NYC Future Fund: rates, requirements and how to apply

By Solomon Wiesen, editor. Updated October 2026. Editorial standards | How this site is funded

The NYC Future Fund lends $25,000 to $500,000 to New York City small businesses at 7.5% annual interest, with a 3% origination fee and up to five years to repay, according to the city’s program page. You need 12 months in business, one year of filed tax returns and $50,000 in annual revenue, and every owner with 20% or more has to sign a personal guaranty. Principal payments move with your monthly revenue, which is what separates it from a bank term loan.

The loans are made by four community development financial institutions (CDFIs) working with the city. The figures below are as of October 2026, and the city says terms and eligibility may change over time.

The published terms

How the revenue-based payment works

There are two payments. Interest is due every month at 7.5% a year, which is 0.625% a month: $625 in the first month on a $100,000 balance, by my arithmetic, and less as the balance falls. Principal is due only in months when your revenue exceeds a threshold the city defines as 25% of your average monthly revenue. On that wording, a salon that averages $40,000 a month has a $10,000 threshold, so it would owe principal in any month it took in more than $10,000.

The city page does not say what percentage of revenue goes to principal. The mayor’s office says monthly repayment can be as low as 2% of monthly revenue, depending on loan size and business needs. Run that number before you count on it. At 2%, the salon pays $800 a month, or $48,000 over 60 months, which is less than half of a $100,000 loan even if every dollar went to principal. Clearing $100,000 in five years takes about $1,667 a month, and that is 2% of revenue only for a business averaging about $83,000 a month. So a larger loan either carries a higher percentage or leaves a balance at the end of the term. Neither page says which, and neither says how average revenue is measured.

What changed in March 2026

The fund ran as a pilot in 2025 that put a combined $1.2 million into four businesses, with philanthropic support from JPMorganChase to CRF and funding from TD Bank. On March 17, 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office relaunched it with looser terms:

The release puts $80 million in its headline and does not break that figure down between city money and private capital. The official paper trail is smaller: a $10 million city seed investment announced May 29, 2024, and an $8,597,000 contract with CRF running September 1, 2024 to June 30, 2033. The fund follows the NYC Small Business Opportunity Fund, which lent up to $250,000 at 4% to 1,046 businesses and was closed by March 11, 2024.

How to apply

1. Go to nyc.gov/futurefund and press Get Started. The short questionnaire sits on nycfuturefund.com, a site whose footer credits CRF.
2. If your answers fit, you are asked to pick a participating lender. If they don’t, you are sent to NYC Funds Finder, the city’s loan marketplace. Loan size should drive the choice: Accompany Capital stops at $150,000. CRF’s page gives no terms of its own, and a search of the Grow America and Pursuit sites turned up no Future Fund page as of October 2026.
3. The lender contacts you with next steps. A representative from one of the city’s NYC Business Solutions Centers also reaches out to offer free help with the application. For questions, call 888-727-4692 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and ask for “NYC Future Fund.”
4. The lender reviews the file and decides. The city publishes no timeline. Accompany Capital says its regular loans take about two to four weeks to process, a figure for its lending in general.

The cost next to a merchant cash advance

Take $50,000. The 3% fee is $1,500. If you repay principal in 60 equal monthly pieces, interest totals $9,531, so the loan costs $11,031 over five years. If you paid no principal until the last day, interest would be $18,750 and the total $20,250. All of this is my arithmetic from the published rate and fee.

A merchant cash advance of $50,000 at a 1.40 factor rate costs $20,000 and is collected by debits every business day, which works out to about 71% APR over twelve months and 142% over six. On the published terms, the Future Fund loan’s first year costs at most $5,250: $3,750 of interest plus the fee.

The city publishes no APR. If the fee is taken out of the proceeds, so you receive $48,500, the APR works out by my arithmetic to about 8.9% for the 60-payment case, 8.2% if principal is repaid at the end, and 10.7% if you pay interest only and clear the whole balance at twelve months. You can run your own offer through the MCA vs. loan calculator.

If you won’t qualify

You are out if the business is under 12 months old, has no filed return, earns under $50,000 a year or needs less than $25,000. Accompany Capital’s microloans run $1,000 to $50,000 at 8% fixed for up to three years, with no minimum credit score and a 1% closing fee. Kiva lends $1,000 to $15,000 at 0% interest with no fees, though it bars using the money to refinance debt. The site’s table of 19 local lenders has the rest, and if you need more than $500,000, the SBA lender finder shows which banks make SBA loans in your borough.

What to ask the lender before you sign

• What percentage of my revenue goes to principal at my loan size, does the 2% figure apply to me, and what happens to any balance left at the end of the term?
• How is my average monthly revenue calculated, and how often is it recalculated?
• Is the 3% fee deducted from the proceeds or added to the balance, and are there closing or filing charges on top?
• Who has to sign the guaranty? The city says all owners of 20% or more; Accompany Capital’s page says a guarantor may be required.
• Which assets does the UCC filing cover, and what happens if another lender or funder has already filed a lien against the business?
• Refinancing is an eligible use. Will you pay off a merchant cash advance balance with this loan?
• Is there a prepayment fee? Accompany Capital says no; the city page doesn’t say.

I’d get the answers in writing before signing. If the fund doesn’t fit, the site’s financing request form is another place to start.