#how to raise capital without borrowing

[prestigebfs]

💡 How to Fund Your Business Without a Loan: Top Alternative Funding Sources in 2025

You’ve got a business idea or growth plan—but no desire to take on traditional debt. The good news? You’re not alone. More entrepreneurs are exploring how to fund their business without a loan using alternative funding sources that provide flexibility without the burden of monthly repayments.

🔍 Why Look for Business Funding Without a Loan?

Loans come with strict requirements, interest payments, and pressure to repay—regardless of how your business is performing. Alternative funding gives you options that can be:

More flexible

Less risky

Easier to access

Better aligned with your long-term goals

Google Keyword Used: how to raise capital without borrowing

✅ 10 Best Ways to Fund Your Business Without a Loan

1. Grants for Small Businesses

Grants are essentially free money—no repayment required. Offered by governments, corporations, and nonprofits, they can be highly competitive but worth the effort.

Look into: SBA, state-level grants, private organizations, and women/minority-owned business funds

Search Term: grants for small business 2025

2. Crowdfunding Platforms

Websites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe let you raise money by promoting your product or mission to the public. It’s perfect for product-based startups and creative projects.

Offer rewards, early access, or shoutouts in exchange for contributions

Google Keyword: crowdfunding for startups

3. Equity Financing (Angel Investors or Venture Capital)

Rather than borrowing money, equity financing lets you trade ownership for capital. This is ideal for high-growth startups with potential to scale quickly.

Angel investors fund early-stage companies

Venture capitalists invest larger sums in return for equity

Keyword Phrase: equity funding for small businesses

4. Revenue-Based Financing

This model gives you capital upfront in exchange for a percentage of future sales. No interest or fixed payments—just a flexible cut of your revenue.

Ideal for eCommerce, SaaS, or subscription-based businesses

Search Intent: business funding without traditional loans

5. Partner or Co-Founder Contributions

Bring on a strategic partner or co-founder who can contribute capital in exchange for equity or a stake in the business.

Ensure a clear written agreement to avoid future conflict

6. Trade Credit from Suppliers

Instead of upfront payments, ask vendors or suppliers for net-30 or net-60 terms. This allows you to delay payment while generating income.

Google Keyword: alternative ways to finance a business

7. Business Competitions and Pitch Contests

Many cities, universities, and tech incubators offer cash prizes for top business ideas. These competitions also offer networking, PR, and investor exposure.

Examples: Shark Tank-style events, SBA pitch competitions, local chamber of commerce grants

8. Use Personal Assets Strategically

Without taking out a loan, you can self-fund through:

Savings

Retirement accounts (via ROBS – Rollover for Business Startups)

Selling unused assets

Use this with caution and proper planning.

9. Affiliate or Strategic Partnerships

Some companies are willing to fund or provide services in exchange for exclusive distribution rights, joint marketing campaigns, or a percentage of future profits.

🔟 Presales and Pre-Orders

If you're launching a product, sell it before it’s ready. This strategy provides upfront capital, validates your idea, and builds buzz—all without borrowing.

Use landing pages, email campaigns, and influencers to drive interest.

Related Search Term: non-loan ways to start a business

🧠 Bonus Tip: Combine Multiple Funding Sources

There’s no rule that says you need just one funding source. Many successful businesses use a combination of:

Grants

Crowdfunding

Revenue-based financing

Strategic partnerships

This layered approach increases your funding potential without putting all your eggs in one basket.

📉 When to Avoid Loans Completely

Your business has unpredictable cash flow

You want to retain full control (no monthly payments)

You have low or no credit history

You’re in a pre-revenue or idea-only phase

Google Keyword: business funding with no credit check

📌 Final Thoughts: You Don’t Need a Bank to Build a Business

Today, you can fund your business without a loan and still grow with speed and confidence. From grants and crowdfunding to equity and revenue-share models, 2025 offers more funding flexibility than ever before.

Think outside the bank—because the money is out there, and it’s waiting for bold business owners like you.

Need Personal Or Business Funding? Prestige Business Financial Services LLC offer over 30 Personal and Business Funding options to include good and bad credit options. Get Personal Loans up to $100K or 0% Business Lines of Credit Up To $250K. Also credit repair and passive income programs.

Book A Free Consult And We Can Help - https://prestigebusinessfinancialservices.com

Email - anthony@prestigebfs.com

🔑 SEO Summary – Keywords Covered:

How to fund your business without a loan

Alternative funding sources

Grants for small business

Crowdfunding for startups

Equity financing

Non-loan business funding

Business funding with no credit check

Alternative ways to finance a business

Need Personal Or Business Funding? Prestige Business Financial Services LLC offer over 30 Personal and Business Funding options to include good and bad credit options. Get Personal Loans up to $100K or 0% Business Lines of Credit Up To $250K. Also credit repair and passive income programs.

Book A Free Consult And We Can Help - https://prestigebusinessfinancialservices.com

Email - anthony@prestigebfs.com

Learn More!!

Prestige Business Financial Services LLC

"Your One Stop Shop To All Your Personal And Business Funding Needs"

Website- https://prestigebusinessfinancialservices.com

Email - anthony@prestigebfs.com

Phone- 1-800-622-0453

[mostlysignssomeportents]

What’s wrong with tariffs

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in CHICAGO TONIGHT (Apr 2) with PETER SAGAL, and in BLOOMINGTON on FRIDAY (Apr 4). More tour dates here.

It's not that the Republicans and the Democrats are the same…obviously. But for decades – since Clinton – the Dems have sided with neoliberal economics, just like their Republican counterparts, so the major differences between the two related to overt discrimination, to the exclusion of the economic policies that immiserated working people, with the worst effects landing on racial minorities, women, and gender minorities.

So the Dems stood against discrimination in mortgage lending – but not for the minimum wage that would have lifted the lowest paid workers out of poverty so the could afford a mortgage. They stood for abortion rights, but against Medicare For All, which meant all women had the right to an abortion, but the poorest women couldn't afford one. And of course, in a country where racial and gender discrimination were still the order of the day, the poorest and most vulnerable Americans were racialized, women, disabled, and/or queer.

The Dems' embrace of Reaganomics meant that working people of all types experienced steady decline over 40 years: stagnating wages, economic precarity, increased indebtedness, and rising prices for health care, education, and housing. When Trump figured out that he could campaign on these issues, Dems had no response. Trump's "Make America Great Again" was meant to appeal to a time when working Americans were – on average, depending on their whiteness, maleness and straightness – better housed, better paid, and better cared for.

Of course, those benefits were unevenly felt: America was slow to extend the New Deal to racial minorities, women, disabled people, and other disfavored groups. Trump's genius was to marry white supremacy to economic grievance, tricking white workers into blaming their decline on women, brown and Black people, and queers – and not on the billionaires who had grown so much richer even as workers got poorer.

But Trump couldn't have pulled this trick off without the Dem establishment's total unwillingness to confront the hollowness of their economic policies. From Pelosi's "We're capitalists and that's the way it is" to Hillary Clinton's catastrophic campaign slogan, "America is already great," the Dems' answer to workers' fear and anger was, "You are wrong, everything is fine." Imagine having had your house stolen in the foreclosure crisis after Obama decided to "foam the runways" for the banks by letting them steal their borrowers' homes and then hearing Hillary Clinton tell you "America is already great":

https://www.npr.org/2014/05/25/315276441/its-geithner-vs-warren-in-battle-of-the-bailout

Racial and gender justice matter, of course, but when they're pursued without considering economic justice, they're dead ends. The point of racial and gender justice can't merely be firing half of the 150 straight white men who control 99% of the country's capital and replacing them with 75 assorted women, queers and people of color. The worst-treated workers in America are also its most discriminated-against workers, so the best way to help women, racialized people, and other disfavored minorities is to help workers: protect unions, raise the minimum wage, defend tenants, cancel student debt, and give everyone healthcare. In the same way that a special tax on incomes over $1m will disproportionately affect straight white men, an increase in the minimum wage will disproportionately benefit women and people of color – as well as the majority of straight white men who are also getting fucked over by people with $1m salaries.

Since the Clinton years, Democrats have been trying to figure out how to defend economic policies that help rich people while still somehow being the party of social justice. This has produced a kind of grotesque, Sheryl Sandberg "Lean In" liberalism, which stood for the rights of women who were also corporate executives. It's not that these women aren't treated worse than their male counterparts – misogyny is alive and well in the boardroom. But the number of women who experience boardroom discrimination is tiny, because the number of women in the boardroom is also tiny.

The right saw and opportunity and seized it. As Naomi Klein writes in Doppelganger, they created "mirror world" versions of social justice issues, warped reflections of the leftist positions that had been abandoned by a progressive coalition led by liberals:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

In right wing, conspiratorial hands, rage at wage stagnation and lack of parental leave turned into reactionary demands for an economy in which women would be full-time homemakers while their husbands recovered their roles as breadwinners. The 1999 Battle of Seattle saw mass protests over the WTO and a free trade agenda that would let capital chase low wages and weak environmental and worker safety policies around the world. But Clinton went ahead and signed more free trade agreements, which were also pursued by Obama. So the right filled the vacuum with a mirror-world version of the Battle of Seattle's rage at billionaires, transforming the anti-free trade agenda into racism, xenophobia, and Cold War 2.0 sinophobia.

It's a cheap trick, but Dems keep falling for it. When the right declares itself to be against something, Dems can be relied upon to be in favor it, no matter how reactionary, anti-worker and authoritarian "it" is. During Trump 1.0, Dems lit James Comey votive candles and passionately defended the "intelligence community," a community that gave us CIA dirty wars and FBI COINTELPRO. Anthropologists call this "schizmogenesis" – when a group defines itself by valuing whatever its rivals deplore, and vice versa:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/

You can see schizmogenesis playing out right now, as "progressives" make Signalgate scandal into a fight over poor operational security (planning a war crime using a commercial app) and not a fight over war crimes themselves.

Signalgate will be out of the headlines in a matter of days, though – unlike tariffs, which will continue to make global headlines throughout the Trump presidency, as Trump continues his "mad king" policy of recklessly and chaotically erecting trade barriers that are certain to make supply chains more brittle and raise prices.

For the most part, the progressive discussion of Trump's tariffs takes the position that tariffs are always a terrible idea – in other words, that Clinton and Obama had the right idea when they created free trade agreements with countries around the world, and Trump is vandalizing an engine of American and global prosperity out of economic ignorance.

Economists support this analysis. But in a new, well-argued editorial in The Sling, University of Utah economists Mark Glick and Gabriel Lozada present a more nuanced version of the tariff debate, one that dodges the trap of neoliberal economics and schizmogenesis:

https://www.thesling.org/the-failed-assumptions-of-free-trade/

Rejecting tariffs is practically an article of religious faith among economists. As the NYT put it in their reporting of the 2025 meeting of the American Economic Association, "free trade is perhaps the closest thing to a universally held value among economists":

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/business/economy/economists-politics-trump.html

Every Econ 101 class has a unit on David Ricardo's "theory of comparative advantage," which argues that different countries have different capacities and specialties, and that free trade allows these advantages to be shared to the benefit of everyone, making trade a "positive expectation" game. The corollary is that tariffs make everyone worse off.

As Glick and Lozada write, the logic of this argument is unassailable, provided you accept its bedrock assumptions as true – and that's where the problem lies.

Economics has an assumptions problem. The foundational method of economic practice is to create models grounded in assumptions that are either not known, not knowable, or – incredibly – known to be wrong. As Milton Friedman famously wrote:

Truly important and significant hypotheses will be found to have "assumptions" that are wildly inaccurate descriptive representations of reality, and, in general, the more significant the theory, the more unrealistic the assumptions (in this sense)

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/17/caliper-ai/#racism-machine

It's actually worse than it seems, because economics, as a field, has been violently allergic to empirically testing its assumptions, so it doesn't even know when it is operating on the basis of one of Friedman's "wildly inaccurate descriptive representations of reality." This is what Ely Devons meant when he said, "If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’"

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/27/economism/#what-would-i-do-if-i-were-a-horse

What are the assumptions that underpin the orthodox view of free trade, then? As Glick and Lozada write, the case against all tariffs depends on five assumptions, all of which fail empirical investigation.

I. Full employment

The standard model of free trade assumes full employment – "when workers are displaced by imports, they can easily become re-employed at the same wages." This is the crux of the "social surplus" that free trade theoretically produces. This assumption doesn't hold up to empirical scrutiny. After the US dropped its tariffs, it experienced a 74% decline in manufacturing jobs – the best-paid jobs for non-college-educated men. Those workers didn't find equivalent employment – indeed, in many cases, the found no employment at all. From 2001-18, the US lost 1.132m manufacturing jobs to China, and gained 0.176m jobs manufacturing goods for export to China.

II. No externalities

The employment losses from free trade are not evenly distributed – they are geographically concentrated, and the greatest concentrations are in regions that flipped from Democratic strongholds to Trumpish heartlands over the decades since the US dropped its tariffs. The losses to these regions aren't limited to the directly affected manufacturing jobs, but all the other economic activity those jobs supported. The people who sold groceries, cars, and furniture to factory workers also lost their jobs. When young people abandoned the cratering regional economy, that devastated education and other services catering to families.

III. Comparative advantage leads to long-term growth and development

The theory of comparative advantage says that the world is better off when each country gets to do the thing it's best at. What are poor countries best at? Being poor: having a cheap labor force and weak rule of law to protect workers' health and the environment.

Without exception, the poor countries that grew richer did so in the presence of tariffs: "free trade is not a development strategy, it is a static policy that can impede development":

https://2024.sci-hub.se/1864/6d3f610c51446f057a4054080c70ab0e/chang2003.pdf#navpanes=0&view=FitH

IV. Floating currencies keep trade balanced

In theory, adjustments in the currency markets will rebalance imports and exports – countries whose currency declines will have to switch to domestic production, because goods from abroad will become costly. That's not what happened. Instead, foreigners have invested the US dollars they got from selling things to Americans into US securities and real estate, "which does not increase US productivity because it generates no new capital formation (at least directly)."

V. The US provides compensation for trade-related job-losses

While other countries with robust social safety nets offered retraining, income support, and other programs to cushion the blow of trade-related job-losses, the US – with the worst social safety net in the rich world – offered "woefully inadequate" supports to dislocated workers:

https://www.piie.com/bookstore/job-loss-imports-measuring-costs

Now, just because some tariffs are beneficial, it doesn't follow that all tariffs are beneficial. When the "Asian Tiger" countries were undergoing rapid industrialization and lifting billions of people out of poverty, they did so with tariffs – but also with extensive industrial policy and direct investment in critical state industries (Biden was the first president in generations to pursue industrial policy, albeit a modest and small one, which Trump nevertheless dismantled).

Trump is doing mirror-world tariffs: tariffs without industrial policy, tariffs without social safety nets, tariffs without retraining, tariffs without any strategic underpinning. These tariffs will crash the US economy and will create calamitous effects around the world:

https://archive.is/JvRF9

But the fact that Trump's tariffs are terrible doesn't mean tariffs themselves are always and forever bad. Resist the schizmogenic urge to say, "Trump likes tariffs, so I hate them." Not all tariffs are created equal, and tariffs can be a useful tool that benefits working people.

And also: the fact that tariffs can be useful doesn't imply that only tariffs are useful. The digital age – in which US-based multinational firms rely on digital technology to loot the economies of America's trading partners – offers countries facing US tariffs a powerful retaliatory tactic that has never before been seen on this planet. America's (former) trading partners can retaliate against US tariffs by abolishing the legal measures they have instituted to protect the products of US companies from reverse-engineering and modification. Countries facing US tariffs can welcome US imports – of printers, Teslas, iPhones, games consoles, insulin pumps, ventilators and tractors – but then legalize jailbreaking these devices:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/08/turnabout/#is-fair-play

That would deprive the largest US companies of their recurring revenue streams – from service, consumables, software, payment processing, etc – creating huge savings for consumers all over the world, and huge profits for the non-US companies that make these jailbreaking tools, and the small businesses that supply them. For example, your country could become the world's leading exporter of iPhone jailbreaking tools, and the world's powerhouse for alternative iPhone stores that charge 1-2% commissions on payments, as opposed to the 30% Apple takes out of every dollar (euro, pound, peso) that iPhone owners spend within their apps. This would tempt in all the biggest app companies in the world – from Patreon to Tinder, Fornite to the New York Times – who could offer their products at a discount and still make more money than they make on Apple's App Store.

But that's just one market this enables: the actual business of iPhone jailbreaking would likely work much like the market for phone unlocking more broadly: thousands of small and medium-sized businesses like dry-cleaners and convenience stores where you can bring your phone and pay a few dollars to have it unlocked and set up with a new app store where all the apps are the same – but everything is 20% cheaper.

This is a development opportunity without parallel. US tech monopolists worked with the US trade representative to rig markets around the world, allowing tech giants to siphon away vast fortunes from America's trading partners. These rich deposits of wealth are just sitting there, begging for some country to sink a shaft into them and pump them dry, secure in the knowledge that Trump has ejected from the global system of free trade and they have nothing to lose.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/02/me-or-your-lying-eyes/#spherical-cows-on-frictionless-surfaces

[whokilledjared]

Your idol is your ceiling.

Imagine an Undergrad whose only dream is to intern at Google.

Undergrad grinds his days on LeetCode, obsessing to himself, “Oh my god. I just have to work at Google. I'm so determined. Don't know how, but I'll make it."

I argue this is the opposite kind of candidate you’d expect to land a job at Google. 

I argue this because Google recruitment is an efficient labor market—or, simply put, a competition.

Google, on the receiving end of this efficient labor market, incentivizes recruiters  to snag the best candidates money can buy, and genius talent is in no short supply. The real challenge for a recruiter, then, is to attract those candidates from the front of the pack—the guys who treat Google as if it’s their backup plan.

An efficient labor market, by definition, is one which pairs the reservation utility of high-value candidates with the firm-side willingness-to-pay boundaries. Meanwhile, our oblivious, Google-crazed Undergrad puzzles over who those "cracked" engineers were, how they secured their offers, and why they acted like it was no big deal. What he misses entirely is that their indifference wasn't performative—it legitimately reflected their outside options. They had their sights set higher.

I imagine our chosen candidates have a couple of buddies at Jane Street who'll go on to make 7-figure bonuses this quarter. Or perhaps they’re thinking, “Damn. If only I could get into Y Combinator, where I’d raise venture capital for my $1,000,000 idea.” 

“Alas,” they might say, “I guess I’ll settle for Google.”

A great friend once told me “Your idol is your ceiling.” She argued that the champions we idolize never reached their success by putting their predecessors on pedestals.

As she and I see it, if you’re chasing your tail in the shadows of your idol’s “impossible” success, all you’ll do is spin in circles. But if you ruffle your feathers, and you pretend like those shadow-casters are your equals, then you might just see the truth they saw: success doesn’t come by following someone else, it comes by walking out into the light. After all, your idols did it—they’re casting shadows.

I’m not advising you to “fake it till you make it”, rather, I’m imploring you to ignore the credentials of your idols. At one point in time, each of them began without credentials themselves. My advice is simple:

Credibility is borrowed until it isn’t—you can’t cast shade while you’re standing in someone else’s shadow.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Footnotes 1 - 100

[1] Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Berkeley: Crossing Press, 1984), 4.

[2] Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution of Everyday Life, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (Seattle: Rebel Press, 2001), 26.

[3] Michel Foucault, “Preface,” in Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), xi–xiv.

[4] The concept of the “public secret” originated with situationism, and we borrow it from the Institute of Precarious Consciousness, in their suggestion that anxiety is a public secret of contemporary capitalism. See Institute for Precarious Consciousness, “Anxiety, Affective Struggle, and Precarity Consciousness-Raising,” Interface 6/2 (2014), 271–300.

[5] Alfredo M. Bonanno, Armed Joy (London: Elephant Editions, 1998), https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alfredo-m-bonanno-armed-joy.

[6] See, for instance: John Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today, 2nd Revised Edition (London: Pluto Press, 2005), 19–42; The Invisible Committee, To Our Friends 216–219.

[7] The concept of sad militancy comes to us from Michel Foucault and Colectivo Situaciones. See Foucault, “Preface”; Colectivo Situaciones, “Something More on Research Militancy: Footnotes on Procedures and (In)Decisions,” in Constituent Imagination, ed. Erika Biddle and Stevphen Shukaitis (Oakland: AK Press, 2007), 73–93.

[8] Brian Massumi, “Translator’s Foreword: Pleasures of Philosophy,” in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987), ix–xv.

[9] Zainab Amadahy, “Protest Culture: How’s It Working for Us?,” Rabble.ca, July 20, 2010, http://rabble.ca/news/2010/07/protest-culture-how%E2%80%99s-it-working-us.

[10] This phrase is often attributed to Frederic Jameson who wrote “Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism.” See Frederic Jameson, “Future City,” New Left Review 21 (2003), 77.

[11] Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), 38.

[12] Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (Trumansburg: Crossing Press, 1984), 53.

[13] “The Wild Beyond: With and for the Undercommons,” in The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney (Wivenhoe: Minor Compositions, 2013), 10. http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/undercommons-web.pdf.

[14] Gilles Deleuze and Claire Parnet, Dialogues II, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 61.

[15] Dean Spade, “On Normal Life,” interview by Natalie Oswin, Society and Space (January 2014), http://societyandspace.org/2014/01/15/on-6/.

[16] “Joy—Definition of Joy in English,” Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/joy.

[17] Rebecca Solnit, “We Could Be Heroes,” EMMA Talks, Vancouver, February 17, 2016. http://emmatalks.org/session/rebecca-solnit/.

[18] Sara Ahmed, The Promise of Happiness (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010), 192.

[19] Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, “Indict the System: Indigenous & Black Connected Resistance,” LeanneSimpson.ca, http://leannesimpson.ca/indict-the-system-indigenous-black-connected-resistance/ (accessed November 28, 2014).

[20] Our interpretation of Spinoza’s concept of joy comes from many sources, but one of the most helpful is Mary Zournazi’s interview with the affect theorist Brian Massumi, in which he distinguishes joy from happiness. See Mary Zournazi, “Navigating Movements: A Conversation with Brian Massumi,” in Hope: New Philosophies for Change, by Mary Zournazi (New York: Routledge, 2002), 241–242.

[21] Gustavo Esteva, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, email, April 26, 2014.

[22] Silvia Federici, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, telephone, January 18, 2016.

[23] Lorde, Sister Outsider, 57.

[24] adrienne maree brown, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, November 11, 2015.

[25] This reading of Deleuze is indebted to conversations with Kim Smith and the reading she has developed of Susan Ruddick. See Susan Ruddick, “The Politics of Affect: Spinoza in the Work of Negri and Deleuze,” Theory, Culture & Society 27/4 (2010), 21–45.

[26] Bædan, “The Anti-Social Turn,” Bædan 1: Journal of Queer Nihilism (August 2012), 186.

[27] This notion of wisdom is drawn from Claire Carlisle’s helpful explanation of Spinozan wisdom as something akin to “emotional intelligence.” See Claire Carlisle, “Spinoza, Part 7: On the Ethics of the Self,” The Guardian, March 21, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/mar/21/spinoza-ethics-of-the-self.

[28] Marina Sitrin, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, February 4, 2016.

[29] “Militant,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Militant&oldid=754366474 (accessed December 12, 2016).

[30] Melanie Matining, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, in person, May 6, 2014.

[31] Jackie Wang, “Against Innocence: Race, Gender and the Politics of Safety,” LIES Journal 1 (2012), 13.

[32] Idem, 10.

[33] Glen Coulthard, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, in person, March 16, 2016.

[34] Ibid.

[35] Kiera L. Ladner and Leanne Simpson, eds., This Is an Honour Song: Twenty Years since the Blockades (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring, 2010), 1.

[36] Deborah B. Gould, Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP’s Fight against AIDS (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 178.

[37] Sebastián Touza, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, February 2, 2016.

[38] Sebastián Touza, “Antipedagogies for Liberation Politics, Consensual Democracy and Post-Intellectual Interventions” (PhD dissertation, Simon Fraser University, 2008), 136–7. https://www.academia.edu/544417/Antipedagogies_for_liberation_politics_consensual_democracy_and_post-intellectual_interventions.

[39] For a fuller discussion of these dynamics, see Marina Sitrin, Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina (London: Zed Books, 2012).

[40] Margaret Killjoy, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, email, March 8, 2014.

[41] Anonymous, “Robot Seals as Counter-Insurgency: Friendship and Power from Aristotle to Tiqqun,” Human Strike, https://humanstrike.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/robot-seals-as-counter-insurgency-friendship-and-power-from-aristotle-to-tiqqun/ (accessed August 27, 2013).

[42] brown, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[43] The turn of phrase “making kin” comes to us from the feminist philosopher Donna Haraway. See Donna Haraway, “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin,” Environmental Humanities 6/1 (2015), 161.

[44] Idem, 163.

[45] “Freedom—Definition of Freedom in English,” Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/freedom.

[46] Douglas Harper, “Free (Adj.),” Online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=free (accessed November 30, 2016).

[47] Ibid.

[48] Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, eds., Word Histories and Mysteries: From Abracadabra to Zeus (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), 103.

[49] Invisible Committee, To Our Friends, trans. Robert Hurley (South Pasadena: Semiotext(e), 2015), 127.

[50] Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 2008), Chapter XIII, Of the Natural Condition of Mankind.

[51] This short account of the Age of Reason is drawn primarily from Silvia Federici. See Federici, Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (New York: Autonomedia, 2004), 133–62.

[52] Some books we have found helpful include Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010); Gilles Deleuze, Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza, trans. Martin Joughin (New York: Zone Books, 1992); Moira Gatens, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Benedict Spinoza (University Park: Penn State University Press, 2009); Antonio Negri, The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza’s Metaphysics and Politics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991); Tiqqun, Introduction to Civil War, trans. Alexander R. Galloway and Jason E. Smith (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2010).

[53] Our reading of Spinoza is drawn primarily from Deleuze and those he has influenced. For helpful introductions to this lineage, see Gilles Deleuze, “Lecture on Spinoza’s Concept of Affect” (Lecture, Cours Vincennes, Paris, 1978), https://www.gold.ac.uk/media/deleuze_spinoza_affect.pdf; Michael Hardt, “The Power to Be Affected,” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 28/3 (September 1, 2015), 215–22; Brian Massumi, Politics of Affect (Cambridge: Polity, 2015).

[54] “Ethics—Definition of Ethics in English,” Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ethics.

[55] Deleuze, “Lecture on Spinoza’s Concept of Affect.”

[56] This anecdote is based on conversations and exchanges with Kim Smith.

[57] Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2009), 32.

[58] Haraway, “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene.”

[59] Ivan Illich to Madhu Suri Prakash, “Friendship,” n.d.

[60] This is drawn from Anonymous, “Robot Seals as Counter-Insurgency.”

[61] Coulthard, Interview with Glen Coulthard.

[62] See for instance Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour (London: Zed Books, 2014); Andrea Smith, “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Colour Organizing,” in The Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology, INCITE! Women of Colour Against Violence, eds., (Oakland: South End Press, 2006), 66–73; Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2010); Federici, Caliban and the Witch.

[63] Silvia Federici, “Preoccupying: Silvia Federici,” interview by Occupied Times, October 25, 2014, http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=13482.

[64] Dean Spade, “For Lovers and Fighters,” in We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists, ed. Melody Berger (Emeryville: Seal Press, 2006), 28–39, http://www.makezine.enoughenough.org/newpoly2.html.

[65] bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (New York: Routledge, 2006), 249.

[66] Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, “I Am Not a Nation-State,” Indigenous Nationhood Movement, November 6, 2013, http://nationsrising.org/i-am-not-a-nation-state/.

[67] Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, November 2, 2015.

[68] Raúl Zibechi, Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements, trans. Ramor Ryan (Oakland: AK Press, 2012), 39.

[69] Idem, 41.

[70] Silvia Federici, “Permanent Reproductive Crisis: An Interview with Silvia Federici,” interview by Marina Vishmidt, July 3, 2013, http://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/permanent-reproductive-crisis-interview-silvia-federici.

[71] Mia Mingus, “On Collaboration: Starting With Each Other,” Leaving Evidence, August 3, 2012, https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/on-collaboration-starting-with-each-other/.

[72] Gustav Landauer, Revolution and Other Writings: A Political Reader, ed. Gabriel Kuhn (Oakland: PM Press, 2010), 214.

[73] Idem, 90.

[74] Idem, 101.

[75] Idem, 91.

[76] scott crow, Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy, and the Common Ground Collective, 2nd ed. (Oakland: PM Press, 2014), 199.

[77] Richard J. F. Day, Gramsci Is Dead: Anarchist Currents in the Newest Social Movements (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2005), 127.

[78] Richard J. F. Day, “From Hegemony to Affinity,” Cultural Studies 18/5 (2004), 716–48.

[79] Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, Ya Basta!: Ten Years of the Zapatista Uprising, ed. Ziga Vodovnik, (Oakland: AK Press, 2004), 77.

[80] Gloria Anzaldúa, “(Un)natural Bridges, (Un)safe Spaces,” in This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation, Gloria Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating, eds. (New York: Routledge, 2002), 3.

[81] Zainab Amadahy, “Community, ‘Relationship Framework’ and Implications for Activism,” Rabble.ca, July 13, 2010, http://rabble.ca/news/2010/07/community-%E2%80%98relationship-framework%E2%80%99-and-implications-activism.

[82] Coulthard, Interview by.

[83] Glen Sean Coulthard, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition (Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2014), 31.

[84] Coulthard, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[85] Leanne Simpson, Dancing On Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence, and a New Emergence (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Press, 2011), 32.

[86] Luam Kidane and Jarrett Martineau, “Building Connections across Decolonization Struggles,” ROAR, October 29, 2013, https://roarmag.org/essays/african-indigenous-struggle-decolonization/.

[87] Harsha Walia, “Decolonizing Together: Moving beyond a Politics of Solidarity toward a Practice of Decolonization,” Briarpatch, January 1, 2012, https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/decolonizing-together.

[88] Coulthard, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[89] Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None, trans. Thomas Wayne (New York: Algora Publishing, 2003), 42.

[90] Coulthard, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[91] Mingus, “On Collaboration.”

[92] Simpson, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[93] Ursula LeGuin, “Ursula K Le Guin’s Speech at National Book Awards: ‘Books Aren’t Just Commodities,’” The Guardian, November 20, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/20/ursula-k-le-guin-national-book-awards-speech.

[94] scott crow, Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy, and the Common Ground Collective, 2nd ed. (Oakland: PM Press, 2014), 173.

[95] adrienne maree brown, “That Would Be Enough,” adriennemareebrown.net, September 6, 2016, http://adriennemareebrown.net/2016/09/06/that-would-be-enough/.

[96] VOID Network, “VOID Network on the December 2008 Insurrection in Greece,” B.A.S.T.A.R.D. Conference, University of California, Berkeley, March 14, 2010, https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/03/18/18641710.php.

[97] Many works within this current remain untranslated into English; however, there are a few English sources. In particular, we learned a lot from Sebastian Touza’s PhD dissertation and our interview with him. See Colectivo Situaciones, 19&20: Notes for a New Social Protagonism, trans. Nate Holdren and Sebastian Touza (New York: Minor Compositions, 2012); Deleuze, “Lecture on Spinoza’s Concept of Affect”; Marta Malo de Molina, “Common Notions, Part 1: Workers-Inquiry, Co-Research, Consciousness-Raising,” European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies, April 2004, http://eipcp.net/transversal/0406/malo/en; Marta Malo de Molina:, “Common Notions, Part 2: Institutional Analysis, Participatory Action-Research, Militant Research,” European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies, April 2004, http://eipcp.net/transversal/0707/malo/en; Touza, “Antipedagogies for Liberation Politics, Consensual Democracy and Post-Intellectual Interventions”; Touza, Interview with Sebastián Touza.

[98] Touza, “Antipedagogies for Liberation Politics, Consensual Democracy and Post-Intellectual Interventions,” 210.

[99] Nora Samaran, “On Gaslighting,” Dating Tips for the Feminist Man, June 28, 2016, https://norasamaran.com/2016/06/28/on-gaslighting/.

[100] Matt Hern, “The Promise of Deschooling,” Social Anarchism 25 (1998), http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display_printable/130.

[elsa16744]

What Private Equity Firms Are and How They Operate 

Private equity firms can raise money from institutional investors like pension funds and insurance companies. Corporations utilize private equity services that guide them in fundraising. Private equity firms hold more than 4 trillion USD in assets. Also, return on investment (ROI) makes this financial instrument remarkably attractive to investors. This post will elaborate on how private equity firms work. 

What is a Private Equity Firm? 

Private equity (PE) means the company is not publicly held. It allows companies to increase their financial capacity by offering investors partial ownership. Private equity services also help publicly listed companies become private by completely replacing previous owners. 

Professional teams hired by private equity firms work on market trend analytics by outsourcing investment research and creating appropriate reports. An investment research report depicts the advantages and risks associated with each portfolio management decision. 

Investing in private equity is financially riskier than traditional investment vehicles. Therefore, private equity funds use tried and tested investment strategies to redistribute risks. An experienced fund manager will use investors’ capital for private equity opportunities with an excellent ROI. 

How Does Private Equity Work? 

Private equity services can charge 2% of assets as management fees. Otherwise, they require 20% of gross profits if company ownership undergoes a thorough structural change. 

Passive investors are known as limited partners (LPs) who do not affect the company’s decisions and policies. However, general partners (GPs) can determine managerial and executive strategies, affecting how the company operates. 

Investment research outsourcing assists private equity firms in networking with more investors and optimizing their strategies for different industries. Besides, each investor can contribute to financial improvements by mentoring the company owners. 

Therefore, private equity benefits the company by enriching its knowledge base with the recommendations made by veteran investors. 

Types of Private Equity Investment Strategies 

1| Venture Capital 

Startups require financial assistance to launch their products and services or expand their production capabilities. Venture capital (VC) helps them secure capital resources and business management intelligence. After all, venture capitalists often have a personal connection with the startup ideas they support. 

Venture capitalists use private equity services to evaluate investment decisions and a new company’s growth potential as part of their risk mitigation efforts. They share their knowledge with inexperienced young leaders at startups to increase efficiency and build stronger teams. 

VC financing involves investing up to 10 million USD in different startups. So, successful investments in well-performing startups will balance the risks originating from the less stable business models of other firms. 

2| Leveraged Buyouts 

LBO means leveraged buyout, and private equity services utilize borrowed capital to acquire company ownership through this investment strategy. Additionally, a company’s assets are collateral for the respective debt. 

This strategy helps private equity funds leverage their investments without committing financial capital directly. While the borrowed money attracts interest, the ROI of highly efficient companies can easily offset the repayment outflows. Many private equity firms have acquired new companies through multiple rounds of leveraged buyouts. 

PE professionals often employ the LBO strategy when privatizing a public enterprise. Privatization results in decreased regulatory obligations and enhanced operational freedoms. Later, new ownership will implement policies to make the public enterprise more efficient and marketable. 

You may also notice how LBO-based corporate acquisitions divide the company into segments with a narrower industry focus. Doing so makes selling the company and settling the debt obligations more flexible. 

Conclusion 

Unlisted companies explore unique outsourcing services to identify fundraising opportunities via extensive investment research. Private equity is a practical financial instrument that helps businesses generate the capital necessary for business expansion. 

Simultaneously, general partners acquire decision-making authority and empower startups with business development insights. Therefore, private equity supports the companies on two frontiers: financial assistance and managerial mentorship. 

A leader in investment research outsourcing, SG Analytics helps investors and business owners successfully deploy data-driven fundraising activities. Contact us today to obtain analytical support for deal sourcing, target screening, and excellent business modeling. 

[karizard-ao3]

I'm very excited about a book I just ordered

I went to see Asteroid City today so, to my delight and despair, I was treated to some weird/indie film previews (my despair is because a lot of them come out after my kid gets home from his dad's and he probably wouldn't sit through them if we saw them in the theater). One that I was interested but probably won't be able to see in theaters was called Landscape with Invisible Hand, which was based on a book.

"Okay, no problem," I thought. "I'll just read it."

It was not on the Libby app, for either library I'm associated with. Alas.

But! I discovered who the author was - a certain MT Anderson who wrote a book that absolutely shaped my teenage perception of consumerism and technology.

The book was called Feed. I used to have my mom drop me off at Barnes and Noble (possibly while she was doing errands? Or possibly because no one, myself included, wanted me around the house). I would pick a likely looking book from the shelves, then go curl up in a chair and read it.

(Looking back, having become a book store employee in later years, I wonder if the staff recognized me. I never talked to any of them, except to ask to use the phone once or twice at closing time when my mother had not yet arrived for me, but if I had been working there I would certainly have clocked the little weirdo reading our wares without ever buying anything - not even a coffee or tea. I wouldn't have cared, but I would have noticed. I assumed at the time that I was incognito.)

One night, I found a book called Feed, which I found so fascinating and illuminating that I ended up buying the hardcover copy for $16.99 USD (price confirmed because I still own the book). I most likely had to borrow the money.

It's been several years since I last read it, so forgive any inaccuracies. It is set in a not too distant future when everyone is equipped with a microchip that allows them to access social media (called the Feed) from inside their heads. They can send each other messages without ever lifting a finger and, in fact, most people have lost the ability to write. Everything is disposable and the world is slipping into decay. The main character meets a girl who did not grow up as he did, being raised by parents who resisted getting the Feed and did not allow her to have it until she was 16. I don't want to give any spoilers from there, but I was blown away by this book as a kid. It felt like such a dark, truthful piece of social commentary and it very much impacted how I looked at things like smartphones and social media and capitalism.

Thus, I am so thrilled to read another book by this author and am excited to find out what kind of dark, dystopian future he will be giving to me this time. I've also decided it's about time I reread Feed as an adult, so I can get my expectations of Landscape With Invisible Hands better aligned. Who knows? Maybe Feed actually sucks?

(P.S. Please don't confuse Feed by MT Anderson with The Feed by Nick Clark Windo, because the latter started out with a really strong first chapter and then spiraled from there, and the former was, by my recollection, great throughout.)

ANYWAY, I'm just really excited and if anyone has input on any of these books (without giving spoilers), PLEASE GIVE IT.

[michele-far]

Blog Post 6

Wow I can’t believe it is the end of the quarter! I feel like this quarter flew by. For my final blog post I want to discuss “Walking Awake” by N.K. Jemisin. When I finished Walking Awake by N.K. Jemisin, I didn’t know whether to cry or scream. Maybe both. What hit me hardest wasn’t just the horror of the parasitic Masters or the sheer violence of the system they uphold, it was the slow, quiet burn of complicity, of waking up to your own role in something monstrous. At the heart of the story is Sadie, a caregiver in a world where humanity is bred and raised like livestock, their bodies harvested for alien parasites who rule as Masters. Her job is to nurture children who will eventually be taken, and she does it well. She tells herself she has no choice. She tells herself she is being kind. But when Enri, a boy she raised, is selected for transfer, something breaks. The story doesn’t explode right away. It seeps. The rage, the guilt, the knowledge, all of it accumulates like pressure beneath a dam. There’s a moment that haunted me: when a Master, in a borrowed human body, says casually, “I never let them get past fifty… You’ll understand when you get there.” The violence of that sentence is disguised as familiarity, but it’s chilling. That’s when I realized Jemisin was writing not just about sci-fi parasites but about systems that consume people, bodies, lives, futures, with smiling efficiency. Slavery, colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy. It’s all there. Sadie’s dreams act as a metaphor for awakening. Through them, she reconnects with Enri, his consciousness still alive somewhere, preserved in the dark, and begins to understand the true history that’s been denied to her. And it’s devastating. Jemisin forces us to ask: What does it take to not just see the truth but to act on it? For Sadie, it takes the risk of total obliteration. Not just her death, but the loss of her sense of self. Her final act, locking herself in the transfer room, denying the Master a new host, and offering herself as the weapon of vengeance and liberation, isn’t just heroic. It’s tragic. She doesn’t know if it will work. She only knows she can’t be complicit anymore. And in a system built on silence, compliance, and forgetfulness, that choice, to know and to refuse, is revolutionary. Jemisin’s story isn't hopeful in a traditional sense. It's searing. It strips away the fantasy that we can escape oppression without cost. But Walking Awake does offer something else: the truth that resistance starts in the mind, in dangerous thoughts, and in the courage to act on them, no matter how late. For me, Walking Awake is a reminder that the systems we live in are only as strong as our willingness to maintain them, and as fragile as our decision to say, “No more.”

[fasalkranti]

Plow Together Rise Together The Co-op Spirit

Farming is more than a livelihood it's a way of life. But for many small and medium-scale farmers, challenges like rising costs, unpredictable markets, and limited access to technology often make this life uncertain. That’s where agricultural cooperatives come in. They offer a proven way for farmers to join hands, share resources, and grow stronger together. In this article, we explore how cooperatives work, why they matter, and how they are transforming lives from the soil up.

Chapter 1: What is a Cooperative?

A cooperative is not just a business it's a partnership among farmers. In a co-op, each member owns a share and has a voice. Decisions are made together, and profits are shared fairly. This model ensures that no farmer is left behind, and everyone moves forward as one.

Types of Agricultural Cooperatives:

Marketing Cooperatives: Help sell produce at better prices.

Supply Cooperatives: Provide affordable seeds, fertilizers, and tools.

Credit Cooperatives: Offer loans at low interest.

Processing Cooperatives: Add value through storage, packaging, or manufacturing.

Co-ops are built on the values of democracy, self-help, equality, and solidarity the very values farmers hold dear.

Chapter 2: Why Farmers Need Cooperatives

Fair Prices for Produce: On their own, farmers often have to accept low prices from middlemen. In a co-op, they negotiate better prices as a group.

Lower Costs of Inputs: Bulk buying of seeds, agrochemicals, and tools through a co-op reduces costs significantly.

Access to Credit and Insurance: Many co-ops have tie-ups with banks and microfinance institutions. This makes credit more accessible and affordable.

Training and Innovation: Co-ops often organize workshops on sustainable farming, greenhouse techniques, crop rotation, and soil testing.

Government Schemes and Subsidies: Co-ops make it easier to avail subsidies, grants, and schemes meant for farmers.

Chapter 3: Real Farmers, Real Stories

Let’s look at how cooperatives have changed the lives of real farmers:

Ramu from Maharashtra struggled to get fair rates for his onions. After joining a co-op, his group set up a grading unit and began selling directly to cities. His income doubled.

Sunita Devi in Bihar used to borrow at high interest from local moneylenders. Her cooperative helped her get a low-interest loan and taught her how to manage a group vermicompost unit. Today, she trains other women farmers.

Gurdeep Singh in Punjab joined a dairy cooperative. With better veterinary support and a collective chilling plant, his milk yields improved and he started earning regularly.

These stories prove that when farmers plow together, they truly rise together.

Chapter 4: Challenges Faced by Cooperatives

While co-ops offer many benefits, they also face challenges:

Lack of Awareness: Many farmers still don’t know how co-ops work or how to join one.

Poor Management: Some cooperatives fail due to weak leadership or lack of training.

Limited Infrastructure: Without storage, transport, or processing units, co-ops can’t reach their full potential.

Political Interference: In some cases, politics hampers the smooth functioning of cooperatives.

But these problems can be solved with better training, government support, and farmerparticipation.

Chapter 5: How to Start or Join a Cooperative

Form a Group: Gather a group of like-minded farmers.

Register Legally: Follow your state’s cooperative registration process.

Create a Plan: Decide your goals marketing, input supply, processing, etc.

Raise Capital: Pool small amounts or apply for initial grants.

Elect Leaders: Choose a committee with honest and capable members.

Keep Records: Maintain transparency in accounts and meetings.

Or, if a co-op already exists in your area, reach out and become a member. Attend meetings, participate in decisions, and make your voice count.

Chapter 6: Government Support for Cooperatives

Governments at both the state and central level support cooperatives through:

NABARD loans and schemes

Subsidies on cold storage and transport

Training programs and workshops

Digital platforms for marketing and procurement

With schemes like the E-NAM portal, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and AgriInfrastructure Fund, the time has never been better to join or form a co-op.

Chapter 7: The Role of Youth and Women

The future of cooperatives lies in the hands of young farmers and women.

Youth bring energy, education, and technology.

Women add strength, discipline, and community spirit.

Cooperatives must train and involve the next generation to stay strong. Digital literacy, social media marketing, organic farming, and precision agriculture are all areas where youth can shine within co-ops.

Chapter 8: Green and Smart Co-ops

Many cooperatives today are adopting green and smart farming techniques:

Greenhouse farming

Drip irrigation

Solar-powered equipment

Organic inputs

App-based market linkages

These not only increase profits but also protect the planet. Co-ops can play a major role in climate-resilient agriculture.

Conclusion

To every farmer reading this your voice matters, your harvest matters, and your future matters. Alone, challenges may seem big. But together, with the spirit of agricultural cooperative , we can overcome anything.

Plow together. Rise together. Whether it's better prices, modern techniques, or shared success cooperatives are the wayforward. Let’s not just grow crops let’s grow unity, prosperity, and strength.

[cgtmse]

How to Utilize a CGTMSE Loan: A Step-by-Step Guide

Starting or expanding a business in India typically involves substantial funding, which is a challenge to MSMEs. and start-ups, especially where they lack assets to employ as collateral. The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) offers relief through its CGTMSE scheme, under which entrepreneurs can take collateral-free loans to propel their business growth. Here is this exhaustive guide that will guide you through the procedure for getting a CGTMSE loan, eligibility, benefits, and application, so that you can access this robust government scheme for MSMEs for pursuing your entrepreneurial dreams.

What is the CGTMSE Scheme?

CGTMSE scheme, or the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises, is a flagship programme launched in 2000 by the Government of India jointly with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The primary objective of this credit guarantee programme is to facilitate business lending by providing MSME loan guarantees to lending institutions and encouraging them to extend collateral-free loans in India to micro and small businesses (MSEs).

Under the CGTMSE scheme, eligible businesses can avail loans up to ₹5 crore without collateral security or third-party guarantee. In the event of default, the scheme gives 75-85% guarantee of the loan, reducing lenders' risk and making finance accessible for MSMEs and startups. This has been revolutionary in small business loans in India, and first-time entrepreneurs and companies have been able to innovate and grow.

Benefits of the CGTMSE Loan

The CGTMSE loan has several advantages that make it attractive for MSME loans for startup enterprises and startup business loans. It provides collateral-free loans, meaning no collateral security is necessary, a significant roadblock for small businesses with limited assets. This is ideal for MSMEs and startups that wish to expand without mortgaging property or other assets. MSME credit guarantee scheme covers 75-85% of the loan amount for loans of up to ₹50 lakh, and a maximum of 50% for retail trade or loans of over ₹50 lakh and up to ₹5 crore. For women entrepreneurs and businesses in the Northeast Region (NER), the coverage can be raised to 80-90%. With a higher loan limit of ₹5 crore (from ₹2 crore in April 2023), MSMEs can avail large working capital funds, machinery acquisition, business expansion, or technology upgradation. The scheme charges minimal CGTMSE fees, ranging from an annual guarantee fee of 0.37% to 1.35% of the loan amount, depending on the loan size and borrower category. Small-ticket financing up to ₹10 lakh has a nominal fee, being economical. MSMEs engaged in manufacturing, services, and retail trade (50% coverage) are covered under the CGTMSE scheme except for agriculture, self-help groups, and educational and training institutions. As it reduces lenders' risk, the guarantee scheme encourages entrepreneurship, enabling startup financing in India and funding MSME support programs by the Indian government.

Eligibility for CGTMSE Loans

To take advantage of a CGTMSE loan, businesses need to satisfy specific eligibility criteria as specified under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006. Those who can borrow such loans include new and existing micro and small enterprises (MSEs) engaged in manufacturing, services, or retail trade. Startups which have been identified by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) are also eligible under the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS) with a maximum limit of ₹20 crore. Business entities that may be eligible are proprietary companies, partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs), private companies, or public companies. Farms, self-help groups (SHGs), schools, and training institutions are not eligible. They must be registered as MSMEs under the Udyam Portal with a valid Udyam registration number. The borrowers must have an Income Tax Permanent Account Number (IT-PAN) except in case of loans up to ₹5 lakh. The loans may be taken for working capital, growth of the business, acquisition of machinery, or technology upgradation but not for personal expenditure.

The RTI full form (Right to Information) has no relationship with the CGTMSE scheme but can be applied in the case of asking for transparency on the process of the scheme or approvals under the RTI Act, 2005.

CGTMSE Loan Process: How to Apply for CGTMSE

Applying for a CGTMSE loan is an easy but comprehensive procedure. Go through the following steps to avail CGTMSE for startups or MSMEs. First, prepare a solid business plan outlining the project's financial viability, objectives, and funding requirements. This is instrumental in convincing lenders of your business potential. Secondly, visit one of the participating banks, non-banking financial company (NBFC), or financial institution registered with CGTMSE. Key Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) include State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank. A complete list may be accessed on the CGTMSE website (www.cgtmse.in). Attach loan application with required documents like duly filled CGTMSE loan application form, recent passport size photographs, Udyam registration certificate, GST registration certificate (if any), business incorporation or company registration certificate, detailed business project report, financial statements for the last 2-3 years (profit and loss, balance sheet) in case of an existing business, bank statements for the last six months, KYC documents (PAN card, Aadhaar card, passport, or driving license), proof of address (utility bills, rental agreement, or passport), and letter requesting CGTMSE loan cover. The lender will further analyze the loan application by evaluating the business viability, creditworthiness, and CGTMSE guideline adherence. On sanctioning the loan, MLI applies for guarantee cover through the use of the CGTMSE login portal. The borrower must pay the CGTMSE fee (guarantee and service fee) to initiate coverage. The guarantee then begins with payment by crediting the fee into CGTMSE's account. After approval by CGTMSE, the MLI discharges the loan to the account of the borrower. In case of term loans, guarantee is for the term; for working capital, it is for five years or a certain period. Pay the annual CGTMSE charges (if any) and follow the repayment schedule of the lender. In default, MLI can trigger the guarantee after 18 months lock-in period, if the account is NPA.

CGTMSE Fee and Fee Structure

CGTMSE fee is a combination of an annual guarantee fee (AGF) and a service fee paid in advance in the initial year and subsequently every year. The fee structure is based on the loan amount and classification of the borrower. For up to ₹5 lakh loans, the charge is 0.37% per annum for micro-enterprises (85% coverage). Up to ₹10 lakh loans incur a nominal charge, generally 0.75% per annum. For ₹10 lakh to ₹5 crore loans, the charge is 1.35% per annum (75-85% coverage, 50% for retail trade). Concessional rates and up to 90% coverage are provided for women entrepreneurs and Northeast Region (NER) units. The fee can be waived off for Zero Defect Zero Effect (ZED) certified units or for units in specified locations. Fee particulars are mentioned in the CGTMSE Scheme Document on the web.  

Recommendations to Improve Your Chances of Getting a CGTMSE Loan

Ensure your project report is detailed, highlighting the growth opportunities of the business as well as repayability. Have a good credit score because lenders review creditworthiness during appraisal. Enroll your firm on the Udyam Portal beforehand to avoid delays in eligibility verification. Choose an MLI who has experience of handling CGTMSE loans in the past to make the application process easier. Seek the help of a financial advisor or chartered accountant to ensure all documents are accurate and complete. By following these steps and taking the advantage of the CGTMSE scheme, MSMEs and startups are able to get the financing they need in order to thrive in India's competitive marketplace. Click on the official CGTMSE website or consult with a participating lender in order to start your process for obtaining a collateral-free loan.

[techit-rp]

From Wall Street to Web3: How Blockchain is Disrupting Investment Banking in 2025

In 2025, a seismic shift is shaking the foundations of global finance. Traditional institutions on Wall Street are facing disruption from an unexpected frontier—Web3 and blockchain technology. What once sounded like a buzzword is now becoming a powerful force redefining how investment banks operate, raise capital, and serve clients.

As this transformation accelerates, finance professionals who once thrived on spreadsheets and client decks now need to speak the language of decentralization, smart contracts, and tokenization. For those ready to make the leap, enrolling in an online investment banking course with a focus on fintech and blockchain is the smartest move you can make today.

🌐 The Rise of Web3 in Finance: What’s Really Changing?

Web3 refers to the next evolution of the internet—decentralized, user-owned, and powered by blockchain technology. In investment banking, Web3 is not just a futuristic concept. It's a game-changer already in action.

1. Faster & Transparent Settlements

Blockchain removes the middlemen. With smart contracts, trade settlements that took T+2 days now happen in seconds. It’s faster, cheaper, and practically immune to human error.

2. Tokenized Assets & Fundraising

Companies are raising capital by issuing security tokens instead of traditional shares. Tokenization enables fractional ownership, global access, and 24/7 trading—things IPOs could never offer.

3. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) as a Threat

DeFi platforms offer lending, borrowing, and yield-generating instruments—without any banks. This threatens the core offerings of investment banks, urging them to innovate or risk obsolescence.

🧠 Traditional Investment Bankers Need a Web3 Upgrade

Here’s the truth: today’s investment bankers must go beyond PowerPoint and pivot tables. They need to understand:

How blockchain protocols work

What DeFi means for asset management

How crypto regulations impact fundraising

How to advise clients in a decentralized economy

This is where an online investment banking course comes into play.

💻 Why Choose an Online Investment Banking Course in 2025?

Online courses have evolved dramatically. They’re no longer just Zoom lectures and PDFs. The top online investment banking courses offer interactive simulations, virtual trading labs, blockchain case studies, and industry-led mentorship. Here’s why it matters:

Feature

Benefit

100% Online

Learn from anywhere, while working full-time

Blockchain & Web3 Modules

Stay ahead of industry disruptions

Real-World Projects

Gain hands-on experience in tokenized deals, M&A analysis, and fintech advisory

Certification & Placement Support

Boost your credibility and land roles in global firms

🚀 Career Opportunities at the Intersection of Banking & Blockchain

As banks and fintechs embrace Web3, they’re hiring professionals who understand both finance and blockchain. Here are some exciting roles you can aim for:

Blockchain Investment Analyst – Evaluate crypto-assets and tokenized securities.

DeFi Product Manager – Design decentralized lending, borrowing, and trading platforms.

Crypto Fund Advisor – Guide HNWIs and institutions on digital asset portfolios.

Web3 M&A Strategist – Advise startups and banks on blockchain-driven mergers.

Completing a comprehensive online investment banking course that covers blockchain gives you an edge in all these fast-growing domains.

📊 Case Study: JPMorgan & the Blockchain Bet

JPMorgan Chase, a bastion of traditional banking, now runs its own blockchain platform—Onyx—to process billions in repo trades using smart contracts. In 2023, it even issued its own token, JPM Coin, for cross-border payments. Today in 2025, nearly every major bank is building or integrating Web3 infrastructure.

Imagine advising on M&A deals involving tokenized startups or leading the next decentralized IPO (dIPO)—this is no longer fiction. It’s finance’s new reality.

🎓 What to Look for in a Blockchain-Ready Online Investment Banking Course

Choosing the right program is key. A future-proof online investment banking course should cover:

Core Financial Modules:

Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Financial Modeling

Equity & Debt Capital Markets

Risk Management

Web3 & Blockchain-Focused Modules:

Blockchain Fundamentals for Bankers

Smart Contracts in Finance

Tokenization & Security Tokens

Crypto Regulations & Compliance

DeFi and the Future of Asset Management

🔍 Is This the End of Wall Street?

Not at all. But it is the rebirth of Wall Street—with a blockchain backbone.

Investment banks that embrace Web3 are setting themselves up for longevity. And professionals who embrace this shift are poised to lead in this bold new world of decentralized finance.

📢 Final Word: Future-Proof Your Finance Career

Blockchain isn't replacing investment banking—it’s redefining it. From tokenized IPOs to DeFi-powered trading, the next generation of bankers needs both sharp financial acumen and digital fluency.

An online investment banking course tailored to this revolution is not just an upskilling tool—it’s your ticket to a thriving career in the finance of tomorrow.

[greengages-blog]

DeFi vs CeFi: The Future of Fundraising for SMEs

If you run a small and medium enterprise (SMEs), you most definitely must be aware how difficult raising funds has always been. It is a mix of a lot of paperwork, pitching, and too much waiting, right?

But in the last few years, two very different financial systems have started changing the whole game: CeFi (Centralised Finance) and DeFi (Decentralised Finance).

But what are these two and, ofcousre which one is better for SMEs? Let’s break it down in a simple and fun way to help you understand how decentralized finance (DeFi) stacks up against traditional centralized platforms, and what the future might look like for business fundraising.

What is CeFi?

CeFi stands for Centralised Finance. Think banks, stock markets, traditional lending institutions, and fintech platforms. If you’re a business owner raising money through CeFi, you might go to a bank for a loan, apply on a crowdfunding platform, or talk to venture capital firms. 

What is DeFi?

This is built mostly on blockchain technology, DeFi uses smart contracts and peer-to-peer networks to let users lend, borrow, trade, and invest without needing approval from a central authority.

DeFi finance is borderless, open 24/7, and based on code instead of paperwork. That makes it interesting for SMES looking for new ways to raise money quickly and directly.

DeFi vs CeFi: Key Differences for SMEs

1. Accessibility

CeFi: Access is controlled. You usually need good credit scores, business history, and approval from a central authority.

DeFi: It’s open. Anyone with a digital wallet and internet connection can participate, making decentralised fundraising more inclusive.

2. Speed and Process

CeFi: Expect delays. Traditional finance takes time—loan approvals, background checks, documentation, etc.

DeFi: Fast and direct. With smart contracts, everything is automated. You can get funding within minutes or hours.

3. Control and Ownership

CeFi: Your funds and data are handled by third parties. They control the process.

DeFi: You stay in control. You manage your assets and interact directly with protocols.

4. Risk and Security

CeFi: There are regulations and protections, but systems can still fail or restrict access.

DeFi: No central control, but that means users take on more responsibility. There’s also the risk of smart contract bugs.

5. Transparency

CeFi: Not fully transparent. You don’t always know how things work behind the scenes.

DeFi: Completely transparent. Most DeFi protocols are open-source, and transactions are recorded on the blockchain.

How SMEs Can Use DeFi for Fundraising?

Tokenization

Businesses can issue their own digital tokens that represent ownership or utility. These tokens can be sold on DeFi platforms to raise funds, sort of like shares, but without needing a stock exchange.

DeFi Lending

SMEs can borrow from global liquidity pools without going through a bank. You don’t need a long history or tons of paperwork. All you need is collateral (often crypto) and a compatible wallet.

Yield Farming and Staking

Some businesses are also starting to stake assets or engage in liquidity mining as a way to raise funds.

Crowdfunding through DAOs

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) allow communities to fund projects collectively. SMEs can pitch to a DAO and get backing from investors around the world who believe in their mission.

The Future of SME Fundraising

The finance world is shifting. More SMEs are exploring decentralised finance (DeFi) for its global access and lower entry barriers. As decentralised banking tools get safer and easier to use, we could see more businesses turning to DeFi for fundraising. Some might still prefer a bank loan. Others might try launching a token or borrowing through a DeFi lending pool. And some might use both. What’s clear is that decentralised finance (DeFi) is opening new doors.

Explore the Future of Fundraising 

That’s where platforms like Greengage come in. Greengage is a bridge between traditional finance and digital assets. It’s not just another bank; it’s a digital merchant banking platform designed for modern business.

Whether you want to fundraise through DeFi, keep things classic with CeFi, or explore a smart mix of both, Greengage offers tools and services to support your journey. You’ve got real, flexible, global options.

[fundingwalk634]

All About Loan Against Securities – Shares and Mutual Funds for Corporates

Loan Against Securities – Shares & Mutual Funds for Corporates (LAS) is a specialised financing facility where companies utilise their listed shares, mutual fund units, or other marketable securities to raise capital without liquidating their investments in them. This type of funding is common for working capital needs, acquisitions, debt refinancing, strategic investments, and other customised requirements.

Use of LAS by Corporates and Promoters

Corporates and promoters pledge equity shares or mutual fund units (equity/debt) to raise funds. The borrower retains ownership and voting rights (in case of shares) during the tenure.

Common uses include:

Business expansion

Acquisition funding

Debt refinancing

Delisting or buybacks

Liquidity events

Eligible Instruments for LAS

Equity Shares

Listed shares on NSE/BSE with good liquidity and market capitalization.

Mutual Funds

Debt and equity mutual funds (held in demat form).

Other Instruments

ETFs, bonds, FMPs (as per lender’s policy).

Structure of Loan Against Securities

Loan-to-Value (LTV): Up to 60% for equity shares Up to 85% for debt funds

Loan Amount: ₹10 lakhs to ₹500 crore+

Tenure: 6 months to 3 years (renewable)

Interest Rate: Ranges from 8.5% to 18% per annum depending on risk profile

Margin Calls: Triggered if share prices drop beyond a set threshold

Disbursement Timeline: Usually completed within 48 to 72 hours post pledge setup

Eligibility Criteria

For Corporates:

Financials: Audited financial statements, stable cashflows, credit rating

Security Quality: Liquid and approved securities

Credit History: Good repayment record and CIBIL/CRIF score

Risks and Considerations

Volatility Risk: A sharp fall in share prices may trigger margin calls

Concentration Risk: Highly concentrated or illiquid portfolios are avoided by lenders

Reputational Risk: Public invocation of pledged promoter shares can negatively impact market sentiment

SEBI Regulations: Strict disclosure and pledge reporting rules must be followed

Top Lenders for LAS

Banks: HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, and others

NBFCs: Tata Capital, Aditya Birla, Piramal, Bajaj Finance, etc.

AIFs: Select funds that participate in structured lending against securities

Required Documentation

A. For Corporates:

Company KYC, PAN, GST

Board resolution authorizing borrowing

Audited financial statements

Demat holding statement

Declaration of loan purpose

B. For Promoters:

PAN, Aadhaar, and KYC documents

Shareholding pattern (SH-4 or latest filings)

Pledge instructions to NSDL/CDSL

Personal financial statements (in some cases)

How to Raise a Loan Against Shares and Mutual Funds for Your Business

Although the process may seem simple, raising a loan against shares and mutual funds requires expert assistance. Choosing the right lender, negotiating terms, and ensuring smooth disbursement are key to success. Even a small reduction in interest rates can lead to significant cost savings over time.

Why Work with Us?

If you are looking for professional guidance, we are well connected with financial institutions and have deep experience in fundraising across multiple sectors.

Our USP: Transparency, no false promises, professionalism, and reasonable fees

What You Get: Capital in the shortest possible time

For more information :- business finance news portal

                                         business loans and funding

[matthewdenegre]

The Vital Role of Liquidity and Solvency in Corporate Financial Stability

In corporate finance, liquidity and solvency are two foundational concepts that reflect a company’s financial health. While related, each focuses on a firm’s ability to meet its financial obligations. Grasping the significance of liquidity and solvency is essential for managers, investors, and creditors alike. This article explores why these measures matter and how they influence corporate stability and growth.

Liquidity: Meeting Short-Term Financial Needs

Liquidity refers to a company’s ability to convert assets into cash quickly to cover its short-term liabilities. It determines whether a firm can easily pay its bills, salaries, and other immediate expenses. Companies with strong liquidity avoid cash flow shortages that could disrupt operations or damage relationships with suppliers and employees.

Maintaining sufficient liquidity requires careful management of current assets such as cash, accounts receivable, and inventory. Like the current ratio, liquidity ratios help assess this ability by comparing current assets to current liabilities. A healthy liquidity position assures stakeholders that the business can handle unexpected costs and maintain smooth daily functioning.

Moreover, liquidity management balances cash reserve needs with efficient asset utilization. Holding excessive cash might mean lost opportunities, while too little increases financial risk. Therefore, businesses must forecast cash flows accurately and maintain access to credit lines to stay agile in managing liquidity.

Solvency: Ensuring Long-Term Financial Health

Solvency examines a company’s capacity to meet long-term debts and obligations. It evaluates whether total assets are sufficient to cover total liabilities, indicating if the company can sustain its operations over time. Solvent firms possess solid financial foundations that protect creditors and shareholders.

The solvency ratio measures the proportion of assets to liabilities, reflecting the firm’s overall financial strength. A company with high solvency can weather economic downturns and fund growth initiatives without excessive reliance on debt. In contrast, insolvency risks bankruptcy or forced restructuring, threatening the company’s future.

Long-term planning plays a key role in preserving solvency. Businesses must monitor leverage ratios, control debt levels, and generate sustainable profits. Sound investment decisions and prudent financial policies ensure that solvency remains intact, supporting continued growth and market confidence.

The Relationship Between Liquidity and Solvency

Though distinct, liquidity and solvency are deeply connected. A company can appear solvent with substantial assets but face liquidity challenges if those assets cannot be quickly converted to cash. Conversely, a business may have good liquidity but poor solvency if it carries excessive long-term debt relative to its assets.

This connection means companies must balance short-term cash availability and long-term financial stability. Poor liquidity can lead to missed payments and damage to creditworthiness, potentially triggering solvency problems. Likewise, weak solvency limits access to financing and raises risk perceptions.

By regularly monitoring liquidity and solvency metrics, companies gain a comprehensive view of their financial condition. This holistic approach enables proactive risk and opportunity management, ensuring sustained operational success.

Impact of Liquidity and Solvency on Business Decisions

Corporate investment, financing, and operations decisions depend heavily on liquidity and solvency status. Managers use liquidity information to plan cash usage, working capital needs, and credit arrangements. This ensures the company can meet immediate expenses while pursuing growth.

Solvency considerations influence capital structure choices, such as issuing debt or equity. Companies with strong solvency enjoy favorable borrowing terms and greater flexibility in funding strategic initiatives. Conversely, firms with weak solvency may limit expansion and focus on debt reduction.

Furthermore, liquidity and solvency affect risk management practices. Maintaining adequate liquidity buffers protects against market volatility while preserving solvency safeguards long-term viability. These financial insights guide sound decision-making and resource allocation.

Stakeholder Perspectives on Liquidity and Solvency

Investors and creditors view liquidity and solvency as key company risk and stability indicators. Lenders evaluate liquidity ratios to assess short-term credit risk, while solvency ratios inform their willingness to extend long-term financing. These metrics influence interest rates and loan covenants.

Investors rely on liquidity and solvency data to judge a company’s ability to generate returns and manage debts. Healthy financial metrics attract investment by signaling reliable performance and reduced default risk. Transparent reporting of liquidity and solvency also builds market confidence and supports valuation.

Liquidity and solvency provide reassurance to employees, suppliers, and customers about a company’s ability to honor commitments and maintain relationships. Thus, these financial measures affect a wide range of stakeholders beyond shareholders and lenders.

Strategies to Strengthen Liquidity and Solvency

Improving liquidity involves managing cash flow efficiently through faster collection of receivables, controlling inventory, and negotiating better payment terms. Access to short-term credit facilities also helps smooth temporary cash shortages. Maintaining detailed cash forecasts allows for timely interventions.

Solvency can be enhanced by reducing debt levels, retaining earnings, and improving profitability. Strategic investments that generate positive returns contribute to asset growth, strengthening the balance sheet. Prudent financial policies, including risk diversification and cost control, further support solvency.

Companies anticipating liquidity and solvency challenges can take corrective action early, avoiding financial distress. This proactive stance underpins long-term sustainability and stakeholder trust.

The Pillars of Corporate Financial Strength

Liquidity and solvency are fundamental to a company’s financial stability and success. Liquidity ensures operational continuity by meeting short-term obligations, while solvency secures future viability by maintaining a sound financial structure. Both aspects are critical for managing risk, supporting growth, and attracting investment.

Balanced management of liquidity and solvency helps companies navigate economic fluctuations and competitive pressures. Leaders who understand these concepts make informed decisions that foster resilience and value creation. Ultimately, liquidity and solvency form the backbone of robust corporate finance, guiding businesses toward enduring prosperity.

[nextlevelfunding01]

Business Funding Services: A Gateway to Growth and Success 🚀

Starting and scaling a business requires more than just hard work and dedication. One of the key ingredients for success is having access to the right kind of funding. Whether you're a startup with a bright idea or an established business looking to expand, securing the right funding can make all the difference. In this blog, we’ll explore business funding services and how they can help your business thrive.

What Are Business Funding Services? 💰

Business funding services are financial solutions provided by various institutions, such as banks, alternative lenders, and investors, to help businesses meet their capital needs. These services can include loans, grants, equity investment, and even crowdfunding. By leveraging these financial resources, businesses can access the funds necessary to maintain cash flow, scale operations, or invest in innovation.

Why Do Businesses Need Funding? 🤔

Businesses often require external funding for several reasons:

Starting a business: Launching a new business often demands a large initial investment.

Growth and Expansion: To scale, businesses need to invest in new technology, hire more staff, or expand their market reach.

Cash Flow Management: Cash flow issues can arise when expenses surpass incoming revenue, especially during slow sales months.

Product Development: Innovation and improvement of products or services can require significant capital.

The Role of Online Funding Services 🌐

In today’s digital age, online funding services have become a game-changer. With just a few clicks, business owners can access various funding options from online lenders. These platforms often provide faster approval times, more flexible terms, and less paperwork compared to traditional financial institutions. Some popular online funding services include:

Peer-to-Peer Lending: Borrow money from individuals instead of financial institutions.

Crowdfunding: Raise funds from a large number of people, typically through platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

Alternative Lenders: Non-bank lenders that offer various financial products to businesses, often with fewer restrictions.

How Next Level Funding Can Help Your Business 💡

One such online funding service provider is Next Level Funding. They offer fast, easy, and hassle-free funding solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Next Level Funding understands that traditional financing options might not always be accessible, so they provide alternative lending solutions that are tailored to meet your business's specific needs.

Key Benefits of Next Level Funding Services:

Quick and Easy Application Process: Next Level Funding makes applying for business funding straightforward with minimal paperwork.

Flexible Funding Options: Whether you need working capital or funds for expansion, they offer a variety of solutions, such as business lines of credit, merchant cash advances, and equipment financing.

No Collateral Required: Many of their funding options don't require you to pledge assets, which reduces the risk to your business.

Competitive Rates: Next Level Funding works to provide businesses with fair and transparent rates that align with their financial situation.

By leveraging the services of Next Level Funding, businesses can access the working capital they need quickly, without the traditional roadblocks of conventional banks. Their approach is designed to help businesses stay agile and responsive to market demands, ensuring that you can stay on track to achieve your growth goals.

How to Choose the Right Funding Service for Your Business 🔍

When deciding on a funding solution, it’s important to consider the following factors:

Business Needs: What exactly do you need the funding for? This will help determine which funding option is best for you.

Repayment Terms: Be sure to understand the repayment schedule, interest rates, and fees involved.

Credit History: Some lenders may require a good credit score, while others are more flexible.

Approval Time: If you need funds quickly, look for lenders with fast approval processes.

Flexibility: Choose a lender that offers flexibility in how you can use the funds.

Conclusion:

Business funding services are crucial for helping businesses overcome financial hurdles and capitalize on growth opportunities. By understanding the various funding options available and choosing the one that best aligns with your needs, you can set your business up for long-term success. Whether you’re looking for a traditional loan, an alternative lending solution, or a service like Nxt Level Funding, the right funding can take your business to new heights.

[howecommercial]

Acquisition Finance: A Strategic Guide by Howe Commercial Finance

Introduction

Howe Commercial Finance is a leading name in tailored financial solutions for UK-based businesses. Our specialisation in Acquisition Finance empowers entrepreneurs and companies to pursue growth through strategic business purchases. Whether you’re a first-time buyer or a seasoned investor looking to expand your portfolio, understanding the nuances of acquisition financing is vital for success.

What Is Acquisition Finance? 

Acquisition Finance refers to the capital businesses use to acquire other companies or assets. This type of funding can involve debt, equity, or a combination of both. For many SMEs and larger enterprises, acquisition finance plays a crucial role in expansion plans, allowing them to take over competitors, diversify services, or penetrate new markets. At Howe Commercial Finance, we work closely with clients to determine the optimal structure for their acquisition deals.

Benefits of Using Acquisition Finance for Growth 

The benefits of using Acquisition Finance are multifold. It provides the means to acquire businesses without exhausting your capital reserves. It also enables faster growth compared to organic expansion, with an immediate increase in customer base, market share, and operational capability. By leveraging this financing option, you can seize market opportunities as they arise, making your business more agile and competitive.

The Role of Asset Financing in Acquisition Strategy 

Asset Financing can play a supporting role in acquisition plans. This method allows businesses to use physical assets, such as equipment, vehicles, or machinery, as collateral to secure funding. For example, when acquiring a business with valuable assets, you may finance part of the acquisition using asset-backed loans. Howe Commercial Finance provides flexible asset finance solutions to complement your acquisition funding structure.

Types of Acquisition Finance Structures

Depending on the size and nature of your acquisition, various finance structures can be employed:

Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs): Typically involve high levels of debt secured against the target company’s assets.

Equity Financing: Involves selling shares to raise capital for the purchase.

Mezzanine Financing: A hybrid of debt and equity, often used when conventional loans fall short.

Vendor Finance: Where the seller agrees to part-finance the deal.

At Howe Commercial Finance, we evaluate your objectives to design the most cost-effective and strategic funding structure.

Due Diligence: The Cornerstone of Acquisition Finance 

Securing Acquisition Finance is not just about obtaining funds; it’s also about verifying that the business you’re acquiring is a sound investment. This requires comprehensive due diligence, including analysis of financial records, customer base, assets, debts, and contractual obligations. Our team at Howe Commercial Finance can support this process by connecting you with trusted financial and legal experts.

Using Asset Financing to Preserve Working Capital 

When funding an acquisition, it’s essential to maintain liquidity. Asset Financing enables businesses to retain working capital by borrowing against high-value assets rather than using cash reserves. This financing method ensures ongoing operations remain unaffected, which is particularly critical during transitional periods following an acquisition. Howe Commercial Finance offers expert advice on balancing acquisition goals with daily operational needs.

Acquisition Finance for Management Buyouts (MBOs) 

One of the most common scenarios for using Acquisition Finance is in Management Buyouts. In an MBO, the existing management team purchases the business from its current owners. Financing is often structured using a mix of bank loans, private equity, and sometimes mezzanine debt. Our experienced advisers guide management teams through the complex negotiations and financing arrangements needed to complete a successful MBO.

Risks and Mitigation Strategies 

While Acquisition Finance opens new growth avenues, it also carries risks. Over-leveraging, cultural misalignment, and post-acquisition integration challenges can jeopardise the deal’s success. At Howe Commercial Finance, we help clients anticipate and mitigate these risks through careful planning, realistic cash flow forecasting, and expert financial modelling.

How Asset Financing Enhances Acquisition Potential 

In addition to funding acquisitions, Asset Financing can also be used post-acquisition to boost business performance. For instance, newly acquired assets can be refinanced to unlock cash for operational improvements, marketing, or further expansion. This strategic use of existing resources is a hallmark of savvy business planning and is something our advisers regularly recommend.

Regulatory Considerations in Acquisition Finance 

UK regulations around acquisitions can be complex. Depending on the size of the deal, you may need to notify the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Sector-specific rules also apply, particularly in finance, healthcare, and energy. At Howe Commercial Finance, we ensure our clients stay compliant throughout the acquisition process by liaising with legal partners and regulatory bodies.

Why Choose Howe Commercial Finance for Acquisition Funding? 

Our approach to Acquisition Finance is bespoke. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. Each client benefits from personalised advice, fast turnaround times, and access to a broad network of lenders and investors. Whether it’s a straightforward business takeover or a complex multi-party deal, Howe Commercial Finance brings experience, transparency, and reliability to the table.

Case Study: A Real-World Success Story 

Consider the case of a mid-sized manufacturing firm in Birmingham looking to acquire a competitor. They approached Howe Commercial Finance for Acquisition Finance to cover 70% of the purchase price. We arranged a blend of term loans and Asset Financing to fund the deal while preserving liquidity. The acquisition was completed in under 90 days, and the combined entity saw a 30% increase in revenue within the first year.

Post-Acquisition Support and Integration 

Financing the deal is just the beginning. Post-acquisition integration is vital for realising the expected benefits. Our team provides ongoing financial guidance, helps streamline processes, and recommends opportunities for using Asset Financing to improve cash flow and asset utilisation in the newly combined business.

Conclusion

Acquiring another business can be one of the most transformative steps an entrepreneur or company takes. With the right Acquisition Finance structure, guided by experienced advisers like Howe Commercial Finance, your business can expand strategically and sustainably. Add in the flexibility offered by Asset Financing, and you’ve got a well-rounded financial toolkit to support the deal and long-term growth. Let us help you finance your future.

[jain2580]

How to Get a Digital Loan Against Shares or Mutual Funds Without Income Proof in 2025

Imagine getting access to instant funds without selling your investments. In 2025, it's not just possible—it's easier and smarter than ever. With a rise in digital lending and paperless approvals, a securities-backed loan has become a go-to solution for quick financing needs without liquidating your valuable portfolio.

Whether you want to handle a personal emergency, business shortfall, or just need working capital, loans against shares or mutual funds are proving to be one of the most efficient ways to raise instant funds, without affecting your long-term wealth creation.

What Is a Securities-Backed Loan?

A securities-backed loan (LAS) is a type of secured credit where you pledge financial securities—like mutual funds or shares—to borrow money. These loans work like overdraft or term loans, where your investments act as collateral, and you can continue to enjoy the benefits of your holdings (like dividends or NAV appreciation).

Why Choose a Loan Against Mutual Funds or Shares in 2025?

The financial world is rapidly moving toward convenience and flexibility. Here’s why more Indians are opting to borrow against a mutual fund portfolio or shares:

No need to break your investments or exit long-term plans.

Instant digital approval with minimal documentation.

Competitive interest rates due to secured nature.

Continue earning returns on pledged securities.

Eligibility Criteria for Loan Against Mutual Funds or Shares

Not everyone qualifies for a loan automatically. Here’s the general eligibility criteria for mutual fund loan in 2025:

Loan Facility Against Equity Shares vs Mutual Funds

You can pledge either equity shares or mutual funds, depending on your portfolio. Let’s look at the mutual fund loan interest rates comparison with share-backed loan interest rates:

Comparison Table: Loan Against Shares vs Loan Against Mutual Funds

Whether you prefer a loan facility against equity shares or mutual funds, your decision should depend on which asset gives you higher eligibility, better interest, and suits your repayment ability.

Understanding Interest Rates on Pledged Securities in 2025

As these loans are secured, interest rates on pledged securities tend to be lower than personal loans or credit card debt. The average ranges are:

Mutual Funds: 9% to 11.5%

Equity Shares: 9.5% to 12%

Digital platforms often offer better online mutual fund loan rates than traditional banks, especially if the process is automated through CAMS, KFintech, or NSDL.

Tip: Always compare rates and charges between lenders using a reliable mutual fund loan interest comparison tool before deciding.

Instant Loan on Mutual Funds Online – How It Works

The rise of instant loans on mutual funds online in 2025 has changed how quickly borrowers can access cash. Here's how the typical digital process works:

Select Lender or Platform (Bank, NBFC, Fintech like Groww, Paytm Money)

Login Using PAN/Aadhaar

Verify Portfolio via CAMS or KFintech

Choose Amount to Borrow

E-sign Agreement & Set Repayment Terms

Funds Disbursed Instantly to your bank account

This setup works similarly for the mutual fund overdraft facility, where a limit is assigned, and interest is charged only on the amount used.

Key Things to Consider Before You Borrow

Before you opt for any kind of loan against mutual funds or shares, keep these points in mind:

Volatility Risk: If your pledged assets drop in value, you may be asked to top up the collateral or face liquidation.

Tenure & Repayment: Choose the shortest possible term you can repay comfortably to save on interest.

Hidden Fees: Watch for processing charges, annual maintenance fees, or foreclosure penalties.

Compare Providers: Use platforms that allow real-time mutual fund loan interest comparison.

Real Use Case: Why Raj Preferred a Loan Against Mutual Funds

Raj, a 34-year-old marketing professional in Bangalore, faced a sudden home repair bill of ₹2.5 lakhs. Instead of using a credit card or breaking his SIPs, he chose to borrow against his mutual fund portfolio online.

He got approval in minutes, no income proof required, and the online mutual fund loan rate was only 9.5%—far better than personal loan options.

Top Banks & Fintech Platforms Offering LAS in 2025

HDFC Bank – Loans against Shares & Mutual Funds

ICICI Bank – Instant overdraft facility for MFs

Axis Bank – Digital LAS through Demat

Bajaj Finserv – Quick digital approval, flexible tenure

Groww / Paytm Money – Fully digital mutual fund-backed loans

Conclusion: Smart Credit Using What You Already Own

A securities-backed loan isn’t just a backup anymore—it’s a smart, proactive financial tool in 2025. Whether you’re self-employed, salaried, or even a freelancer, you can tap into your wealth without disturbing your investments.

With flexible tenures, instant digital processes, and lower interest compared to unsecured loans, choosing to borrow against mutual fund portfolio or shares makes perfect sense for short-term liquidity.

Just ensure you evaluate your options well and avoid over-leveraging. Your assets can fund your goals today, while still working for tomorrow.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Can I get a loan against mutual funds without income proof?

Yes. Most digital lenders now provide instant loans on mutual funds online without asking for salary slips or ITR, as the collateral ensures safety.

2. Is the interest rate fixed or floating for mutual fund loans?

It depends on the lender. However, many digital lenders offer a fixed mutual fund overdraft facility with transparent interest rates.

3. How much can I borrow against mutual funds or shares?

Typically 50–70% of the value of your securities, based on the lender’s loan-to-value (LTV) policy.

4. What if the market crashes while my securities are pledged?

The lender may issue a margin call, requiring you to deposit more funds or pledge more securities to cover the shortfall.

5. Are digital loans against mutual funds safe?

Yes. Reputed banks and SEBI-registered NBFCs offer these services securely using CAMS/KFin integration. Just ensure you use trusted platforms.