We meet entrepreneurs where they are
Since 2017, BII has deployed $18 million across New England through flexible debt and equity financing to businesses, cooperatives, and real estate projects.
Directly from Our Portfolio
MA Community Purchasing Alliance
Community Purchasing Alliance (MA CPA) is a purchasing cooperative that leverages the buying power of institutions to negotiate and drive down costs of vendors and service providers, while steering spending to diverse vendors using sustainable practices for their members. Their members consists of faith based institutions, schools, affordable housing, and other nonprofits.
Sign-Speak
Sign-Speak is an innovative technology company seeking to bridge the communication divide for the 48 million Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) individuals in the United States. Its technology tracks American Sign Language (ASL) users as they sign with a camera on a computing device and transcribes and translates in real-time to facilitate conversation with someone who only speaks English. This technology can also translate and transcribe back into ASL. The Sign-Speak founding team includes a deaf software engineer and has developed solutions for websites, in-person contact, and automated environments.
The Lazu Group
At the time of BII’s original investment, The LAZU Group was a technology-enabled DEI services firm that offers strategies for product development, marketing, talent recruitment and retention, and community engagement. They used a motivational-based approach designed with the principles of community organizing, traditional DEI, and mental health, to help people create better personal and professional connections, ultimately resulting in happier individuals and healthier organizations. The Lazu Group closed its line of credit with BII in 2025. The Lazu Group is an exited portfolio company from Fund I.
Valley Home Insulation
Valley Home Insulation offers residential insulation and weatherization services in Lawrence and the surrounding Merrimack Valley. Following the 2018 gas explosions, Columbia Gas offered 100% reimbursement for insulation and weatherization services on all homes it serves in the Merrimack Valley through the end of 2020. VHI leverages cultural competency and community presence to provide these services to low- and moderate-income residents of this region.
Wash Cycle Laundry
WashyCycle is a commercial laundry company with locations in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC, committed to creating living-wage jobs and second chances for people overcoming histories of incarceration,homelessness, substance use, long-term unemployment, use of public benefits, and more.
Capital Good Fund
Capital Good Fund is a nonprofit and CDFI based in Rhode Island offering low interest loans to individuals for emergencies, immigration, and weatherization; creating pathways out of poverty; and advancing access to the green economy. BII Fund I provided a term loan in 2019 to support their Massachusetts expansion for their immigration and weatherization loans.
Done Good
DoneGood aspired to be the “Amazon of the new social impact economy” harnessing purchasing as a force for change, helping ethical consumers and companies find each other. DoneGood was a certified B Corp incubated at Harvard Innovation Lab. In 2017, BII Fund made a convertible debt investment to support the platform in its efforts to redirect consumer dollars toward businesses owned by people of color and women.
Franklin Caraballo
Bookkeeper Franklin Caraballo LLC provides critical professional business consulting, business management, bookkeeping, and tax services to small Spanish-speaking businesses. Language is often a huge barrier for many startups, bodegas, and other businesses which can created a hesitancy in entrepreneurs to launch, grow, or expand their businesses. In 2021, BII made a loan for expanding the team and building out an online training platform.
Maven Construction
Maven Construction is a registered woman-owned, and minority-owned full-service general contracting firm that provides at-risk construction management services to municipal, institutional and private clients. In 2018, BII Fund provided project finance to support an energy efficiency project with Howard University.
MentorWorks
MentorWorks is a platform that helps to originate and facilitate Income Share Agreements (ISAs). They were among the first platforms to provide income-share based education financing coupled with career mentorship. In 2020, BII committed invested in MentorWorks through a special funding vehicle (SPV), enabling the company to fund the higher education of students, primarily of color, who are attending community colleges or enrolled in technical training programs in Boston.
TARTTs Day Care
At the time of BII’s original investment, TARTTs Day Care was family-owned business that provided quality childcare services for children ages two months to five years. Founded by African-American nurse Bessie Tartt Wilson in 1946, the company was run by second, third, and forth generation family members whose aim was to provide a high-quality, well-rounded curriculum that enriches its children’s and families’ lives. TARTTs was acquired by a competitor in 2024 who retained all existing employees and is carrying forward TARTTs’ legacy. In 2019, Fund I made a loan for operational expenses of establishing a new center.
Join Us in Building a
Just and Sustainable Economy
Invest in BII Fund II and support the growth of enterprises, building a more equitable future.