LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky non-profit Community Ventures has partnered with Render Capital to assist underserved entrepreneurs in growing and expanding their businesses.
Render Capital will provide $500,000 of capital to Community Ventures’ Equity Boost initiative, a program which focuses on funding ethnic minority- and women-owned businesses. Formed in 2020, Render Capital is a regional investment fund that is working to unlock capital for the region’s best entrepreneurs.
“Partnering with an organization like Community Ventures is squarely in line with our missional intent of driving impact through innovation,” explained Patrick Henshaw, managing director at Render Capital. “The work that Community Ventures is doing backed by Render Capital is critical to driving the right type of capital based on the company and how they operate. We envision a robust and thriving regional economy where entrepreneurs see Louisville as a place they can find appropriate expansion necessary for them to start, grow, and succeed – we are proud to partner more deeply with Community Ventures to further scale and execute on this lofty mission.”
Community Ventures’ core mission of helping people build wealth and break the cycle of generational poverty through homeownership and business creation, while at the same time revitalizing disinvested communities aligns well with Render Capital’s focus on providing early-stage risk capital for entrepreneurs while building a more inclusive and creative economy. The shared vision of these companies has coalesced in Render Capital’s home base of Louisville, where Community Ventures operates as a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Render Capital, a known entity in Louisville, to provide access to funding to entrepreneurs that may not have all the collateral needed to take their businesses to the next level,” said Shirie Hawkins, president of Everything Equity for Community Ventures. “With Render’s help, we are able to provide more attractive-rate financing to a demographic that typically struggles to obtain the loans they need to grow and thrive.”
Founded in 1982, Community Ventures is a community-based, non-profit organization that exists to improve the quality of life for urban and rural residents throughout Kentucky. CV helps people increase income and build assets with three main strategies: small business ownership, home ownership, and job creation through business expansion. CV is headquartered in Lexington with branch offices in Campbellsville, Louisville, Millersburg, Bowling Green, Mayfield and Owensboro.
Render Capital is an investment firm focused on unlocking capital for entrepreneurs in the Midwest and South. We work to support the very best startups in our region with the right capital for their business. We want to establish the Midwest and South as a national leader in innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative capital essential for our collective success.
