Our story
The problem
Independent local businesses face a real funding crisis. Traditional banks reject the majority of small-business loan applications, take months to underwrite the ones they accept, and impose fixed monthly payments that trigger cash crunches the moment a season slows down. Merchant cash advances fill the gap with predatory rates, and prepaid gift cards rarely reach anyone beyond a business's existing walk-in traffic.
What we built
So we built LocalChum — a way for local businesses to fund what's next directly with the regulars who already love them.
Who we are
Our founding team brings decades of combined experience across fintech, food-business policy, and software engineering. We're led by a multi-time tech CEO who built decision systems for institutional finance, a three-time venture-backed food-tech founder who helped author California's AB-626 home-restaurant law, and an AI/ML engineer with a background scaling high-performance systems at top tech companies.
Where we're going
We believe LocalChum will become the default way neighborhood businesses fund their growth directly from the community that already shows up for them — a normal part of how a community supports its own.