Financing and Capital

The Governor’s Office of Small Business Assistance works closely with a variety of partners to highlight various avenues for access to capital, including, but not limited to the below:

Product Development and Small Business Incubator Fund

The Product Development and Small Business Incubator Fund provides asset backed financing to companies doing business in Texas through the form of direct asset based loans with competitive lending rates. Loans can be amortized up to the life of the asset. For more information, please visit the Incentives and Financing section of the website.

Non-Profit Lenders

Non-Profit Lenders not only often offer favorable terms, such as low interest rates, but also other business related assistance, such as advice, workshops, and loan decisions based on more than a business’ financial statement. Some non-profit lenders in Texas include:

• BCL of Texas successfully promotes business and community development while providing business capital and commercial real estate loans throughout Texas. BCL has helped to create more than 5,000 jobs in Texas and in addition to providing businesses with counseling and technical assistance, BCL of Texas originates, underwrites, processes, closes and services business loans for healthy growing businesses.
• LiftFund seeks to provide credit and service to small businesses that do not have access to loans from commercial resources and to provide leadership and service to the micro-lending field on a national level. LiftFund provides individual business loans from $500 to $1 million. Through the SBA 504 loan program, they are able to offer loans up to $5.5 million to finance the acquisition of fixed assets
• PeopleFund provides loans and financial and technical assistance to people who are left out of the financial mainstream. PeopleFund administers small business and non-profit loans, business consulting, and technical assistance as well as a variety of other programs. PeopleFund offers the SBA Microloan for small businesses, the 7A Community Advantage for growing businesses, and the SBA 504 Loan for businesses looking to expand through purchase of commercial real estate or long-term equipment.

Federal Grants and Resources

Federal Grants and Resources are provided by the federal government to small businesses across the nation. Although many of these grants and other types of assistance, are used for research and development, below are a few websites with more information.

• Grants.gov
• Small Business Innovative Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Funding
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
• Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization

Small Business Administration Loan Programs

Small Business Administration Loan Programs are administered by local SBA Offices in Texas, providing financial aid to small businesses. For more information, please visit the below links to each district office.

• Dallas/Fort Worth
• El Paso
• Harlingen
• Houston
• Lubbock
• San Antonio

United States Department of Agriculture

USDA’s Business Programs provide financial backing and technical assistance   to stimulate business creation and growth. Loans, loan guarantees, and grants are available to individuals, businesses, cooperatives, farmers and ranchers, public bodies, non-profit corporations, Native American Tribes, and private companies in rural communities. For more information, please visit the USDA website.

The Rural Enterprise Grant Program (RBEG) is a competitive grant designed to support targeted technical assistance, training and other activities leading to the development or expansion of small and emerging private businesses in rural areas which will employ 50 or fewer new employees and has less than $1 million in gross revenue.  For more information, including the deadline for Texas applications, please visit the Rural Business Development Grants in Texas website.

Capital Access Program

The Capital Access Program (CAP) is a partnership between the State of Texas and selected non-profit lenders to increase access to financing for small and medium-sized businesses and non-profits which face barriers to accessing capital or fall outside of guidelines of conventional lending. The Program facilitates loans which are underwritten by the participating non-profit lenders and supported by the state contributions to a loan loss reserve fund.

Skills for Small Business

The Texas Workforce Commission supports businesses with fewer than 100 employees and emphasizes training for (full-time) new workers, though it may also help upgrade the skills of (full-time) incumbent workers.  Training is provided through the public community or technical college or the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). Currently, the program pays up to $1,800 for each new employee being trained and $900 for existing employees per 12-month period. For more information about eligibility, and to apply, visit the TWC website.