Jacob Haar, Founder and Managing Partner at Community Investment Management, talks about debt capital and its social impact on financial inclusion. Jacob shares CIM’s inspiring mission of improving inequality through innovation lending, clarifies how equity and debt investors view startup investment opportunities differently, and gives founders useful tips for approaching venture debt investors.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

[1:21] How international development experience inspired Jacob to become a credit capital investor and the type of companies he invests in.

[8:43] When is the right time for a founder to talk to a credit investor?

[14:01] The future of debt investing and opportunities in underserved communities and emerging markets

18:58 How debt investors evaluate founders for credit: focused on risk but concerned about growth too.

Non-profit that Jacob is passionate about: Jusoor

About Guest Speaker

Jacob Haar is the Founder and Managing Partner of Community Investment Capital, and leads the firm's investment and operations. Before founding CIM, Jacob led debt investments in micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) lenders in emerging markets and since then, has invested in innovative FinTech companies that enable underserved communities to access capital in the United States and in emerging and frontier markets.

About Community Investment Management

Community Investment Management (CIM) is a San Francisco-based institutional impact investment firm that provides strategic debt capital to underserved communities and markets to advance financial inclusion and promote economic development. CIM’s portfolio includes: HoneyBee, Rho Business Banking, Brigit, Salary Finance, Camino Financial, Founders First Capital Partners and Kenzie Academy.

Next Week’s Episode

Coming up next week in Episode 70, we have a special guest, Patrick Eggen, Co-Founder and Partner at Counterpart Ventures, to talk about his contrarian approach to investing and why he invests in founders that target non-trivial problems.

Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode that will drop next Tuesday.

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Put On Your Risk Hat With Debt Investors