Rshare

PROBLEM

Underrepresented business owners run efficient, profitable, and sustainable companies. Yet when they seek growth capital, traditional VCs tell them they’re un-investable, banks tell them they don’t have the assets, and lenders are happy to give them money – but with brutal interest rates.

They’ve already navigated life’s trickiest waters, and their best option is to swim with the loan sharks.

APPROACH

RShare connects you with capital based on your actual accomplishments, NOT on what you don’t have yet.

SOLUTION

Instead of being punished for running a lean operation, we reward your savvy with revenue-based financing by analyzing your profits, personality, and digital presence.  

It’s an entirely new marketplace for CDFIs, Family Offices, and Impact Investors to fund the hardest-working entrepreneurs. We call it Grit Capital.

ACTION

Every year there’s an $87 BILLION gap for loans under $100k. A substantial amount of that gap is filled with Black and Brown businesses. We’re raising capital to help everyone get their share.

Founders Walter Mendenhall & Jarryd Loyd founded Rshare by sharing stories of many founders and often underrepresented founders who faced challenges accessing capital.  

The problem we unearthed was critical – an outdated and exclusionary lending system actively rejects hard-working business owners in Chicago, nationwide, and worldwide. Traditional lenders use underwriting practices that rely almost entirely on FICO credit scoring. These outdated processes use limited snapshot-data to withhold growth opportunities from Black and Brown founders, many who have always relied on hard work and their smart, lean operations to build their businesses, forcing them to continue bootstrapping their businesses or rely on predatory lenders for needed funds. This contributes to an $87B annual gap nationwide for loans under $100k, and prevents 80% of Black & Brown founders in Chicago alone from meeting their capital needs  – a $146M PER YEAR problem!  Fortunately we found the solution!

The future of capital investment deserves something faster and more complete

We quickly realized that two things were radically necessary to shake up this broken system and help founders succeed: A completely new underwriting process, AND fast, non-dilutive capital! 

We're here to change the funding landscape and close the gap with a new model that we call Grit Capital. Grit Capital is a proprietary and truly unique process utilizing the ‘RISE Credit Score’ system that Jarryd created to help African entrepreneurs access capital. Our system determines an owner’s RISE Score based on their business behavior, real-time financial data, and digital presence, determining their creditworthiness more accurately than FICO scores or traditional assessments. RShare connects underrepresented founders with capital based on their actual accomplishments, NOT on what they don’t have yet. 

We’re not just a fund, but a full capital marketplace

RShare unlocks growth for businesses through Grit Capital, but we are not a fund. So how do investors participate in our marketplace? It’s simple: By using the RISE Score to accurately determine creditworthiness, we give investors real-time, complete data on the small businesses within RShare. Viewing a founder’s profile and real time banking info, investors gain a pulse on the company and can jump in at whatever level they are comfortable with (like crowdfunding). They can even immediately start trading their contract. In this way, the RShare marketplace provides “revenue as a service” to fully benefit both investors and founders.  It’s the full process from start to finish.

RISE up with us!

In 18 months we’ve underwritten hundreds of millions of dollars of receivables using the RISE Score, with a less than 2% default rate! We’ve filed the RISE Score patent, and funded 2 businesses through the RShare Market. Underrepresented businesses are ready and waiting for change. With a 1,000-company waitlist for our upcoming tech platform and our critical community partnerships, we’re primed to be THE marketplace for fair and accurate representation in capital finance.

RShare is the answer to eliminate the funding gap, starting in Chicago and moving worldwide, paving the way for all communities to have a more successful and equitable financial future!

The problem we unearthed was critical – an outdated and exclusionary lending system actively rejects hard-working business owners in Chicago, nationwide, and worldwide. Traditional lenders use underwriting practices that rely almost entirely on FICO credit scoring. These outdated processes use limited snapshot-data to withhold growth opportunities from Black and Brown founders, many who have always relied on hard work and their smart, lean operations to build their businesses, forcing them to continue bootstrapping their businesses or rely on predatory lenders for needed funds. This contributes to an $87B annual gap nationwide for loans under $100k, and prevents 80% of Black & Brown founders in Chicago alone from meeting their capital needs  – a $146M PER YEAR problem!  Fortunately we found the solution!

 an outdated and exclusionary lending system actively rejects hard-working business owners in Chicago, nationwide, and worldwide. Traditional lenders use underwriting practices that rely almost entirely on FICO credit scoring. These outdated processes use limited snapshot-data to withhold growth opportunities from Black and Brown founders, many who have always relied on hard work and their smart, lean operations to build their businesses, forcing them to continue bootstrapping their businesses or rely on predatory lenders for needed funds. This contributes to an $87B annual gap nationwide for loans under $100k, and prevents 80% of Black & Brown founders in Chicago alone from meeting their capital needs  – a $146M PER YEAR problem!  Fortunately we found the solution!

The future of capital investment deserves something faster and more complete

We quickly realized that two things were radically necessary to shake up this broken system and help founders succeed: A completely new underwriting process, AND fast, non-dilutive capital! 

We're here to change the funding landscape and close the gap with a new model that we call Grit Capital. Grit Capital is a proprietary and truly unique process utilizing the ‘RISE Credit Score’ system that Jarryd created to help African entrepreneurs access capital. Our system determines an owner’s RISE Score based on their business behavior, real-time financial data, and digital presence, determining their creditworthiness more accurately than FICO scores or traditional assessments. RShare connects underrepresented founders with capital based on their actual accomplishments, NOT on what they don’t have yet. 

A good credit score is a gatekeeper to wealth, career opportunities, and growth capital in the U.S., but some say current scoring models aren’t always fair. Credit scores have gotten attention over the past few years from critics decrying their accuracy and their use of data that is reflective of historical bias while omitting certain types of data (rental and cell phone payments) that might include a broader swath of people, including Black and Hispanic consumers. Other complaints include the lack of public scoring model options and the fact that scores are used to determine things that have nothing to do with credit, like getting a job.

FICO and Dun & Bradstreet consider payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and credit mix in their model. FICO relies on three key data to determine access to credit: consumers' debt level, length of credit history, and regular and on-time payments. Together, these elements account for about 80% of the FICO score. But that data may be influenced by the generational wealth that many Black and Hispanic borrowers did not have equal access to, says Frederick Wherry, professor of sociology and director of the Dignity and Debt Network at Princeton University.

The R.I.S.E Credit score (Rshare) analyzes data sources, including revenue and future historical projections, cash flow and transactional data, eCommerce data, social network, behavioral and psychometric data information.

The Rise Credit score estimates the probability of a loan going “bad,” where “bad” is the probability of going 60+ days past due within the first twelve months from the date of loan origination. Unlike a credit bureau score based on a much wider variety of loan performance, the R.I.S.E credit score is built on the business’s real-time transactional data, psychometric quizzes, combined with historical small business loan data. The loss estimates are based on the historical performance of historical small business loans to borrowers with similar characteristics. 

Key variables in the scorecard are:

● Current Revenue
● Revenue Projections
● Banking Transactions
● Social Media Network & Engagement
● Psychometric Assessment
● Debt to Revenue
● Customer Churn

150

1. City of Chicago

2. number of minority business owners served

3. University of Chicago Civic Engagement

4. University of Chicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship

5. Obama foundation

6. City of Chicago

7. KeHe Cares Foundation

8. Chicago Public Schools

We have a five phased approach that engages all parts of the community with the first being a Chicago Public school vendor, youth and adult entrepreneurship development services, employment opportunities, micro financing for community entrepreneurs, and gap year programming. 

Future Date: January 1st 2026

Revenue:  $4.5 Million

Profit: $1.5 Million

Measurable's: people served, corporate sponsors, revenue generated, participant survey & data, participant job placement, investment portfolio, programs offered

What does it look like?

• Robust online programming provided 
• Train the Trainer model implemented for schools
• Sponsors to supplement the school programming
• Multiple Strategic partners (Nationally) to Enhance visibility 
• Concept plans for school (Feasibility)
• Circular Economy launched in 2-3 communities
• Finance fund launched
• Alumni giving back/endowment
• Community Facility/Funding in place
• 15-20 employees

We believe the Truist Foundation and MIT Solve can give us the capital and technical assistance and development we need to take our fin-tech app to market and scale. 

We would like assistance in all of the categories above