News

A look at the tech companies that received over $150k in PPP loans

(And some who probably shouldn’t have)

by
Josiah Motley
July 8, 2020

Image: KnowTechie

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In late March, the US government approved the Paycheck Protection Program, which would let businesses apply for a low interest (1%), forgivable loan in the wake of businesses shutting down over COVID-19. The PPP was intended for smaller businesses (under 500 people), but apparently, that hasn’t stopped many companies from taking advantage of the program thanks to specific wording regarding singular locations.

There have been plenty of stories of businesses that really didn’t need the loan getting approved for loans over $100,000, but this week, the US government released a list of all the companies that received loans over $150,000.

The list is already making waves, with some companies saying the information is incorrect. Take Bird, for example. The electric scooter company supposedly received a loan worth between $5 million and $10 million, but the company and CEO have come out to say that it is not true.

The PPP loans are supposed to be used to help protect workers, with the money to be used to keep them on the payroll in the midst of shutdowns and other issues due to COVID-19.

With this list, which identifies roughly 650,000 businesses that received over $150,000, we now have a better idea of just which companies, including tech companies, received the money and how many jobs they were supposedly saving.

Tech companies that received over $150,000 from PPP loans

The list of companies is vast, so there are definitely some not listed here and there may be some that shouldn’t be on the list (if Bird and Index Ventures are anything to go by). Regardless, check below for the growing list of tech companies that supposedly received loans, as well as loan amounts and the reported number of jobs retained.

This is definitely not a full list of every tech company to receive a loan, but we did try to compile a lot of the bigger applicants, as well as tech hotspots like California, Boston, Seattle, and so on.

Company	Loan amount (Range)	Number of jobs retained
Acronis Inc	$2-5 million	0
Aeye	$2-5 million	85
Airbiquity	$1-2 million	54
Akvelon	$1-2 million	72
Alert Innovation	$2-5 million	10
Algorithmia	$1-2 million	58
AllTurtles	$350k – 1 million	26
Allurion Technologies	$1-2 million	70
Americlerk	$1-2 million	0
Amperity	$2-5 million	155
Appcues	$1-2 million	72
Aqua Security Software	$1-2 million	Not listed
Avid Technology	$5-10 million	Not listed
Bardy Diagnostics	$2-5 million	Not listed
Barkbox	$5-10 million	340
Bitmovin	$350k – 1 million	157
Bittrex	$1-2 million	102
Blink Interactive	$2-5 million	Not listed
Bolt Mobility	$350k – 1 million	18
BSQUARE	$1-2 million	42
Byton North America	$5-10 million	387
Canoo	$5-10 million	0
Catalant Techonlogies Inc	$5-10 million	219
ChaosSearch	$350k – 1 million	22
Code.org	$1-2 million	81
Coding Dojo	$1-2 million	57
Coffee Meets Bagel	$1-2 million	47
Connected2Fiber	$350k – 1 million	43
ConnectRN	$2-5 million	224
Core Scientific	$150k – 350k	18
Crayon Inc	$1-2 million	72
Cygilant	$350k – 1 million	106
DataKitchen	$350k – 1 million	33
Disruptor Beam	$350k – 1 million	0
DomainTools	$2-5 million	87
Dover Microsystems	$350k – 1 million	21
EMC Technologies	$350k – 1 million	39
Endogastric Solutions	$2-5 million	79
Entelo	$1-2 million	36
Etailz	$2-5 million	157
ExaGrid Systems, Inc.	$5-10 million	249
ExtraHop	$5-10 million	0
Faraday Future	$5-10 million	237
Fincura	$350k – 1 million	9
Flipboard	$2-5 million	75
Flyhomes	$2-5 million	0
Formlabs Inc.	$5-10 million	150
Fronteo	$5-10 million	434
Fuze	$5-10 million	0
Fyusion	$1-2 million	10
GasBuddy LLC	$1-2 million	39
Getaround	$5-10 million	448
Globalization Partners	$2-5 million	87
Gravity Payments	$2-5 million	197
Grindr	$1-2 million	69
Hardsuit Labs	$1-2 million	96
Hired	$5-10 million	156
Hiya	$1-2 million	73
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies	$150k – 350k	15
iBoss	$2-5 million	204
iClick	$1-2 million	149
Indigo Technologies	$350k – 1 million	35
INRIX	$2-5 million	114
Interactions LLC	$5-10 million	459
IronNet	$5-10 million	252
iSoftStone	$2-5 million	133
Jassby	$350k – 1 million	23
JetClosing	$1-2 million	81
Jukin Media	$2-5 million	127
Karma Automotive	$5-10 million	463
Kodiak Robotics	$1-2 million	87
Legility	$5-10 million	Not listed
Lendbuzz	$350k – 1 million	52
Level 2 Legal	$1-2 million	83
Lighter Capital	$1-2 million	59
Luminar	$5-10 million	341
Marchex	$2-5 million	180
Markforged Inc.	$5-10 million	219
Massdrop	$2-5 million	56
May Mobility	$1-2 million	58
Medstreaming	$2-5 million	116
Metromile	$5-10 million	75
MicroVision	$1-2 million	76
Mixpanel	$5-10 million	359
Modo Labs	$1-2 million	88
Nanigans	$350k – 1 million	23
Nantero	$1-2 million	60
Neurala	$350k – 1 million	37
New Engen	$2-5 million	0
Nio USA	$5-10 million	204
Nylas	$1-2 million	76
Omnisci	$2-5 million	69
Onapsis Inc.	$2-5 million	91
OpenResearch	$150k – 350k	0
Optimus Ride	$2-5 million	159
Ossia	$1-2 million	45
Peerspace	$1-2 million	28
Pixability	$1-2 million	Not listed
Porch	$5-10 million	409
PreVeil	$350k – 1 million	20
Privy Inc.	$1-2 million	64
Proletariat	$350k – 1 million	59
Promoboxx	$1-2 million	35
Pronto.ai	$350k – 1 million	17
Proterra	$5-10 million	500
Quantcast	$5-10 million	427
Quantopian	$350k – 1 million	32
RealNetworks	$2-5 million	487
Realwear	$2-5 million	51
Redapt	$1-2 million	95
Reputation.com	$5-10 million	0
Rescale	$2-5 million	117
Rhapsody	$1-2 million	65
RideCell	$2-5 million	146
RightHand Robotics	$1-2 million	66
Rover	$5-10 million	Not listed
Saildrone	$2-5 million	66
Shiftboard	$1-2 million	42
Sightlife	$2-5 million	155
SkyKick	$2-5 million	0
Splice Machine	$350k – 1 million	33
Sporcle	$1-2 million	0
SquareFoot	$1-2 million	Not listed
Stackin	$150k – 350k	Not listed
Styleseat	$1-2 million	73
Survata	$1-2 million	0
TableSafe	$1-2 million	54
Takeoff Technologies	$1-2 million	100
Talkdesk	$5-10 million	282
Teikametrics	$1-2 million	105
Tempered Networks	$1-2 million	59
The Predictive Index Holdings LLC	$2-5 million	Not listed
The Riveter	$1-2 million	42
TradeShift	$5-10 million	201
Tradesy	$1-2 million	107
Turo	$5-10 million	Not listed
TuSimple	$2-5 million	324
Udelv	$350k – 1 million	0
Unify Square	$1-2 million	56
Vecna Technologies	$1-2 million	62
Velodyne	$5-10 million	450
Vix Technology	$1-2 million	63
Wanderjaunt	$1-2 million	1693
WiTricity Corp.	$1-2 million	42
Wrench	$1-2 million	112
Xealth	$1-2 million	10
Zazzle	$5-10 million	307
Zendrive	$1-2 million	34
ZocDoc	$5-10 million	250

If you spend any time on this list of PPP loans you’ll notice a couple of interesting standouts. For one, you have Stackin on there. Stackin is basically a financial app/product for younger people. Well, back in May the company received $12 million in Series B financing.

Then you have Nio US, an electric vehicle company that is based in China that has a branch in the US. It received over $5 million in PPP loans. TuSimple, a company with funding close to $300 million, received between $2-5 million. Zumper, not on this list, actually retracted its loan application for fear of backlash.

Other companies, like ZocDoc, have actually already returned the money, stating that they were able to pivot in the wake of COVID-19 and returned the money to help other businesses in need. On the opposite end of the spectrum, companies like Rover and ExtraHop received $5-10 million in funding and still ended up cutting their workforces.

Obviously, this isn’t a full picture of everything going on with all of these companies, but with stories like those of Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris, it’s ok to be a bit skeptical about some of these loans.

What do you think? Are you worried that some companies that received PPP loans shouldn’t have? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.