Founders First Raises $19M for Change Catalyst Fund II, Outpacing Fundraising and Deployment Targets to Drive Affordability in Small Business Growth Capital at a Pivotal Time

Founders First Capital Partners (FFCP/Founders First), a national mission-driven alternative credit firm, today announced it has closed $18.59M for its Change Catalyst Fund II, LLC (CCF II), outpacing the fund's fundraising and deployment targets. Founders First's loan deployment has risen 46% year over year, as demand grows from small businesses seeking to refinance high-cost merchant cash advance (MCA) debt. The milestone coincides with the release of Founders First's 2025 Impact Report, which shows the platform has deployed more than $23 million in capital, driven more than $44.5 million in projected wealth creation, and trained more than 5,000 member companies to date.

New investors and supporters include Wells Fargo Foundation (via Founders First's fiscal sponsor, Realize Impact), Community Reinvestment Fund, USA, and six family foundations. They join existing investors Surdna Foundation, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Sunrise Banks, Tethered LLC, Marguerite Casey Foundation, The Barra Foundation, The Visions Fund at The Philadelphia Foundation, Reynders McVeigh Capital Management, and other anonymous foundations and family offices.

CCF II is prioritizing focus in Founders First's seven Regions of Excellence: California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the DC/Maryland/Virginia region. In each priority market, the firm pairs growth capital with local entrepreneurial ecosystems and partners, so that the jobs and wealth created by growing businesses stay in the communities where they are built.

The raise comes at a pivotal moment for small businesses carrying high-cost MCA debt. In 2025, the U.S. Small Business Administration eliminated the ability to use SBA 7(a) loans to refinance MCA debt, closing off the primary traditional refinancing path for MCA-burdened businesses. MCAs provide fast cash but carry effective rates that often exceed 50% and take repayment through daily or weekly withdrawals against future receivables, draining the working capital a business needs to make payroll, buy inventory, and fund growth.

MCA refinances now make up more than 61% of all Founders First loan fundings. To date, Founders First has refinanced 33 borrowers' MCA debt, averaging $175,000 per borrower, which typically lowers a borrower's effective APR by an average of 15 percentage points.

To help meet that demand, Wells Fargo contributed $500,000 to Founders First, fiscally sponsored by Realize Impact. The investment supports business education, catalytic loan loss reserves, deployment of refinancing capital, and wraparound technical assistance across all seven priority markets to help growing small businesses reduce reliance on high-cost MCA debt.

ABS has grown so quickly since securing that loan that it is now returning to Founders First for a follow-on loan to fund its continued expansion, having reduced its effective interest rate by 42 percent and improved monthly cash flow by approximately $35,000.

Founders First Capital Partners exists to drive economic mobility by expanding access to growth capital for entrepreneurs, advancing quality jobs and wealth creation in underinvested communities nationwide. A national, mission-driven investment platform, Founders First provides non-dilutive growth capital and advisory support to service-based small businesses generating $500K to $10M in annual revenue. Through its $50 million Change Catalyst Fund II, the firm delivers structured private credit to growth-stage companies, alongside its regional Capital Activation Experiences that connect founders directly with capital providers and ecosystem partners. View latest market impact report to learn more.