Today, the NJEDA launched its New Jersey Entrepreneur Support Program, a $5 million program that will create a guarantee to support repayment of an investor loan advanced for working capital purposes and is designed to encourage investors to support businesses within their portfolios.

The goal of this program is to help Garden State entrepreneurs with limited funding navigate COVID-19-related cashflow constraints by giving them access to capital from investors that are already investing in their companies. A link to the program application is posted on the State’s COVID-19 Business Information Hub. It will provide an 80 percent NJEDA guarantee for an eligible new loan or convertible note by a qualified investor into a New Jersey qualified business, not to exceed a $200,000 guarantee per company. Investors are qualified for the program if they have already provided funding to a New Jersey company through a simple agreement for equity (SAFE), convertible note, or equity investment as of March 9, 2020 (the date of the Governor's Executive Order 103).

Participating investors are not required to be New Jersey residents and can include, but are not limited to, individuals, trusts, and corporations. There will be no fees associated with the NJ Entrepreneur Support Program for the first five years of a loan and then standard modification fees will apply. To be eligible to benefit from the program, a company must be headquartered in New Jersey, have fewer than 25 total employees with a minimum of 50 percent of its employees in the Garden State, and under $5 million in revenues as of December 31, 2019.

Additional eligibility requirements for both investors and entrepreneurs can be found at http://cv.business.nj.gov. 

To read the EDA press release, click here.

If you have any questions or comments about the above, please feel free to reach out to Hilary Beckett, Manager, Government Affairs, at hbeckett@chambersnj.com.