Womply, the local commerce platform that provides apps, APIs, marketing, and financial tools to make local commerce happen, announced a new partnership with Harvest Small Business Finance to help more of America’s struggling small businesses, gig workers, independent contractors, and self-employed people access vital Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding with as little friction as possible.
“We’re very excited to be able to connect borrowers with Harvest Small Business Finance to get their PPP loans”
Adam Seery, COO of Harvest Small Business Finance, said, “We are very proud of our new partnership with Womply to help more small businesses and hard-working individuals get access to these federal PPP loans. From the beginning, Harvest has specialized in providing affordable loan solutions for small business owners who may not qualify for commercial mortgages through larger banks or credit unions, and Womply’s fundamental focus on small businesses, and their commitment to spreading the news about the benefits of the PPP, aligns perfectly with our goals to help more people benefit from this much-needed funding.”
Harvest is a proven SBA-approved lender whose vision statement includes “Fast, Easy, and Flexible.” This purpose aligns perfectly with Womply’s breakthrough PPP Fast Lane process that streamlines applications for truly small businesses, independent contractors, sole proprietors, gig workers, and eligible self-employed individuals. Together, the partnership seeks to bring much-needed financial relief to the people who need it most, when they need it most.
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Womply developed PPP Fast Lane as a simple, web-based data collection process that takes about five minutes. PPP Fast Lane includes multiple layers of fraud prevention and identity verification, which is essential to serving PPP loans at scale in accordance with government rules. Borrowers don’t need a registered business entity, business license, official place of business, business bank account, accountant, lawyer, or business banker to apply for PPP. Immediately after completing PPP Fast Lane, applicants will be matched with their SBA approved lender.
“We’re very excited to be able to connect borrowers with Harvest Small Business Finance to get their PPP loans,” said Womply founder and CEO, Toby Scammell. “PPP Fast Lane was designed from the start specifically for the smallest businesses and individuals that haven’t yet received government stimulus from PPP or EIDL loans. By removing friction that only applies to larger businesses we hope to make PPP less confusing and help hundreds of thousands of small businesses, contractors, gig workers, and self-employed people.”
The Paycheck Protection Program was authorized in spring 2020, in an effort to support America’s small businesses and save jobs during the crushing financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year Womply helped more than 100,000 businesses access their PPP funding through its network of SBA-approved lenders, and so far in 2021, Womply has already helped over 300,000 more businesses, gig workers, contractors, and self-employed borrowers get funded.
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The 2021 updates to the PPP program were intended to more strongly emphasize federal funding toward small communities, local lenders, and truly local businesses, but many independent contractors, sole proprietors, and self-employed individuals are still unaware that they can even qualify for PPP relief, and those who have heard about the PPP may still be reluctant to apply for various reasons.
Womply’s data shows that as businesses get smaller, the less likely they are to:
- Realize they may be eligible for PPP
- Know how to apply for PPP
- Have a trusted advisor or banker who can help them understand the rules and apply
“In this round of PPP funding we’ve deployed our data platform to build PPP Fast lane and help the smallest businesses and individuals with the process of eligibility, qualification, verification, fraud detection, and streamlining PPP applications,” Scammell said. “We’re pleased to see Congress, the White House, the SBA, and innovative lending partners such as Harvest working to help these deserving small businesses and workers. We are dedicated to expanding our programs to reach new applicants who can put PPP money to work rebuilding America.”
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