Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) announced on Thursday that it has formed a partnership with Kiva’s loan lender, Kiva Zip, to help underserved small businesses to obtain loans through the QuickBooks Financing Platform.
Intuit stated as part of the initiative, the Intuit Financial Freedom Foundation (IFFF) has established a $50,000 loan matching program on Kiva Zip, half of which will be designated for women-owned small businesses in support of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.
Users of Kiva Zip can choose a small business owner that they want to support with a loan of $25 or more. That loan helps to crowdfund the borrower’s full loan request. IFFF’s loan matching will match what the public crowdfunds, doubling the public’s impact. As a result, underserved small businesses seeking credit through the QuickBooks Financing platform could get funded twice as quickly. Small business owners featured on Kiva Zip include artisans, immigrants, refugees, veterans, small farmers, neighborhood shops and home-based businesses across the country.
Jeffrey Kaufman, business leader of QuickBooks Financing at Intuit, stated:
“We are excited about our partnership with Kiva Zip and to offer small businesses the critical capital they need to start and grow their businesses. This platform serves a segment of small businesses who previously had no, or very limited, opportunities to get the funding they needed. Additionally, we are so pleased the Intuit Financial Freedom Foundation is joining with QBF to help Intuit do even more to support small businesses, in particular helping women-owned small businesses to thrive.”
Kiva Zip loans are available up to $10,000. The public helps fund the loans by crowdfunding in increments of $25 using the online platform. Kiva Zip uses an entrepreneur’s network as a measure of creditworthiness. Borrowers start by inviting family and friends to launch fundraising efforts and, after reaching a designated threshold, the Kiva Zip community takes care of the rest. More than 90% of loan requests are fully funded, which is rare among crowdfunding sites. Kiva Zip loans are offered at 0% interest with no fees, and are available regardless of credit score or type of small business.
Jonny Price, senior director at Kiva, added:
“We are thrilled by our partnership with Intuit and its foundation. Kiva borrowers have an 89% repayment rate, which means that once the loans are repaid, we can recycle the foundation’s funding to match additional loans, further maximizing the impact we make for small businesses.”