Financial Resources Aimed at Funding Good Job Growth and Environmentally Sustainable Enterprises

October 16, 2017 — BRUNSWICK, ME — Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) today announced that the venture capital fund, Coastal Ventures IV Limited Partnership, established by its for-profit venture capital subsidiary CEI Ventures, Inc. (CVI), has been certified by the U.S. Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).

This designation is given by the CDFI Fund to specialized organizations that provide financial services in low income communities and to people who lack access to financing. Similar to its three predecessors, the CEI Ventures’ Coastal Ventures IV fund seeks to make investments in businesses that provide good jobs, focus on environmental sustainability and foster shared prosperity. This certification applies to targeted venture capital investments in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and New York.

“We are honored and pleased to have been recognized as a trusted financial resource for individuals and organizations working hard to create new opportunities for people in our community to reach their full potential,” said Nathaniel Henshaw, president of CEI Ventures. “The CDFI Certification not only validates what we have been able to accomplish in the past, it emboldens us to set our sights even higher to a place where sustainable enterprises thrive and shared prosperity is the norm.”

Across the United States, more than 1,100 mission-driven certified CDFIs are focused on providing financial services to meet the needs of economically disadvantaged individuals within underserved communities. CEI Ventures builds upon the CDFI model by raising private capital and investing directly in companies that match that mission through operations, products or services.

“Regional, localized CDFIs such as CEI Ventures are vital to helping Americans start and expand businesses and create jobs,” says Tanya McInnis, Acting Manager of the Office of Certification, Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation, CDFI Fund. “Specifically, it’s the CDFIs ability to identify, examine and finance affordable housing, small businesses, schools, community facilities and many other types of investments that sparks sustainable growth in communities across America.”