Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women and Now®️ Launch $225M Credit Facility To Accelerate Growth of Small and Historically Underserved Businesses

ATLANTA, GA (Feb. 22, 2023) – Now®️, the innovative B2B payments solution provider, and Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women, today announced the launch of a $225M credit facility. The credit facility is led by the Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management with a $200M contribution. Brigade Capital Management contributed $25M, bringing the total facility to $225M as they continue to support Now®️. The facility supports Now®’s ability to create access to capital, commerce, and customers for small business owners, especially those historically locked out of traditional bank loans.

Given the tremendous strain on small business owners, Now®️ has made it their mission to provide financial solutions that help level the playing field and ensure small businesses don’t grow out of business as they wait to receive payments from customers. Now’s®️ payment acceleration platform, NowAccount®️, provides small and medium-sized businesses relief from the burden of being a free bank to their customers when their capital is tied up in unpaid invoices, allowing business owners to pay staff, make business-changing deals, purchase materials, and more. Without NowAccount®️, small businesses typically wait more than 50 days to get paid for invoices even though payment is due within 30 calendar days. But with it, business owners can receive payments as soon as they deliver their goods or service and the customer confirms receipt, even though the customer still pays later. In support of this solution, Goldman Sachs has provided a credit facility to empower these business owners through its One Million Black Women initiative.

Research shows Black Americans comprise approximately 14% of the U.S. population but only 2.3% of owners of employer firms. According to Goldman Sachs’ Black Womenomics report, Black entrepreneurs are 20% less likely to fund their startups with bank business loans but are instead more likely to rely on expensive personal credit card debt and family savings. More than 75% of Black and Hispanic women business owners cite lack of access to capital as a crucial barrier to success.

Additionally, the pandemic wreaked havoc on businesses globally as Covid-related issues reduced demand, increased costs, and created numerous supply chain issues. While all small businesses were impacted, Black and minority-owned businesses were the most devastated by the pandemic’s effects.

“Minority business owners have been left behind and overlooked for resources for far too long. They bear the brunt of economic downturns and yet continue to provide jobs and paths to financial stability for their communities,” said Lara Hodgson, CEO and co-founder of Now®. “Our mission is to help these entrepreneurs build sustainable and scalable businesses with our innovative approach to accelerating payments, so they don’t have to turn to traditional sources of capital that have not served them well historically, and we’re glad to have a partner that is willing to go beyond paying lip service to the issues and instead create real opportunities for underrepresented businesses to thrive.”

Goldman Sachs’ commitment is part of its One Million Black Women initiative, which aims to deploy $10 billion in direct investment capital and $100 million in philanthropic capital over the next ten years to respond to the disproportionate gender and racial biases that Black women have battled for generations. The facility is aligned with the initiative’s Access to Capital pillar, as its purpose is to increase opportunity for minority B2B business owners at key inflection points in their entrepreneurial journeys for many years to come.

“We know that working capital is essential for business growth and a top concern for small business owners,” said Asahi Pompey, Global Head of Corporate Engagement for Goldman Sachs. “That is why we are proud to partner with Now®️ to provide entrepreneurs with the short-term funding they need to run their day-to-day operations and to meet rising demand as they scale.”

As of 2022, Goldman Sachs has made 116 investments in organizations, companies, and projects totaling over $1 billion in capital.

Funds and accounts managed by Brigade Capital Management previously provided a credit facility and corporate investment to Now® in August of 2021. This came at a critical time for small businesses as they dealt with the crippling effects of the Covid pandemic.

“We are excited about the next phase of our partnership with Now®️ and Goldman Sachs to support the growth and success of small businesses, especially in this challenging economic environment,” said Max Scherr, Partner at Brigade Capital Management.

Lara Hodgson co-founded Now®️ alongside Stacey Abrams with the mission to empower entrepreneurs and create opportunities for businesses of all sizes to have access to customers, capital, and commerce without the barriers of traditional financing. To date, the Atlanta-based company has accelerated over $800 million of payments for more than 1,000 small businesses and connected thousands of large corporations with their NowAccount® clients.

To learn more about how Now®️ can help your business grow, visit https://nowcorp.com/.

About Now®

NowAccount® is an invoice payment solution that redefines how and when businesses get paid. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Now® was created by serial entrepreneurs who felt the pain of waiting on invoice payments from larger customers and did not want to turn to traditional loans or factoring. Now’s mission is to empower businesses to grow fearlessly through accelerated invoice payments. Inspired by the credit card system, NowAccount® allows you to get paid immediately on your invoice while allowing your customers the flexibility to pay later. Now®️ has recently launched the NowNetworkTM, to further its vision of creating a world where diverse businesses of all sizes have access to capital, commerce, and customer opportunities.

About One Million Black Women

In partnership with Black-women-led organizations, financial institutions, and other partners, Goldman Sachs has committed $10 billion in direct investment capital and $100 million in philanthropic capital over the next decade to address the dual disproportionate gender and racial biases that Black women have faced for generations, which have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. The initiative, One Million Black Women, is named for and guided by the goal of impacting the lives of at least one million Black women by 2030. Goldman Sachs’ research Black Womenomics has shown that sustained investments in Black women will catalyze economic growth, making for not only a fairer but also a richer society.

About the Goldman Sachs Asset Management Urban Investment Group (UIG)

Bringing together traditional and alternative investments, Goldman Sachs Asset Management provides clients around the world with a dedicated partnership and focus on long-term performance. As the primary investing area within Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), we deliver investment and advisory services for the world’s leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals, drawing from our deeply connected global network and tailored expert insights, across every region and market—overseeing more than $2 trillion in assets under supervision worldwide as of September 30, 2022. Driven by a passion for our clients’ performance, we seek to build long-term relationships based on conviction, sustainable outcomes, and shared success over time. Goldman Sachs Asset Management invests in the full spectrum of alternatives, including private equity, growth equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure. Established in 2001, the Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management has committed over $14 billion through real estate projects, social enterprises and lending facilities for small businesses. Follow us on LinkedIn.

Contact Information

Rick Liebling

Account Manager

VSC for Now

nowcorp@vsc.co