Category: FinTech
Mudita SoulScore™: 4.7 / 5
Overview
Honeycomb Credit helps small businesses raise growth capital directly from the communities that believe in them—customers, neighbors, and local supporters—while offering investors both financial return and a shared stake in local success.
At Mudita Venture Partners, we invest in companies we believe can generate strong financial outcomes. Alongside that, we apply the Mudita SoulScore™—our proprietary index for understanding how a company’s business model compounds real-world value as it scales.Honeycomb Credit exemplifies what the Mudita SoulScore™ is designed to surface:
when a company’s growth engine also strengthens the economic, social, and systemic fabric around it, value compounds on multiple levels.
The Problem: Small Businesses Are Systemically Underserved
Small businesses are systematically underserved by traditional capital.
- Bank financing favors collateral, long histories, and institutional access
- Women founders, minority founders, and community-based businesses are disproportionately excluded
- The fallout is collective: fewer jobs, weaker neighborhoods, and fragile local economies
The Solution: Honeycomb Credit
Honeycomb’s crowdfunding platform is the brainchild of CEO George Cook and Ken Martin. As a sixth-generation community banker, George saw the pain point first-hand where qualified local business owners were denied loans from big commercial banks. At the same time, Ken couldn’t secure loans to start his juice shop despite his finance background. And so, the idea for Honeycomb Credit was born in 2017.
With a growing community of over 18,000+ investors, 500+ business owners, Honeycomb has driven over $30M in local business investments, 1,142 jobs supported with businesses experiencing 60% YoY growth after partnering with Honeycomb.
The Honeycomb Model: How It Works
Honeycomb Credit enables small businesses to raise capital through a regulated community investment model:
- A small business seeks growth or operating capital
- Honeycomb structures the raise (amount, terms, messaging)
- The opportunity is shared with customers and the local community
- Capital is deployed only if funding thresholds are met
- Investors earn returns; businesses deepen community ties
Why Mudita Invested In Honeycomb Credit
We believe the strongest companies often emerge where real economic pain intersects with a durable, monetizable model.
Honeycomb serves founders who are routinely overlooked by traditional capital while building a scalable platform with clear unit economics and expanding demand.
About Mudita SoulScore™
Mudita SoulScore™ is Mudita Venture Partners’ internal index for understanding how a company’s growth translates into economic, social, and systemic value.
- 4 categories, scored 1–5
- Weighted to reflect durable impact
- Built collaboratively with founders
- Used to guide action—not just storytelling
SoulScore is not a gating mechanism for investment, and a higher score does not mean a “better” company. It’s our way of understanding what kind of value is compounding as a business scales and how we can help amplify it.
Honeycomb Through the Mudita SoulScore™ Lens
The Mudita SoulScore evaluates companies across four dimensions of real-world value creation. Honeycomb scores highly across each.
Economic & Entrepreneurial Impact — 5 / 5
- Expands access to capital
- Drives job creation and wage growth
- $30M+ deployed creates a powerful local flywheel
Organizational Integrity & Inclusion — 4 / 5
- Inclusion is embedded in the model—not a side initiative.
- Honeycomb supports founders facing systemic barriers.
Human & Social Impact — 5 / 5
- ~47% minority-owned businesses
- ~56% women-owned businesses
- Significant reach into underserved communities
- Beyond capital, Honeycomb fosters pride, ownership, and connection.
Systemic Impact — 5 / 5
- Normalizes local investment and shared ownership
- Helps communities finance themselves sustainably
Weighted Mudita SoulScore™: 4.7 / 5
How You Can Make a Greater Impact with Honeycomb Credit
As Honeycomb continues to scale, there are several ways partners, investors, and ecosystem leaders can help accelerate the mission:
- Market expansion: Replicating the model in new local economies
- Ecosystem partnerships: Connecting complementary financial, marketing, and advisory services
For questions about Honeycomb Credit, please contact Managing Partner Josh Tolman at josh.tolman@muditavp.com.
