Dating App Bumble Provides Small-Business Cash Faster Than Banks

Companies led by female entrepreneurs are doling out millions of dollars in grants more rapidly than some U.S. banks.

Dating app Bumble and Spanx Inc. founder Sara Blakely are handing out cash to women- and minority-owned small businesses in need of help during the coronavirus outbreak, according to Bloomberg. The funds are a much needed lifeline for businesses still waiting on a portion of the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program. 

Bumble is offering 150 grants totaling $1 million to small businesses, while Spanx’s Blakely is giving out $5,000 grants totaling $5 million. Verizon Communications is offering $10,000 grants totaling $2.5 million to more than 200 small business owners who are women, people of color and others in historically under-served places. Hello Alice, a startup accelerator, is also offering emergency grants of $10,000. 

About 10% of small businesses are at risk of permanent closure within the next month, according to a poll released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Around 56% of those businesses would like financial relief in the form of direct cash payments.

Companies led by women and minority groups face the most uncertainty because they don’t always have connections and access to resources that other groups have to survive, according to Elizabeth Gore, co-founder of Hello Alice, said per Bloomberg.