Amazon and Lendistry Launch Amazon Community Lending Pilot Program to Fuel Growth for Small and Medium-sized Businesses

The partnership expands Amazon Lending’s business financing options for Amazon sellers and will provide loans of up to $100,000 to help fund strategic business needs, such as inventory expansion, brand building, and customer acquisition.

U.S.-based Amazon sellers, including those in Lendistry’s CDFI target groups, which include African American- and Hispanic-Latino-owned businesses and other individuals located in CDFI investment areas, are encouraged to learn more.

Today Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Lendistry announced a joint pilot program, Amazon Community Lending, aimed at driving growth opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) selling in Amazon’s store. The program is a new business financing option through Amazon Lending. Amazon Community Lending will provide U.S.-based Amazon sellers—nearly all of which are SMBs—access to short-term loans of up to $100,000 at competitive and affordable rates to sustain and grow their businesses.

Lendistry is an established minority-led Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), that serves urban and rural small businesses in socially and economically distressed communities. The majority of the funds Lendistry has historically disbursed have gone to traditionally low-to-moderate income and other historically disadvantaged business owners and the communities they serve, including African American and Hispanic-Latino populations, and individuals from CDFI-designated investment areas. All U.S.-based Amazon sellers are welcome to learn more and determine if financing options from Lendistry are the right fit for their business needs.

“We are thrilled to launch the Amazon Community Lending pilot program in the U.S. to provide greater access to critical working capital and make the opportunity of selling in Amazon’s store more accessible to even more U.S. small businesses,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president for worldwide consumer trust and partner support. “Lendistry shares our commitment to championing underrepresented populations of business owners, knowing they often lack access to traditional methods of accessing capital and similar economic opportunities.”

Amazon sellers account for more than half of all units sold in Amazon’s store. Together, Amazon and Lendistry have developed a lending solution built specifically for sellers. Lendistry will provide term loans targeting a range from $10,000 to $100,000 with periods of up to two years and annual percentage rates generally ranging between 8% and 9.9%.

U.S.-based Amazon sellers are invited to learn more and determine if financing options from Lendistry are the right fit for their business needs. Amazon sellers can use the working capital to grow their business in Amazon’s store and to cover other strategic business needs, such as staffing and operations costs, inventory, product development and manufacturing, and marketing efforts to build their brands and grow their customer base.

“Amazon came to us with this incredible idea,” said Everett K. Sands, founder and CEO of Lendistry. “They’re on a mission to support and empower minority-owned businesses, just like us, so it was a great fit. The Amazon seller community is the perfect place to make these kinds of financing programs available that can truly make a difference for a lot of businesses.”

Amazon Lending began offering loans to businesses selling in Amazon’s store in 2011, based on the knowledge that an infusion of capital at the right moment could put small business sellers on the path to success. Year to date, Amazon and third-party lending partners have lent more than $800 million to small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. to support their growth.

In 2020, Amazon invested more than $18 billion in the success of its third-party selling partners, including tools, services, programs, infrastructure, and people. To learn more about how Amazon invests in the success of entrepreneurs, artisans, and small businesses, visit aboutamazon.com/supporting-small-businesses.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About Lendistry

B.S.D. Capital, Inc. dba Lendistry (lendistry.com) is a minority-led and technology-enabled small business and commercial real estate lender with Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and Community Development Entity (CDE) certification. Lendistry ranks second nationwide in SBA Community Advantage lending, providing responsible financing to small business owners and their underserved communities. Lendistry is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, headquartered in a Los Angeles Opportunity Zone. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lendistry provided Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small businesses in all 50 states and was selected by the states of California, Pennsylvania, and New York to administer their small business relief programs, which distributed grants to businesses that lost significant revenues during the pandemic. Lendistry and its nonprofit partner organization, The Center by Lendistry, are dedicated to providing economic opportunities and progressive growth for underserved urban and rural small business borrowers and their communities.

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