Greenline Ventures: Flexible capital for inclusive small business growth

Greenline Ventures is an impact-focused CDFI dedicated to delivering creative capital to businesses and communities that traditional lenders have historically overlooked. The organization launched its $20 million Greenline Ventures Small Business Capital Fund I (SBCF) to provide loans between $250,000 and $2 million to small businesses in economically distressed census tracts nationwide.

The SBCF was designed with a clear mission: spur job creation and retention, strengthen employee training and benefits, support minority- and women-owned enterprises, and encourage environmentally sustainable business practices. By combining New Markets Tax Credits with mission-driven capital, the fund offers patient, flexible financing on terms that are simply unavailable through conventional lending – removing barriers that have long blocked promising businesses from growing.

Since its launch, the SBCF has helped businesses access working capital, expand operations, finance equipment, and pursue acquisitions that directly benefit low-income workers and the communities they call home. To date, Greenline has financed more than 200 projects, helped create over 30,000 jobs, deployed more than $2.5 billion, and extended its reach to communities across 35 states.

Impact story: Voormi – Manufacturing opportunity in rural Colorado

Voormi is a high-performance outdoor apparel company based in Pagosa Springs, Colorado – a rural mountain town with fewer than 2,000 residents. The company designs and manufactures technical garments using merino wool sourced from Rocky Mountain ranches, integrating proprietary technology that bonds synthetic fibers directly into the wool to create fabrics that are both durable and high performing.

What sets Voormi apart is its deliberate commitment to domestic, rural manufacturing. Rather than outsourcing production, the company builds its supply chain around "micro-factories" in rural communities, transforming economically overlooked towns into local manufacturing hubs.

An SBCF loan provided Voormi with the working capital needed to expand inventory and product lines, invest in marketing, purchase equipment, and position the company for future licensing growth.

The impact extends well beyond the balance sheet: Voormi projects the creation of local jobs that include benefits packages, require no four-year degree, and offer skills training – opening high-paying "technical seamstress" roles to low-income workers in a region where opportunity has historically been scarce.

The Praxis Commitment

Praxis Investment Management supports organizations through investments in Calvert Impact, an impact-investing institution that advances community development financing around the world. This support reflects the Praxis commitment to allocate approximately 1% of each fund to benefit neighborhoods and individuals through community development investments.