In July, BII launched the Business Resiliency Fund—a $50,000 grant pool created to help portfolio companies weather heightened operational and financial pressures, through grants up to $5,000 for technical assistance. The demand was immediate: within weeks, 12 companies applied and the entire pool was awarded.
The companies sought everything from outsourced bookkeeping and financial controls, to HR consulting, AI workflow training, marketing strategy, and leadership coaching. Each request reflected a critical need that, if addressed, could unlock growth, sustainability, and leadership bandwidth.
This Fund is not only a lifeline but also an opportunity for partners and investors to expand their reach. We are raising $150,000 to scale grant size and deepen impact, ensuring these companies have the resources to build long-term resilience. If you’re interested in helping us expand, please reach out to Keyur Patel.
The resiliency needs surfaced through this Fund directly reflect insights gathered from our Portfolio Advisory Board, whose first-year learnings are now shaping how we design and deliver ongoing support.
When we launched the PAB a year ago, the goal was to test, learn, and explore how BII can add value beyond capital. The feedback from our portfolio leaders has been invaluable.
Key insights shaping our path forward:
Trust is foundational. Engagement follows relationships—building institutional trust must sit at the center of our approach.
Community is the differentiator. The peer-led spaces our portfolio leaders created, particularly in the HR working group, demonstrated the power of shared experience and mutual support.
Design matters. Future supports need to meet organizations where they are, offer meaningful choice, and balance broad access with deeper, tailored engagement.
Clarity and consistency are key. We aim to better articulate what BII offers and signal from day one that our investments are partnerships—not transactions.
Reciprocity strengthens the ecosystem. Light-touch commitments from mentorship to knowledge-sharing can deepen our portfolio community and amplify collective impact.
The portfolio team is working behind the scenes on a new portfolio support strategy that builds on our learnings from year one. We’re grateful to this inaugural group because they are shaping how BII shows up as a long-term partner to the entrepreneurs we serve.