CO · State guide

Business loans in Colorado

Colorado businesses can reach three separate pools of money: lenders that publish availability here, the state's own financing programs, and federal SBA lending through local participants. We have 7 state programs on file with published terms, and 1 still linked from live government pages that is no longer open.

15 cities covered Checked 14 Sep 2026
Get funding in Colorado See the shortlist

Where to start in Colorado

No lender here publishes a state-by-state availability list naming CO, so this is the directory ranked by how much each one puts on the record. Absence from a list nobody publishes means nothing.

  1. 100%

    Forward Financing

    $5K – $500K Same day Credit from 500
    9/9 on the record
  2. 100%

    ROK Financial

    $10K – $5M 1-3 days Credit from 500
    9/9 on the record
  3. 100%

    South End Capital

    $1K – $5M Same-day funding available Credit from 650
    9/9 on the record
  4. 89%

    Bizcap US

    Up to $2M Same day Credit from 550
    8/9 on the record
  5. 89%

    ByzFunder

    Up to $500K Same day Credit from 525
    8/9 on the record
  6. 89%

    Fora Financial

    $5K – $1.5M As little as 24 hours Credit from 570
    8/9 on the record
  7. 89%

    Fox Business Funding

    Up to $1M As little as 2 business days Credit from 550
    8/9 on the record
  8. 89%

    National Funding

    $6K – $500K As fast as 24 hours Credit from 600
    8/9 on the record
  9. 89%

    Straight Line Source

    Partner
    $5K – $10M Same day Credit from 500
    8/9 on the record
  10. 78%

    Biz2Credit

    $25K – $2M Decision as fast as 24 hours Credit from 650
    7/9 on the record
  11. 78%

    CAN Capital

    $2K – $400K As fast as the next business day Credit from 600
    7/9 on the record
  12. 78%

    Credibly

    $5K – $10M As fast as 4 hours after approval Credit from 550
    7/9 on the record
published not published Ordered by disclosure, not by what anyone pays us. The score is a count of what a lender publishes, not a rating of the lender.

What Colorado itself funds

Cash Collateral SupportAdministered by Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA), Community Development Lending Team, on behalf of OEDIT. Credit enhancement: a cash deposit is pledged as additional collateral to a lender so a small or medium-sized business can access a loan it could not otherwise obtain because of a collateral shortfall. Published amounts: "Up to 35% of the loan amount or $1,000,000, whichever is less" (40% or $800,000 for employee-owned businesses). Maximum supported loan size $20 million. Cash deposit pledged "for an initial term of three years," extendable annually up to 10 years. Standard borrower fee 4%. Eligibility as published: Borrowers must be for-profit, nonprofit, or manufacturing organizations with fewer than 750 employees. The lender must demonstrate a collateral shortfall and a reasonable expectation of loan repayment.
CLIMBER Loans (Colorado Loans to Increase Mainstreet Business Economic Recovery)Administered by Colorado Department of the Treasury with OEDIT; loans originated by participating banks, credit unions, CDFIs and nonprofit lenders. Working capital loans to Colorado small businesses; program was created for businesses "financially stable before the pandemic but now need help to survive." Published amounts: $10,000 to $500,000; "below-market interest rates"; a one-year deferred payment option is offered. Exact rate and term not published on the OEDIT page. Eligibility as published: Colorado small businesses with 1 to 99 employees.
Colorado Credit ReserveAdministered by Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) through participating lenders. Loan loss reserve credit enhancement supporting working capital, inventory, equipment, contract financing, lines of credit and small business real estate projects. Published amounts: Up to $500,000 per loan. Borrower pays a 1% fee on loan principal, matched by the program into the loan loss reserve. Rates and terms are set by the participating lender. Eligibility as published: Businesses operating primarily in Colorado with the primary economic benefit in-state. Priority to women- and minority-owned businesses, rural enterprises and businesses in enterprise zones. Excluded: pyramid schemes, gambling facilities, religious instruction, sexual-content businesses and illegal activities.
Colorado Startup Loan FundAdministered by OEDIT in partnership with mission-driven nonprofit lenders and CDFIs (applicants apply directly to a lender, not to OEDIT). Working capital, startup expenses, tenant improvements, commercial real estate, equipment, and in some cases debt restructuring and business acquisitions. Published amounts: $500 to $150,000 (varies by lender). "Repayment terms no greater than 10 years." Interest rate not published on the OEDIT page (set by the individual lender). Eligibility as published: For-profit entities located in Colorado with primary business activities in Colorado; 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees; no more than $2 million in gross annual revenues; unable to obtain traditional financing. New businesses with under 24 months of revenue must complete Technical Assistance first.
Colorado Revolving Loan FundAdministered by OEDIT with three nonprofit lenders: B:Side Fund and Colorado Enterprise Fund (urban/Front Range) and Region 9 Economic Development District (rural/non-Front Range); capitalized by the U.S. EDA. Startup and working capital for small to medium-sized businesses to create and retain jobs; originally targeted at businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Published amounts: $5,000 to $750,000. Interest rates capped at 10% (average about 4%); repayment periods up to 20 years depending on loan type. Eligibility as published: For-profit businesses and nonprofits, with priority for socially and economically disadvantaged enterprises including minority-, women-, veteran-, Native American-, immigrant- and disabled-owned businesses and rural/low-income businesses.
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Business LoanAdministered by OEDIT Business Funding and Incentives division, through 12 Regional Business Loan Funds with local managers. Loans and loan guarantees to businesses in rural Colorado for job creation and retention. Published amounts: Microenterprise loans up to $100,000. General business loan amounts are set at the regional manager's discretion. Terms not published. Eligibility as published: For-profit businesses in rural Colorado. Must create or retain one job per $35,000 in CDBG funds received, and at least 51% of jobs created or retained must go to low-to-moderate income individuals. Microenterprise applicants must have 5 or fewer employees and all owners must qualify as low-to-moderate income. Ineligible areas: Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, El Paso, Jefferson and Weld counties plus 18 cities including Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins.
Venture Capital Authority (VCA)Administered by Colorado Venture Capital Authority / OEDIT, deploying through six partner venture funds. Equity investment in pre-seed, seed and early-stage Colorado businesses through professional venture capital fund managers. Published amounts: "Historically, from $50,000 to $1 million per investment" Eligibility as published: Companies must show strong growth potential and willingness to share equity; be headquartered with principal operations in Colorado; meet SBA small business criteria; maintain Colorado operations for at least five years post-investment; and be seeking their first professionally managed venture capital funding.

Programs you may still see linked that are not open

Each of these is still reachable from a live government page, and none of them is currently accepting applications. A live link is not an open program, and finding that out after you have built a plan around one costs weeks.

Cannabis Business LoanEXPIRED BUT STILL LINKED. The only application-status statement on the live OEDIT page is "The next application period will open 8/15/2023" - more than three years stale as of the check date, with no superseding window published. The program remains listed on OEDIT's small business funding index.

Federal money behind these programs

Colorado was allocated $104.8M under the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative, which is what funds most of the credit enhancements above. SSBCI money reaches businesses through participating lenders rather than from the state directly, so the application still goes through a bank or a CDFI.

What we could not confirm

Census figures verified by two independent fetches of the same QuickFacts page; both returned identical values and all three business rows are labeled reference year 2023. SSBCI: U.S. Treasury's Capital Program Summaries shows $104.8M for Colorado (Cash Collateral Support $35.0M, CLIMBER Loan Fund $10.0M, Colorado VC Authority $59.8M); OEDIT's own page says "approximately $104.7 million" received in three tranches over seven years. The $0.1M difference is recorded here rather than resolved - the Treasury figure is used as the headline allocation. Cities threshold is 10,000+ (2020 census), giving 50 municipalities - deliberately lower than 25,000 per the brief's request for more Colorado coverage. Population column on the Wikipedia source is the 2020 decennial census; Wikipedia's alphabetical municipality table was transcribed in five letter-range passes after an initial population-sorted pass returned mis-ordered and incomplete data. Cannabis Business Loan is the one clearly stale program (see status_note). Venture Capital Authority has a partial closure affecting fund managers only.

Cities in Colorado

ArvadaAuroraBoulderBroomfieldCastle RockCentennialColorado SpringsDenverFort CollinsGrand JunctionGreeleyLakewoodPuebloThorntonWestminster

More for Colorado

GuideSmall business funding in Colorado: the CLIMBER fund, cash collateral support and no disclosure rule Colorado built a named small business loan fund of its own, which is unusual, and still requires no cost disclosure from commercial funders.

Business funding in Colorado — common questions

Can I get business funding in Colorado?

Yes. 12 funders in this directory serve businesses in Colorado, and 0 of them name Colorado explicitly in their published availability rather than being included by default.

Does Colorado require lenders to disclose the cost of business financing?

Colorado's position is set out on this page. As of 2026 only a small number of states require a commercial financing disclosure, and in the rest you will not receive one — which means you have to ask for the total dollar cost, the term and every fee in writing yourself.

Are there state programmes for small business capital in Colorado?

3 state-level programmes are recorded here with a link to the administering agency. Programmes open and close, so confirm the current position on the agency's own site before relying on one.

Is a merchant cash advance legal in Colorado?

Commercial financing generally sits outside the consumer credit rules most people have heard of, and most state usury caps do not reach business-purpose transactions. What varies is disclosure, broker registration and lender licensing. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.

How do I check for liens filed against my business in Colorado?

Through Colorado's UCC filing office, which is named on this page. Search your exact registered entity name — a filing under a slightly different name will not come back, and neither will a stale one nobody terminated.

Which lenders will not fund in Colorado?

Where a funder publishes an excluded-states list, this page shows it. Many publish nothing, which is not the same as being available — it means you have to ask.

Does being based in Colorado change what I pay?

Not directly in most cases. What changes is what you are told before you sign, and what recourse you have afterwards, both of which depend on your state's rules and on the jurisdiction clause in the contract.

What should I have ready before applying?

Three months of business bank statements, your time in business from a verifiable date, average monthly deposits, your entity's good standing, and a clear figure for what you need and what for.

How current is this page?

Every figure carries the date it was checked. Where a check has passed its review date the page says so rather than presenting as current.