AS ONLINE CAPITAL MARKETPLACE GROWS IN SIZE, NONPROFIT LENDER LEVERAGES TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD NEW YORK, February 26, 2015 - The Accion U.S. Network, the largest nonprofit micro- and small business lending network in the United States, announced today that it has received $1 million from MetLife Foundation to invest in its online lending platform to help more women, minority, and immigrant entrepreneurs access capital and education online and achieve business health and growth.
The platform - us.accion.org - helps entrepreneurs start and grow a small business through financing and business education. The $1 million grant will help Accion raise the site's visibility through content marketing and advertising; test and develop new loan products to meet the diverse capital needs of entrepreneurs; and integrate new technologies to streamline the loan application process and strengthen the overall customer experience. During its 6-month pilot phase, the platform processed more than 1,000 applications and disbursed more than $1 million to businesses across the United States.
As nonprofit lenders, we must provide transparent capital solutions that position small businesses for stability and future growth, said Accion U.S. Network CEO Gina Harman. We are excited to partner with MetLife Foundation to help scale our nationwide lending efforts using technology to help the estimated 10.8 million small businesses that lack access to financing.
A vibrant online capital marketplace has emerged as large banks have scaled back small business lending and investors have backed new ventures that leverage significant technological advances. A January 2015 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland finds that small business loans are 17 percent below the peak reached before the Great Recession. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 61.6 percent of small businesses received private-sector loans in 2007, while only 16.4 percent received private-sector loans in 2012. With an outstanding loan portfolio of $10 billion, this online marketplace - including direct lenders, marketplace lenders, and merchant cash advance companies -- is the fastest growing sector of the economy.
Many entrepreneurs struggle to access capital from the formal financial sector because they have thin credit profiles, start businesses in industries considered risky, and request small dollar loan amounts. As more businesses shop online for resources as a result, Accion is committed to providing small business owners with an option for appropriately and transparently priced capital coupled with personalized relationships to achieve business success and growth. As the largest nonprofit microlender in the United States, Accion aims to help hard-working entrepreneurs across the country like craft artist Caroline Anthony easily access the affordable capital and education they need to create or grow healthy businesses.
Since 2003, Caroline has owned a store called ClayTime Ceramics in San Diego, California. A mother of two, she was referred to Accion by a larger bank in the area when she needed financing to support her business where she sells and makes ceramic art. With Accion's help, she secured working capital to continue helping kids and adults alike explore and learn about art in the local community.
Everyone needs access to the right financial tools to pursue more from life, said Dennis White, president and chief executive officer of Metlife Foundation. We have committed $200 million over the next five years to help low-income individuals and families get access to safe and affordable financial products and services, and we believe Accion's work in local communities across the nation gives us the unique opportunity to help test new technology solutions and scale the impact of our investment for the benefit of more Americans.
About the Accion U.S. Network
As the largest nationwide nonprofit micro- and small business lending network in the United States, we connect small business owners with the accessible financing and advice it takes to create or grow healthy businesses. Since 1991, members of the Accion U.S. Network have collectively made over 53,000 loans, totaling over $436 million. Additionally, over 500,000 business owners have turned to Accion for financial and business advice via workshops, online tools, and one-on-one consultations. Globally, Accion is a pioneer in microfinance, reaching millions of individuals through its international network of partners. For more information, visit http://usnetwork.accion.org. For more information on Accion small business loans in the United States, please visit http://us.accion.org.
About MetLife Foundation
MetLife Foundation was created in 1976 to continue MetLife's long tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. Since its founding through the end of 2013, MetLife Foundation has provided more than $650 million in grants and $70 million in program-related investments to organizations addressing issues that have a positive impact in their communities. Today, the Foundation is dedicated to advancing financial inclusion, committing $200 million over the next five years to help build a secure future for individuals and communities around the world. To learn more about MetLife Foundation, visit www.metlife.org.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
AS ONLINE CAPITAL MARKETPLACE GROWS IN SIZE, NONPROFIT LENDER LEVERAGES TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD NEW YORK, February 26, 2015 - The Accion U.S. Network, the largest nonprofit micro- and small business lending network in the United States, announced today that it has received $1 million from MetLife Foundation to invest in its online lending platform to help more women, minority, and immigrant entrepreneurs access capital and education online and achieve business health and growth.
