NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Local
Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) today announced a
$175 million close of investments
into its Black Economic Development Fund following two recent
investments. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), invested
$50 million into the fund becoming
the fund's largest single investment to date. PayPal's investment
is part of the company's previously announced $530 million commitment to support Black
businesses and communities. HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS), the Boston-based customer relationship management
(CRM) platform, invested $12.5
million in the fund as part of the company's $20 million commitment to social impact
investing.
"We strongly believe that access to capital and financial
services is critical to growing and sustaining vibrant
communities," said Franz Paasche,
senior vice president of corporate affairs, PayPal. "LISC, with its
decades-long history of expanding inclusive economic opportunity,
is an important partner in our long-term commitment to close the
racial wealth gap."
"At HubSpot, we believe in equality and justice, and we're
committed to walking the walk when it comes to dismantling systemic
racism," said Brian Halligan,
co-founder and CEO of HubSpot. "Our investment in the Black
Economic Development Fund is an important part of our larger focus
on supporting Black-owned businesses. We're proud to stand
alongside our fellow investors as we work to help close the racial
wealth, health, and opportunity gap for underbanked Black
communities."
PayPal and HubSpot join Netflix, Costco, Square, Dick's Sporting
Goods and Aflac as investors in the fund, which was launched during
the summer and at $175 million has
far exceeded initial capital projections for 2020. The fund employs
an "impact treasury strategy" to meet the particular capital
preservation, investment duration and risk-tolerance needs of
corporate treasuries, while providing impactful access to capital
for Black communities.
"These are game-changing investments that will help tackle
racial injustice, build up the American consumer base and grow our
economy," said George Ashton,
managing director of LISC Strategic Investments, the fund
management and venture capital arm of LISC. "We're seeing some of
the most dynamic corporations in the country align their treasury
strategies with their missions by investing a portion of their
assets in this fund."
LISC expects to begin deploying capital from the fund in early
2021 in the form of bank deposits, bridge financing and other
financing to Black-led businesses, financial institutions, and
anchor institutions. The strategy furthers the goals
of Project 10X, LISC's $1
billion effort to address disparities in health, wealth and
opportunity facing people of color.
For more on the BEDF
visit https://www.liscstrategicinvestments.org/black-economic-development-fund. For
investor inquiries please email StrategicInvestments@lisc.org. For
those seeking investment from the fund please visit the Black
Economic Development Fund Investment Intake Form.
About LISC
With residents and partners, LISC forges resilient and inclusive
communities of opportunity across America – great places to live,
work, visit, do business and raise families. Since 1979, LISC has
invested $22 billion to build or
rehab more than 419,000 affordable homes and apartments and develop
70.3 million square feet of retail, community and educational
space. For more, visit www.lisc.org.
For LISC Media Relations, please contact Catherine Carlstedt at
CCarlstedt@lisc.org
For PayPal Media Relations, please contact Taylor Watson at TWatson@paypal.com
For HubSpot Media Relations, please contact Ellie Flanagan at eflanagan@hubspot.com
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SOURCE Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)