By Riley Kaminer
The allure of venture capital funding is hard to avoid. The tweets, the F1 parties, all that “added value” – VCs feed off this sense of FOMO to secure their spot on top cap tables.
But startups mustn’t forget about the humble SBA (Small Business Administration) loan. Well, not so humble: in the 2023 fiscal year the SBA provided small businesses with $52 billion in capital. Compare that to the entire US VC market in 2023, which stood at $149 billion.
There’s a catch: navigating the cobweb of SBA opportunities can leave entrepreneurs feeling frustrated. The good news? Fort Lauderdale’s very own Locality Bank is here to help.
“Small businesses account for 99.9% of businesses nationwide; we’re here to support them with the resources they need to continue to thrive,” said Ana Ihrig, Locality Bank’s Director of SBA Operations. “We’re honored to have been designated as an SBA preferred lender, one of only two banks headquartered in Broward County to earn the designation.”
Locality Bank also has SBA Express and SBA Export Express authority, enabling them to provide SBA-guaranteed working capital lines of credit under the SBA’s Express Program, which has less stringent eligibility, documentation, and monitoring requirements than other SBA programs. The bank is also part of the SBA’s Lender Match Program, which pairs potential business clients with SBA Preferred Lenders.
“We are able to be more flexible on the credit terms, and we’re able to offer financing to newer companies that might not be able to get traditional bank financing,” Locality Bank CEO Keith Costello told Refresh Miami.
All told, these new partnerships with the SBA underscore the bank’s commitment to serving our community’s small businesses. Locality Bank has taken a digital-first, tech-driven approach to building a 21st century bank. And yes, it’s a real bank with charters, FDIC approval, and all – standing in stark contrast to many fintech startups that are digital wrappers put on traditional banking institutions.
“Over the last two and a quarter years, we’ve been constantly rolling out upgraded technology,” Costello asserted. He expressed particular excitement about a project COO and CTO Corey LeBlanc is currently leading: creating a data lake to better enable Locality Bank’s team to access data about their clients to more easily provide helpful suggestions and insights.
The community is buying into Locality Bank’s vision, quite literally. “We grew to about $100 million in assets in our first year and have done another roughly $100 million this year,” said Costello. He noted that 98% of businesses in South Florida have 500 or fewer employees, and many of those are solo or micro-enterprises.
“We aim to offer a more unique experience,” he said. Despite being digital-forward, customers can still pop into Locality Bank’s Fort Lauderdale office (with more physical branches likely coming online soon) and speak directly with the decision makers.
This local approach combined with a tireless focus on tech innovation is Locality Bank’s secret sauce. “If you want to, you’re able to talk to the CEO or the executive team or the Chief Technology Officer,” said Costello. “We’re all right here. We’re accessible.”
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Amid macroeconomic uncertainty, Broward’s Locality Bank sees growth: surpassing $110M in assets in less than a year
- In the blink of an eye, OneBlinc banks $100M credit facility to provide payroll loans for federal employees
- In wake of SVB and First Republic collapse, CapStack collects $6M to build inter-bank marketplace
- Boopos ramps up, firmly on the path to become the investment bank for SMBs
- Q&A: Novo’s Michael Rangel on empowering small businesses to make a positive impact on their local communities
- MATERIAL raises $7.1M to reshape how batteries are made - January 14, 2026
- This Miami proptech just raised $2.5M to speed up property title verification - January 14, 2026
- Remitian is fixing the broken moment in tax compliance no one talks about - January 13, 2026