Capital Access Services
Fostering Business Growth & Expansion
Seeking capital to grow your business or finance a new business venture and unsure about the most effective path? Florida SBDC Capital Access Specialists offer no-cost consulting and low-cost training to help you locate, prepare, and obtain financing. Whether you’re looking for a traditional bank loan, government-backed loan, or a loan provided by an alternative lender, our specialists have the tools, expertise, and resources to help you obtain the financing needed to succeed.
How We Can Help
While Florida SBDCs do not loan money or administer grants, our Capital Access Specialists maintain valuable relationships, public and private, with local lenders and understand their lending requirements. These relationships are so productive that lenders often require their business borrowers to work with a Florida SBDC before considering a loan or finance application.
Florida SBDC Capital Access Specialists are professionally certified business consultants, many of whom are former bankers, business owners, and executives with years of experience and advanced business degrees. They’ll provide you with confidential assistance to help guide you through the process of securing the right source of capital, including:
- Uncover available debt coverage and ability to repay a loan
- Assess financing options and opportunities
- Identify appropriate sources of financing
- Develop or refine a quality business plan suitable for lenders
- Conduct an in-depth financial analysis
- Create a professional loan package
- Formulate a comprehensive finance strategy
- Facilitate effective lender relationships
State Designated as Florida’s Principal Provider of Business Assistance [288.001, Fla. Stat.]
Types and Sources of Financing
Listed below is a sampling of the various types and sources of loans our specialists provide assistance with:
- Loans / Debt Financing
- Commercial Finance Companies
- Intermediary Lenders
- Banks and Credit Unions
- Conventional Loan
- Line of Credit
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Guaranteed Loan Programs
- 7(a) Loan: Long-or short-term working capital needs, inventory, and equipment purchases, expansion/renovation, starting a business or refinance existing debt
- CDC/504 Loan: Long-term, fixed-rate financing to acquire fixed assets for expansion/ modernization for major assets such as land, buildings, machinery
- Disaster Loans: Business Physical Disaster Loans; Economic Injury Disaster Loans
- Veteran and Military Community Loans: Military Reservists Economic Injury Loans
- Export Loans: SBA Export Express; Export Working Capital Loans; and SBA’s International Trade Loan Program
Florida-Based Loan Programs
- Microfinance Loan Program:
Through DEO and its Loan Administrators, short-term loans of up to $50,000 made available to small businesses; borrowers must participate in business training and technical assistance provided by the Florida SBDC Network - Microfinance Guarantee Program:
Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI) utilizes state funds to guarantee loans between $50,000 and $250,000 made by private lenders; guarantees cannot exceed 50% of the total loan amount - State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Programs:
Florida Capital Access Program (Cap); Florida Export Support Program; Florida Venture Capital Program (Florida Opportunity Fund); and Florida Small Business Loan Support Program - Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program:
Short-term, interest-free working capital loans intended to “bridge the gap” between the time a major catastrophe hits and when a business has secured longer term recovery resources; available when activated by the Governor
Other Sources of Financing
- Microloan Funds
- Venture Capital
- Angel Investors
- Crowdfunding
$528.4 MILLION IN CAPITAL ACCESSED
by client businesses in 2021 — $60.5M by Tampa Bay businesses.
READY TO ACCESS CAPITAL?
Contact your local office and get started on your path to success today.
TESTIMONIAL
“[SBDC] helped us tremendously, and I am eternally grateful for it because maybe we wouldn’t be where we’re at now if it wasn’t for them.”
– Josiah Hernandez, Tampa Auto Doctor, Tampa
Whether you’re looking for working capital, an equipment loan, financing to purchase property or expand your workforce, a line of credit, or startup capital to get your business off the ground, our credentialed specialists will help qualified and funding-ready businesses find the right source of capital.
