Amazon and Lendistry announced a joint pilot program—Amazon Community Lending—aimed at driving growth opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) selling in Amazon’s store. The program is a new business financing option through Amazon Lending. Amazon Community Lending will provide U.S.-based Amazon sellers—nearly all of which are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)—access to short-term loans of up to $100,000 at competitive and affordable rates to sustain and grow their businesses.
Lendistry is an established minority-led Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), that serves urban and rural small businesses in socially and economically distressed communities. The majority of the funds Lendistry has historically disbursed have gone to traditionally low-to-moderate income and other historically disadvantaged business owners and the communities they serve, including African American and Hispanic-Latino populations, and individuals from CDFI-designated investment areas.
Amazon sellers account for more than half of all units sold in Amazon’s store. All U.S.-based Amazon sellers are welcome to learn more and determine if financing options from Lendistry are the right fit for their business needs.
“We are thrilled to launch the Amazon Community Lending pilot program in the U.S. to provide greater access to critical working capital and make the opportunity of selling in Amazon’s store more accessible to even more U.S. small businesses,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president for worldwide consumer trust and partner support. “Lendistry shares our commitment to championing underrepresented populations of business owners, knowing they often lack access to traditional methods of accessing capital and similar economic opportunities.”
Together, Amazon and Lendistry have developed a lending solution built specifically for Amazon sellers. Lendistry will provide term loans targeting a range from $10,000 to $100,000 with periods of up to two years and annual percentage rates generally ranging between 8% and 9.9%.
Amazon sellers can use the working capital to grow their business in Amazon’s store and to cover other strategic business needs—such as staffing and operations costs, inventory, product development and manufacturing, and marketing efforts—to build their brands and grow their customer base.
“Amazon came to us with this incredible idea,” said Everett K. Sands, founder and CEO of Lendistry. “They’re on a mission to support and empower minority-owned businesses, just like us, so it was a great fit. The Amazon seller community is the perfect place to make these kinds of financing programs available that can truly make a difference for a lot of businesses.”
Amazon Lending began offering loans to businesses selling in Amazon’s store in 2011, based on the knowledge that an infusion of capital at the right moment could put small business sellers on the path to success. Year to date, Amazon and third-party lending partners have lent more than $800 million to SMBs in the U.S. to support their growth.
In 2020, Amazon invested more than $18 billion in the success of its third-party selling partners, including tools, services, programs, infrastructure, and people. Learn more about how Amazon invests in the success of entrepreneurs, artisans, and small businesses.
