Kiva Zip Program

Small Business California is always looking for ways to help small businesses access capital.  Kiva Zip is a great program. See information below about what they have to offer to both people looking for money and to people looking to help small businesses

You may have heard of the non-profit Kiva.org, as a crowdfunding platform that has supported over a million entrepreneurs all around the world with microloans over the last decade. But with Kiva Zip, Kiva.org is looking to support small business owners and entrepreneurs here in California.

Kiva Zip's microloans, which can be up to $10,000 paid back over 1 to 3 years, are made at 0% interest (with no hidden fees), and they are crowdfunded by Kiva's community of over a million individual lenders, who lend in increments as small as $5! Kiva's lenders are not looking for a financial return, but they lend to support the creation and growth of small businesses in their neighborhoods, or because they empathize with the story or cause of the borrower they're supporting. What's more, many of these lenders might become customers or brand ambassadors for the businesses they are lending to.

Unlike other small business lenders, Kiva Zip focuses a lot less on conventional financial metrics to assess loans -- credit score, cashflow, collateral, etc. Instead, Kiva Zip makes lending decisions based on the character and trust network of the borrower. In this way, they are looking to revolutionize the way that small business owners in America access the capital they need to invest in their businesses.

Kiva Zip lenders just funded their 250th small business here in California, and they have now supported over 800 throughout the United States. 

Jonny Price | Senior Director, Kiva Zip
415-297-4763 | jonny@kiva.org


Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA  94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188