Hello Alice reaches $50 million grant funding goal

The financial technology platform Hello Alice announced Thursday it reached a milestone $50 million in grant funding over four years to support small businesses.

“We are beyond excited,” said president and co-founder of Hello Alice, Elizabeth Gore. “We’re a small business helping small businesses, so you know it’s pretty exciting that we’ve been able to support this many businesses.”

Gore and co-founder Carolyn Rodz established Hello Alice to guide entrepreneurs to resources and grants to help fund their businesses.

The company focuses on providing equitable capital with a particular goal to uplift military veterans, women-owned companies and companies owned by people in marginalized communities, Gore said.

In Sonoma County and Napa County, Gore said there is a spectrum of small businesses in industries including agriculture, tourism, human and health services and the arts. She said despite the fires, floods and COVID-19 epidemic, small businesses remain the heart of their communities.

“It’s really crucial that we look to our small businesses to ensure we’re giving them the support they need because they are the largest job creators in our community, and so it’s an essential part of our fabric,” Gore said.

Gore is originally from Texas but lives in Healdsburg with her husband, Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore. Elizabeth Gore and Rodz started the company online in 2017.

Since its inception, the online platform has gained over 1.5 million small businesses members throughout the U.S.

Last year Hello Alice was in the spotlight as the subject of a racial discrimination lawsuit involving a partnership grant with Progressive Insurance. The lawsuit was later dismissed by a federal judge in Ohio.

This year Hello Alice announced the Business Health Score tool, which allows companies to check the financial health of their business and offers resources to help improve their financial viability.

Gore said going forward, the company wants to help even more entrepreneurs.

“We are just getting started, so our goal is to raise money for small businesses to advocate for them with policy and then provide the best software that we can for funding,” Gore said.

You can reach Staff Writer Melanie Nguyen at 707-521-5457 or melanie.nguyen@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @mellybelly119