Momentus Capital Joins with Biden-Harris Administration as a Founding Member of New Coalition Dedicated to Addressing Economic Disparities and Accelerating Economic Opportunities

July 28, 2022 (Arlington, VA and San Diego, CA) – Momentus Capital is honored to serve as one of the founding members of newly created Economic Opportunity Coalition (EOC).

Vice President Kamala Harris announced today historic efforts to catalyze and align both public and private investments — including formation of the new EOC — to address economic disparities and accelerate economic opportunity in communities of color and other underserved communities.

The EOC is made up of 23 companies and foundations, including 14 companies ranked in the Fortune 500. Their goal is to focus commitments in a few areas that will move the needle — aligning their major investments in communities of color with investments made by the Biden-Harris Administration.

“Momentus Capital is uniquely positioned to serve a significant role representing mission-driven financial institutions on the Economic Opportunity Coalition,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of the Momentus Capital family of companies, which includes Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, and Ventures Lending Technologies. “Our team has extensive experience with small business and community development, and the ability to offer a continuum of capital at every growth stage to support economic mobility and wealth creation.”

“We are thankful to the Biden-Harris Administration for its support of the Economic Opportunity Coalition. Working together in this public-private partnership will help create social and economic justice in disinvested communities,” Mr. Carr added. “This coalition will bolster the work that Momentus Capital is doing to provide communities with the opportunities they deserve to succeed and thrive. We can accomplish much more, and much faster, by combining our efforts strategically than we would by acting separately.”

The founding members of the EOC include Ariel Investments, Bank of America, BNY Mellon, Capital One, Citi, Discover, Ford Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Google, Key Bank, Kresge Foundation, Mastercard, McDonald’s, McKinsey & Company, Micron, Momentus Capital, Moody’s, Netflix, PayPal, PNC, The Rockefeller Foundation, TIAA, and Upstart.

The EOC will coordinate across public, private and social sector organizations. It will develop and deploy products that solve challenges in getting resources where they are needed most, and it will drive toward outcomes for meaningful action.

The coalition members have made significant commitments across each of the four focus areas, including a number of investments since the group formed earlier this year:

• Investing in community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and minority depository institutions (MDIs)
• Supporting entrepreneurship and minority-owned businesses
• Expanding inclusive and equitable access to credit and other financial services facilitating financial health
• Making infrastructure investments that create more community wealth

These commitments, which represent only a small fraction of total commitments from the EOC, show the immense resources these founding members bring to the table, but they acknowledge they must do more.

Over the coming months, the EOC will build on investments the Biden-Harris Administration has made and develop new solutions that reimagine how capital, technology, and talent are deployed in underserved communities. They will be built with and for the community, leveraging existing strengths and assets to address the root causes of economic inequality.

The Momentus Capital family of companies is already working to transform how investments and capital flow into communities. This includes:

• Financial capital: a range of flexible debt and equity products to meet Momentus Capital’s partners’ needs, as well as access to new markets and potential investors
• Knowledge capital: business advising, assistance, and training to develop the skills and insights that can help partners advance their enterprises
• Social capital: connections to networks and people that can help Momentus Capital’s partners succeed

Among the recent programs and initiatives from the Momentus Capital family of companies:

• Launching an Impact Investing group to jumpstart growth-stage businesses that will impact their communities. Equity investments make up less than 2% of CDFI portfolios in the United States. This will fill a crucial gap for companies like this that need more than traditional debt products.
• Coming Soon! Momentus Capital is developing an investment bank to better connect investors with community organizations through community-centric securities offerings.
• Activate Detroit, a new loan product that is empowering Black entrepreneurs by focusing on character-based evaluations, rather than credit scores.
• Impower, which helps business owners who have been denied a commercial real estate loan, assisting them with the opportunity to build wealth, create jobs and stay in the communities they serve.
• The Equitable Development Initiative, Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship, and Growing Diverse Housing Developers, all of which provide training, mentorship, connections, and pathways to financing for developers of color, helping them overcome racial barriers and systemic issues.
• Expanding access to Ventures+, a proprietary loan processing and portfolio management tool that has become one of the top resources for small business and community lenders. This has helped other local lenders create an impact in their communities by providing access to high-level services they would otherwise be unlikely to manage on their own.

Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, a portfolio of nearly $3 billion, and strong community engagement, the Momentus Capital family of companies has delivered more than $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.

More information is available on the Momentus Capital fact sheet (PDF).