SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/-- San Francisco-based Kiva.org—best known for
crowdfunding 1.7 million entrepreneurs globally—is now going local
with the launch of "Kiva San Francisco." In partnership with
Capital One, this initiative will bring 0% interest crowdfunded
loans to hundreds of San Francisco
small business owners who are socially impactful and financially
excluded from mainstream lending options.
"San Francisco's small
businesses are the heart of our city. They bring color and vibrancy
to our neighborhoods, create quality jobs, and enrich the cultural
fabric of our city," said Premal
Shah, President of Kiva.org. "They have the passion and the
plan, but often they lack just a small amount of capital to start
or expand. Through this initiative, we can all be a part of their
success and keep the heart in San
Francisco."
Visitors to kiva.org/SF can choose the entrepreneur they want to
help crowdfund with a loan of $25 or
more. And beginning today, Capital One will match every dollar lent
to small businesses via Kiva San Francisco, up to $75,000. Loans requests average $5,000 and are offered at 0% interest and no
fees. As the entrepreneur repays, lenders can relend to another
person on Kiva.org/SF or withdraw their money and put it back in
their pocket.
"At Capital One, we are committed to providing small businesses
with the education, resources and technology needed to start,
market and grow their enterprises, and we're excited to expand our
partnership with Kiva to launch Kiva San Francisco," said
Keri Gohman, head of small business
banking at Capital One. "The Kiva model makes an important
connection between local businesses and the people they serve and
together we'll be working to help fuel innovation and growth in the
Bay Area and beyond."
Kiva San Francisco represents a
dramatic expansion of Kiva's work in the Bay Area. Kiva has already
connected thousands of small dollar lenders to nearly 400
entrepreneurs, including businesses owned by immigrants,
neighborhood shops working to stay in their community, and
businesses founded to hire at-risk youth or to support local food
ecosystems.
According to Capital One's most recent Spark Business
Barometer survey, minority-owned businesses in San Francisco are more than twice as likely to
face challenges related to securing a line of credit. Kiva
San Francisco is designed to give
those business owners who may not qualify for traditional loans
access to the capital they need.
Since 2013, Capital One has fueled an estimated $1.16MM in no-interest loan support to more than
700 Kiva funded borrowers, with at least 50,000 loans being matched
through the program. Capital One's support of Kiva is part of
Future Edge, a $150 million
initiative focused on helping people prepare for the jobs of today
and tomorrow; helping entrepreneurs harness technology to grow and
prosper; and to empowering individuals with education, products and
tools to invest for the future.
Crowdfunding fills a critical lending gap faced by entrepreneurs
whose businesses are too young, too small or too innovative to
receive traditional small business loans. Nationally, small
businesses create two-thirds of all new jobs and if just one in
three small businesses could hire one more person, the U.S. would
be at full employment, according to the Association for Enterprise
Opportunity.
Through Kiva, a borrower's credit-worthiness is based on their
ability to recruit friends and family to fund a small portion of
their loan, demonstrating that they've earned trust among the
people that know them best. This "social underwriting" creates a
system that differs from conventional small business lenders in
several ways. For example, Kiva doesn't require a minimum
FICO score, collateral, or a minimum operations period for the
business – which is unique compared to most non-profit U.S.
microlenders typically. More than 90 percent of loan requests
on Kiva are fully funded.
To become a lender or a borrower visit www.Kiva.org/SF
About Capital One:
Capital One Financial Corporation,
headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a Fortune 500 company
with branch locations primarily in New York, New
Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of
Columbia. Its
subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One
Bank (USA), N. A., offer a
broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers,
small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same
principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our
commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our
business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy
communities – good places to work, good places to do business and
good places to raise families – benefits us all and we are proud to
support this and other community initiatives.
www.capitaloneinvestingforgood.com
About Kiva.org
Kiva.org is the world's first and
largest crowdfunding platform for social good with a mission to
connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. With as little
as a $25 loan, anyone can help a
borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean
energy and realize their potential. Since 2005, Kiva and their
growing global community of 1.4 million lenders have crowdfunded
over $750 million in microloans to
nearly 1.7 million entrepreneurs in 80 countries, with a 98%
repayment rate. For more information, visit www.kiva.org and
www.KivaZip.org
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SOURCE Capital One Financial Corporation