Lafayette Square was named by the U.S. Small Business Administration ("SBA") as one of four new Small Business Lending Company (SBLC) licensees. SBLCs are granted to SBA 7(a) lenders focused on historically underserved markets to support SBA's ongoing efforts to increase access to affordable capital for business owners in underserved markets across America.

The SBLC designation will allow Lafayette Square to expand into 7(a) lending and increase its support for entrepreneurs in working-class places across the country. This is Lafayette Square's third license granted by the SBA, including two Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) licenses.

"This SBLC license strengthens our securitization function to reach a broader range of underserved markets while maintaining conservative underwriting. Combined with our existing SBIC licenses, we are uniquely positioned to access low-cost, long-duration funding to support small businesses, particularly those in underserved areas," said Damien Dwin, Founder & CEO of Lafayette Square.

"For the second time in over 40 years, the Biden-Harris SBA welcomes new lenders with a shared mission of filling capital gaps in underserved communities – the very same communities who are starting businesses at the highest rates in America today," said Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the SBA. "With private markets playing an increasingly important role in small business lending, this expansion delivers against the Biden-Harris Administration's unwavering commitment to providing affordable financing to the incredible entrepreneurs and new business starts revitalizing Main Streets across America. Congratulations to the four new licensees as they work alongside the mission-focused teams at the SBA to put the American dream of business ownership within reach for more entrepreneurs."

An SBLC license allows the lending organization to utilize government guarantees when underwriting small business loans to reduce the level of risk to the lender and cost to the borrower. As a result, SBLCs are positioned to write higher volumes of loans to small businesses than possible without a government guarantee. The SBA's existing SBLCs outperform banks and credit unions in lending to minority-owned businesses. There are currently 16 SBLC licenses in the marketplace, and the addition of four companies will bring the total to 20, helping bring capital to new markets.