New C2FO-powered payment hub unlocks capital for diverse-owned businesses

Editor’s note: C2FO is a financial supporter of Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom.

A just-launched strategic partnership between one of Kansas City’s largest startups and a Detroit-based minority-owned finance and diversity consulting firm aims to help more overlooked and under-capitalized businesses gain access to funds, the companies announced this week.

The deal is expected to see C2FO’s flexible, on-demand capital platform and patented technology used to launch the first Supplier Success Hub — powered by C2FO. The Supplier Success Hub is a specialized offering within the C2FO platform that will strengthen the corporate supply chain and help diverse-owned businesses thrive by giving them control over their cash flow.

Louis Green, Supplier Success

“Diverse businesses face serious working capital constraints that can limit their potential growth or jeopardize their livelihoods,” said Louis Green, CEO and founder of Supplier Success. “Through our partnership with C2FO, we can deliver favorable early payment relief to diverse suppliers at a truly global, and frankly, unprecedented scale. C2FO has repeatedly proven itself to be a leader in serving the diverse business marketplace.”

With corporations increasingly looking to retain and grow their diversity spending, focus has turned to offering differentiated early payment programs to diverse suppliers, the companies explained. The C2FO-Supplier Success partnership and Supplier Success Hub provide an unparalleled experience for diverse-owned businesses to accelerate invoices and explore additional working capital products to support their businesses, according to Green.

“We are thrilled to partner with Supplier Success, a proven market leader in the diversity and inclusion space, and further our mission to ensure every business has the capital needed to thrive,” added Allison Baker, senior vice president of partnerships for C2FO, the world’s largest platform for working capital. “The partnership creates a clear pathway for companies looking to immediately launch specialized working capital programs, unlock accelerated liquidity to diverse-owned suppliers, and increase access for these minority-, women-, LGBTQ+ and disability-owned businesses to low-cost and convenient working capital.” 

Founded to ensure all businesses, particularly diverse-owned, have the capital needed to thrive, the C2FO platform has experienced exponential year-over-year growth in use by diverse-owned businesses. This growth highlights an ever-increasing demand for easy access to cash flow. 

In 2021, minority- and women-owned businesses used the C2FO platform to secure funding 3.2 times more than other businesses. So far, in 2022, C2FO has accelerated more than $2.5 billion in early payments to diverse-owned businesses worldwide. These early payments become dollars that fuel business growth as owners can invest in increased staffing, product or technology expansions, and more.

Related: C2FO helped women-, minority-owned biz access nearly $2B in 2021 alone; why that slice of $200B is set to grow as company approaches $1T funded

Supplier Success and C2FO can offer highly focused working capital solutions to diverse suppliers of all shapes and sizes while supporting their buyers’ supplier diversity goals, the companies said. The partnership provides the added benefits of strengthening corporate balance sheets, minimizing supplier risk and increasing diverse spending opportunities.