Scale Link

Scale Link, previously the Entrepreneur Backed Assets (EBA) Fund, empowers community-based financial institutions (CDFIs) to lend to small businesses in low-income communities and those owned by people of color. It does so by purchasing existing loans originated by CDFI microlenders and creating a secondary market for them. By bundling microloans from different CDFIs and pooling them together for banks to purchase, Scale Link provides the CDFIs with capital for new lending. This translates into real change for the communities and people who need it most.

Scale Link is a young, nonprofit CDFI designed in collaboration with the members of the Aspen Institute’s Microfinance Impact Collaborative (MIC), the Aspen Institute Business Ownership Initiative (BOI), and Revolve Asset Management. The MIC comprises six of the largest US microlenders – LiftFund, Justine PETERSEN, Ascendus, Dreamspring, Accion Opportunity Fund, and Allies for Community Business – and is convened and supported by BOI.

Scale Link was launched with initial grant funding from the Citi Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Microsoft Corporation and Woodforest National Bank made the first capital investments in the Fund. Other funders include: The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, Truist, and Wells Fargo.

Below you’ll find highlights of Scale Link’s work and progress. Learn more at scalelink.org