CCVI was formed to provide equity and operational assistance to qualifying businesses in northern New England. Our mission is to realize a 'triple bottom line' by supporting companies that can demonstrate an ability to meet or exceed our financial, social and environmental aims within our target region. CCVI invests from its own fund in amounts ranging from $100,000 and $500,000. Working with partner funds, we can also help coordinate and/or lead larger financings (as much as $5 million) with investors that share our outlook and criteria.

CCVI is a for-profit subsidiary of Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), a non-profit community and economic development group based in Maine. CEI helped to create legislation that led to the development of a US Small Business Association program known as the New Markets Venture Capital (NMVC) initiative. Part of SBA's long-standing Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program, NMVC funds are co-funded by SBA and are to be invested in targeted, underserved communities across the US. A $10M venture capital fund, CCVI was one of only seven organizations to receive conditional approval and the third to receive an SBA license to operate this program. In conjuction with its equity sponsorship, SBA also co-funds a $3M Operational Assistance Program designed to support professional services that aid companies in either becoming 'equity ready' or executing their business plan once CCVI has provided venture capital funding. Like the equity program, these OAP resources must be directed to CCVI's target communities.