Lafayette Square Announces Second SBA License Approval for an SSBIC

Lafayette Square USA, Inc., a business development company sponsored by Lafayette Square, received its first SBIC license in February 2023.

MIAMI, FL, September 17, 2024 – Lafayette Square announced today that the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) has approved the firm’s application for a Specialized Small Business Investment Company (“SSBIC”) license. SSBICs focus on providing financing to small business ventures owned and managed by historically underrepresented populations, specifically women, minorities, and veterans.

The SSBIC license provides a new source of leverage in addition to the SBIC license that Lafayette Square received last year and a recently announced revolver with ING Capital LLC. The revolver features an innovative pricing structure that adjusts the interest rate based on the achievement of certain key performance indicators aligned with Lafayette Square’s 2030 goals, which focus on working-class people and places. Together, these leverage sources provide Lafayette Square with access to lower-cost and longer-duration capital relative to its peers. Moreover, by directly investing in women, minority, and veteran-owned businesses through the SSBIC license, the firm further strengthens its commitment to supporting entrepreneurs who are often overlooked by traditional investment firms.

“We intentionally align ourselves with government organizations like the SBA that are dedicated to creating jobs and delivering economic mobility to working-class people and places,” said Damien Dwin, founder & CEO of Lafayette Square. “This license approval brings us closer to achieving our 2030 goals to support 100,000 working-class jobs, invest 50 percent of our capital in working-class places, and curate benefits for 50 percent of our portfolio companies.”

In addition to financing, Lafayette Square offers its borrowers access to Worker Solutions, a custom-built platform that seeks to measurably improve employee retention, well-being, and productivity by connecting management teams to a curated list of third-party service providers that offer non-traditional benefits for their employees. By delivering these solutions, Lafayette Square aims to reduce operational risk for its portfolio companies, help them attract and retain talent, and improve job quality. The platform will track and measure the impact that Lafayette Square’s SSBIC has on improving the lives of low-and-moderate income workers.

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About Lafayette Square

Lafayette Square invests in middle market companies while positively supporting people and communities. We believe the demand for capital in businesses headquartered outside of high-income places is an overlooked opportunity. We seek investment opportunities that stimulate economic growth across the United States through the creation and preservation of working-class jobs. For more information, please visit www.lafayettesquare.com. 

Media Contact

Jansel Murad

Dukas Linden Public Relations

lafayettesquare@dlpr.com

646-722-6531