Between February 24 and March 9, 2021, only small businesses and non-profits with fewer than twenty employees could apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. The exclusive period was designed to give smaller businesses a better chance at securing a loan, since they often struggle more than larger businesses to collect the necessary paperwork required by banks.
Our data shows more than 436,438 loans totaling $13.8 billion were approved during that two-week window. Check out the graph below to see how many were approved each day. For more data about PPP, head to our PPP Interactive dashboard.
Note: Businesses that applied for loans in the two weeks but did not have their loans approved until after March 9, 2021 are not included in the data.