- The Trump administration released a list Monday of the companies that received the largest amounts of money distributed through the Paycheck Protection Program, a stimulus for companies established to combat the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- A number of Silicon Valley tech companies and ventures were among the recipients, including Andreessen Horowitz, Burning Man Festival, Bird, Eat Club, and Enjoy.
- PPP loans are intended to allow companies to continue paying staff even when their incomes are affected in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- However, some companies claimed Monday that they were mistakenly listed as PPP recipients despite never applying for or receiving a loan.
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The Trump administration has released new information about companies that received federal loans to bear the economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic, and several Silicon Valley companies are among the beneficiaries.
But some companies have already disputed the accuracy of the SBA’s disclosure. Bird told Business Insider that he was “on the wrong list,” adding that “he did not request or receive a PPP loan.” Index Ventures, a venture capital firm listed as the beneficiary of the loan, said in a tweet that it never received a loan.
The SBA did not immediately comment on claims by specific companies that they never submitted loan applications or received money, but were listed in Monday’s disclosure. A senior SBA official told Business Insider that the data may include some loan recipients who repaid their loans, if the banks servicing the loans did not cancel the applications.
Federal officials said the loans supported more than 51 million jobs nationwide, comprising more than $ 521 billion in total. The largest industry that benefited from the loans was health care, which received 12.9% of the money, while 12.7% went to companies classified as “professional and technical services,” according to the disclosure.
Some criticized the Small Business Administration, which administers the loans, for providing money to large, well-funded companies. More than $ 1 billion of the loans went to publicly traded companies, The Washington Post reported in May.
These are some of the notable tech companies and venture capital firms that the SBA said received loans, including some that now say they didn’t apply for loans or were included in error. Full data is available on the Treasury Department website here. The documents reveal the range, not the specific amount, of the loan granted, as well as the number of employees listed on each company’s application.
