NOW ACCEPTING COHORT & MENTORSHIP PROGRAM APPLICATIONS 

Download our Cohort Brochure for More Info.

Rolling admissions until 15 applicants are selected.

Next Cohort Starts: May 22, 2025

Application deadline: May 8, 2025

Only 3 spots left!

2025 Program Offerings

Finance Matchmaker Program*

*Program is open to Massachusetts and Rhode Island based companies

ElevAsian is piloting this program with Nectar Community Investments, which is a Massachusetts based Community Development Finance Institution. Nectar invests, lends, and finances accounts receivables. Once ElevAsian road tests this relationship it will invite other financiers into its matchmaker program. The following is a description of Nectar’s investment programs.

Patient Capital Opportunities

Through the Business Equity Investment Fund, Nectar invests in and purchases equity in your business to support your long-term growth and development. Our investment goes beyond dollars: we’re your strategic partner, offering resources and experience to help you expand, all while giving you the freedom to run your business the way you want.

With competitive terms, cash flow freedom and a genuine interest in your success, we’re working to generate growth and create long-term impact.

  • 1. Business Loan Criteria

    - Amount: $3,000-$500,000

    - Terms: 1 to 7 years

    - Interest: Competitive rates

    - For startups or expanding businesses

  • 2. Accounts Receivable Loan Criteria

    Through our partner Liquid Capital, we offer accounts receivable financing that gives your business faster access to capital and more predictable cash flow.

    Details

    - Amount: $100,000+

    - Your loan is based almost exclusively on the credit quality of your customers.

    - Current Rate: 1.50% to 2.20% per invoice per month

    - For businesses with $200,000+ annual revenues seeking to bridge the cash flow gap to address payroll and other expenses.

    - Financing is based on the credit quality of the invoicing counterparty, e.g., a commercial corporate or governmental entity.

  • 3. Business Equity Investment Fund Criteria

    - An established business or startup on a growth trajectory

    - Generating positive revenue

    - Making a positive impact in the community

    Details

    - Amount: Up to $750,000

    - Terms: Up to 10 years

    - Mission: Alignment with business owners

    - Type of Equity: Preferred

    - Percentage Ownership: Valuations to be determined on individual company basis

    - Value: Patient capital that purchases company shares (equity) to support growth

Glynn Lloyd

Executive Director At Nectar

Glynn has been an innovator in transformative urban economic development for more than 30 years. ​As Nectar’s Executive Director, he leads our efforts to invest in small businesses and create innovative residential programs that advance environmental justice and stable housing. Glynn also serves on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Economic Development Planning Council, which is responsible for crafting a strategic plan to guide Massachusetts economic development policy over the next four years, and the Energy Transformation Advisory Board, which helps guide and advise the work of the Massachusetts Office of Energy Transformation. Prior to this role, Glynn was the founding Executive Director of the Foundation for Business Equity (FBE), one of our legacy organizations. There, he oversaw our unique approach to truly scaling up local Black and Latino enterprises to close the racial wealth gap.

Once FBE merged with Mill Cities Community Investments to make broader impacts in addressing New England’s wealth gap, Glynn became executive director of the combined entity — now known as Nectar.

Glynn was also the founder of City Fresh Foods, a nationally-renowned food service business. Over 20 years, Glynn grew the business an average of 15 percent annually to reach an eight-figure revenue. He is also a founder of the Urban Farming Institute (UFI), a community-led nonprofit supporting the development of the urban farming industry in Massachusetts, and helped establish the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), a coalition of black business, community, religious and labor leaders working together to improve economic indicators in the Black community.

SEED-ElevAsian Partnership

ElevAsian is partnering with the Suffolk Entrepreneurship and Education Development Collaborative (SEED) and will work with SEED's faculty to select 6th cohort members to participate in the fall 2025 semester.

SEED forms MBA student teams, which work with participating companies on accounting, marketing/branding, financing, and operational issues under the guidance of faculty and Suffolk alumni, who are CPAs, CEOs, CFOs, and management executives.

This program is limited to 8 companies per semester and selection to the ElevAsian Cohort & Mentorship Program doesn't guarantee selection to the SEED program. For more information please contact Andy Goldberg at 617.953.0954 or andrewgoldberg@elevasian.org.

Ideation_Business Launch Cohort & Mentorship Program

(under development)

In response to the great need for a program that speaks to the needs of entrepreneurs in the ideation phase, ElevAsian is raising funds to develop a learning model and curriculum for people who find themselves on the path from ideation to launch and survival. 

Please scroll to the bottom of this page (https://www.elevasian.org/program-offerings) and message us if you would like us to keep you informed of this new program.