In 2023, Momentus Capital Deployed $531 Million to Help Small Business Owners, Underrepresented Developers, and Disinvested Communities

May 6, 2024 (Arlington, VA/San Diego, CA) – The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations — which includes Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance and their affiliates, Momentus Direct Capital, Momentus Securities (a FINRA-member broker/dealer), and Ventures Lending Technologies — has released its annual report for the 2023 fiscal year (January 1-December 31, 2023).

The annual report showcases the many ways that Momentus Capital utilizes financial capital, social capital, and knowledge capital to help entrepreneurs, community leaders, and the communities they serve.

“Everyone deserves the opportunity to succeed. Our work is focused on helping the entrepreneurs and communities whose access to the opportunities they deserve has been limited,” said Ellis Carr, President and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance. 

“They are the small business owners who get turned down for traditional loans because of systemic barriers, but then can flourish when provided with the financing they need, growing their businesses and the local economy. They are the real estate developers who are able to gain a greater foothold in their industry because of the doors that are opened to them. And they are the community members who are better positioned to thrive when they have access to quality health care, high-performing schools, and healthy foods.”

In total, the Momentus Capital branded family deployed more than $531 million in financial capital in 2023. That includes:

• Nearly $230 million in community development lending, which increases access to critical social services such as health care, education, healthy foods, affordable housing, cooperatives, and dignified aging facilities.
• More than $164 million in commercial real estate loans for small business owners, including nearly $116 million in SBA 504 loans. These loans help entrepreneurs like Ivan Guzman, who was previously renting space in Arizona for his auto body shop on a month-to-month basis and now has expanded into a larger facility that he owns, increasing his capacity and hiring more employees in the process.
• More than $66 million in loans for small business owners, including more than $60 million in SBA 7(a) Community Advantage loans. Among those helped in 2023 were Liliam Morin and Miquelin Herrera, who were opening a restaurant in Texas and needed working capital to launch the new business. 
• More than $71 million in impact investments — equity investments intended to help growth-stage companies create more social impact in their communities, which are often underserved. These investments are specifically designed to provide entrepreneurs with options beyond traditional debt, and to ensure that they maintain control of their companies. For example, Momentus Capital has invested in Obran Cooperative, a home healthcare provider in Los Angeles, supporting the company’s transition into worker-ownership and helping it to expand its footprint in the region, including in BIPOC communities. 

Momentus Capital’s loan products and programs have helped small business owners like Montee Holland, a Detroit-based entrepreneur and veteran whose Tayion Collection menswear company has been able to grow as a result of the S.P.U.R. Pathways program founded by Momentus and Macy’s, Inc.

Financial capital also contributes toward many of the factors that help communities thrive, including economic security, education, housing, food access, access to healthcare services, and social support networks. For example, the funding Momentus Capital provided in FY 2023:

• Served 627 small businesses and developers
• Created or preserved 5,700 jobs
• Funded educational facilities and businesses serving a total of 948 students, including funding for Texas Charter School Development to expand its capacity in one location as well as to acquire an additional campus in Houston.
• Funded healthcare facilities and businesses serving a total of 57,807 patients, including building Whitman Walker Health’s new Max Robinson Center in an underrepresented neighborhood of Washington, D.C.; supporting Urban Health Plan’s expansion of its federally qualified health center in Queens, New York; and constructing a new Compass Health behavioral health facility in Everett, Wash.
• Funded healthy food businesses providing an estimated 424,000 people with expanded access to food, including $500,000 in grants through the Nourish DC Collaborative to 13 diverse-owned food businesses in Washington, D.C., located in neighborhoods underserved by grocery stores and other healthy food options.
• Funded the creation or preservation of 1,628 affordable housing units, including preserving and renovating Station at Richmond Hill, a 27-building, 181-apartment community in Atlanta; the construction of a 252-unit multifamily apartment building for low- and moderate-income tenants in Los Angeles; and the construction of 35 affordable housing units owned and rented by adults with developmental disabilities in the Bay Area community of Half Moon Bay, Calif.

Momentus Capital also works to help other lenders throughout the country, amplifying our collective impact, through Ventures Lending Technologies. Ventures is the lending industry’s premier cloud-based commercial lending platform, which offers services throughout the entire lifecycle, from a borrower prospect to loan payoff. In 2023, more than 230 community lenders across the country used Ventures to streamline their work providing capital to businesses and communities, enabling nearly $6 billion in financing, including more than $2 billion to diverse-owned businesses.

Financial capital isn’t the only way to support entrepreneurs and communities. Knowledge capital (what you know) and social capital (who you know) are also crucial. That’s why, in 2023, the Momentus Capital branded family also:

• Provided entrepreneurs with more than 13,200 hours of business advising, at no cost, in order to help them succeed
• Hosted the Equitable Development Initiative — a free monthslong program providing diverse developers with training, mentorship, and potential pathways to financing — for 63 developers in four regions, including the first program in Cleveland. 
• Momentus Capital also provided similar programs for diverse developers in 2023, including the newly established Small Developer Training in Austin serving 20 developers; the conclusion of the first Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship in the Washington, D.C., region serving 15 developers; and the continuation of the nationwide, four-year Growing Diverse Housing Developers program serving 27 developers.

And Momentus Capital continues to seek innovative solutions that help communities. Leading by example also encourages other mission-driven lenders and industry leaders to incorporate similar approaches. Momentus Capital’s innovations in 2023 included:

• Momentus Securities — an investment bank with a social purpose — launched as a registered broker-dealer and FINRA member. Momentus Securities seeks to help mission-driven lenders overcome scale and liquidity limitations by driving institutional capital to America’s small businesses and nonprofits — and by positioning “social impact” as a fully investable asset class for institutional investors
• Partnering with City First Bank and New York Life in order to provide entrepreneurs from underserved and undercapitalized communities with greater access to owner-occupied commercial real estate mortgages. The program with New York Life is the first of its kind from within the life insurance space.
• Releasing the Catalyzing Finance for Racial Equity Report, whose recommendations are driven by interviews with community leaders and other Community Development Financial Institutions nationwide. The report serves as a guide for how CDFIs and other financial institutions can further change their business practices to embed racial equity in their lending and investment practices.

“With 2024 well underway, we continue to evolve our strategy to deliver a deeper impact to support underserved people and communities,” Mr. Carr said. “No matter where we show up, however, we look forward to working with our diverse community of borrowers, partners, and supporters. We are all part of a larger movement to ensure that we live in a country where everyone has the health, wealth, and power they need to author their own story.”

Read Momentus Capital’s FY2023 Annual Report

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About the Momentus Capital Brand

The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations refers to the combined operations of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, as well as their affiliates, Momentus Direct Capital, Momentus Securities (a FINRA-member broker/dealer), and Ventures Lending Technologies. While each organization under the Momentus Capital brand still operates as a separate entity, their clients will now have access to more resources and products.

The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. We are working to reinvent traditional financial systems that have failed to address systemic issues of inequality, economic empowerment, and the widening wealth gap by offering a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.

Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, more than $3 billion in assets under management, and strong community engagement, we have delivered $24 billion in financing, created and preserved 293,000 jobs, and served 13,800 small businesses and five and a half million people across their history.

With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the Washington metro area.

Learn more at momentuscap.org.