success, which specializes in helping companies build supply chains that support diversity and social goals, to create a “Supplier Success Hub” that helps emerging businesses build strong supply chains and control their cash flows.
In July, the working capital platform teamed up with Dick’s Sporting Goods to offer early payments on approved invoices that will support the long-term success for minority-, veteran-, disabled- and female-owned businesses with streamlined access to capital.