funding

In the Community

We are so excited to announce that Click Workspace has recently become a Trustee organization of Kiva Zip.

Kiva Zip is a program of Kiva.org, an international lending organization for individuals and small businesses. Kiva Zip makes micro-finance loans for small businesses in the US and Kenya that contribute in a meaningful way to the social good. Borrowers can request 0% interest loans of up to $5000 to grow their businesses and funding comes from individuals near and far through an online giving platform. 

Kiva Zip is a great fit for Click Workspace. As a coworking organization hosting many small businesses in our space, and as a dynamic member of the Northampton community, we see building networks and opportunities to invest in each other’s success as a key role that we can fill. Reducing the cost of capital and expanding financial opportunities can help to bring short-term success while building lasting community connections can ensure growth and success in the long term

Many business owners recognize that a small amount of money will provide just the support they need (for example, for a new piece of equipment or up front costs of materials), but because they are in a high-risk category they might not qualify for a bank loan. This could be because they are new business owners, haven’t borrowed before, don’t have capital to draw upon, or are entrepreneurs who haven’t established a strong record of growth. Kiva Zip uses different metrics than the bank, relying on human capital as a measure of creditworthiness. In the first round of lending, borrowers are asked to invite family and friends to start their fundraising.  After the designated number of friends have signed on then, "the Kiva Zip community takes care of the rest.”

Kiva notes that lenders give for many reasons. Some appreciate helping others and empowering entrepreneurs.  Others want to invest in their neighborhoods.  Lenders are customers, neighbors, advisors, and ambassadors for the small businesses they support. Kiva Zip lenders can give as little as $25 and once the loan is paid back can reinvest the funds if they choose.

Click’s role as a Kiva Zip Trustee will be to endorse borrowers and boost their capacity for outreach to the community through our own networks of potential lenders.  Our Kiva advisory team will meet borrowers and review loans to determine if they are a good fit with our mission. Then we’ll help to promote an approved loan through our social media and colleague organizations. Ultimately, we hope to build a fund to help finance loans as well. Starting this summer we will take on two or three loans and as the program becomes successful, hope to endorse even more.

We are currently looking for our first endorsement opportunities and invite you to share this information with anyone who may be interested in learning more about borrowing through Kiva Zip and Click.

Friend of Click Valley Venture Mentors Secures $150k grant!

Valley Venture Mentors, a startup mentoring program based in Springfield and co-founded by Click President Paul Silva, today was awarded $150,000 in grant funding from the State at a ceremony officiated by the Governor.  More than 30 programs applied for the funding, only 3 received funding, and the other two programs have budgets of >>10x Valley Venture Mentors.  Not too shabby!  Full press release from the State Government here.

The grant funding will allow significant expansion of mentoring options for Western MA-based startups.  Several Clickster teams are already involved with Valley Venture Mentors (EdgeFlip & KnowledgeWare21), and we expect more will enroll in the coming years.

Congrats Valley Venture Mentors!

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Funding Fridays: Debt Financing

Image Credit: Nusrin 2

Image Credit: Nusrin 2

Debt is the flavor of capital most of us are deceptively familiar with.  It is easy to draw the wrong conclusions from our experiences with credit cards and mortgages.  But when used correctly, debt is an invaluable tool for almost all startups.  Below are links to a lecture (broken up into 5-minute segments) where you can learn about the pros, cons, and best practices in securing this kind of funding for your startup.

  • Part I: Description, incentives
  • Part II: Process, pros, cons
  • Part III: Best practices

    • This post is a part of Funding Fridays, an occasional series on best practices in raising funding, as well as our collection on the Flavors Of Capital.

    Funding Fridays: Large Grants

    For anyone doing a capital-intensive startup (many CleanTech and Life Science ventures fall into this category), then you'll want to learn about large grants.  Below are links to a lecture (broken up into 5-minute segments) where you can learn about the pros, cons, and best practices in securing this kind of funding for your startup.

  • Part I: Description, incentives
  • Part II: Process, pros, cons
  • Part III: Best practices

    • This post is a part of Funding Fridays, an occasional series on best practices in raising funding as well as our collection on the Flavors Of Capital.

    Sample Public & Private Large Grant Funders

    Funding Fridays: Small Grants & Competitions

    Small grants and competitions are a great source of capital for startups.  Below are links to a lecture (broken up into 5-minute segments) where you can learn about the pros, cons, and best practices in securing this kind of funding for your startup.

    This post is a part of Funding Fridays, an occasional series on best practices in raising funding as well as our collection on the Flavors Of Capital.

    Sample competitions and small granters