John Tishler
Securities Attorney
Answered on
Unfortunately, the EB-5 program is not well suited to the working capital needs of small businesses or start-ups, which needs fall under the category of corporate finance rather than project finance. The one exception is foreign entrepreneurs that wish to deploy capital in start-up enterprises they found or run themselves. Such entrepreneurs would be bearing the early-stage risk in any case and can take advantage of all of the jobs created in the enterprise, not just their share of a larger EB-5 pool. We typically suggest to our early stage clients looking for capital that they join an incubator or coaching program and/or recruit an advisory board of persons well-connected in their industry.
