sba

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced plans to launch a 7(a) Working Capital Pilot (WCP) Program later this year. The program will offer a lines of credit, made by 7(a) lenders and backed by the SBA. It is designed to give greater flexibility than a traditional term loan. This pilot program, according to an SBA press release, will include both a “transaction-based” and “asset-based” model, allowing borrowers to leverage sales or assets to access working capital. Depending on the details of the capital structure that are revealed when the program launches, these models may enable both newer technology companies that have sales but few assets and legacy companies that have assets but insufficient cashflow to invest in new technologies with the opportunity to access financing through SBA’s popular 7(a) vehicle.

The Small Business Administration recently released a new solicitation for the Regional Innovation Clusters initiative. Unlike what SBA has done in recent years, and returning to the program’s roots, all nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply alongside for-profit firms. In a change from prior solicitations, proposals must include whether the work will support an emerging or mature cluster. The timeline is relatively tight: submissions are due July 26.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) Stage One winners. Each received $50,000 in prize awards for impactful and inclusive approaches to foster a thriving, collaborative national innovation support ecosystem to advance small business R&D. The SBA press release announcing the winners stated that “GAFC Stage One winners are organizations with ecosystem-building activities, including recruitment of new partners and strengthening existing alliances among stakeholders (including public, private, nonprofit, and academic partners), that aligned their submission with one of the following GAFC Theme Areas” of national and economic security; domestic manufacturing and production; and, sustainability and biotechnology.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) on January 8. The competition offers $50,000 to $200,000 in prize awards “for impactful and inclusive approaches to foster a thriving, collaborative national innovation support ecosystem to advance research and development (R&D) from ideas to impact.” The competition is not intended to provide capital directly to companies for R&D projects. The prizes will be awarded in two stages.

SBA has recently announced four contract awards to small businesses and entrepreneur support organization (ESO) partners, expanding the SBA’s Regional Innovation Clusters (RIC) to 16 hubs nationwide. Two contract awardees are new to the program in 2023, while two others are returning awardees, positioned with new contracts to continue and expand work in their respective regions.

SBA's Office of Investment and Innovation recently established the Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee (IIEAC) to serve as an independent source of information, advice, and recommendations to the Administrator on matters broadly related to the U.S. startup and small business innovation ecosystem. 

SBA recently announced its 2023 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition Stage Two prize winners. The 35 award-winning accelerator partnerships will receive $150,000 each in unrestricted funds.

SBA's Office of Investment and Innovation has launched an Investment Capital Advisory Committee (ICAC) to serve as an independent source of advice and recommendations to SBA on institutional investment market trends, innovation, and policy impacting small businesses’ ability to access patient investment capital.

U.S. Department of the Treasury recently awarded $125 million to 43 nonprofits and community-based organizations, including SSTI member University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The money came via the American Rescue Plan Act- (ARPA-) funded (CRP) Capital Readiness Program. The CRP enables small businesses to access technical assistance through organizations that provide services to underserved businesses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is implementing a final rule, effective Aug. 17, that adds a category of Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) that will make the program a better-fit for early-stage investment strategies. The most significant change in this direction is the creation of an accrual funding mechanism that enables licensed SBICs to receive a loan from SBA that is repaid only upon distribution events or at the end of a 10-year term. Additional changes include allowing fund investment strategies through a reinvestor SBIC license, modifying license fees, clarifying elements of nonprofit participation, and attempting to reduce program paperwork.