No Limbits, a Richmond adaptive clothing company led by CEO Erica Cole, has landed a $50,000 grant from Progressive Insurance to be used toward the purchase of a new commercial vehicle for the business.
The company was one of 20 small businesses from across the country to score grants from the Mayfield Village, Ohio, insurance giant through its Driving Small Business Forward program. Progressive said it expanded the number of recipients this year as well as the value of the grants.
Cole told me in an interview she's going to use the grant on a commercial van "to show up in spaces are customers are in," namely for pop-up experiences to help get people to experience her company's products. No Limbits makes clothing for amputees and wheelchair users and has expanded to other garments for specific disabilities.
"What better was to get someone to experience the products then to touch them, try them on," she said.
Along with pop-up experiences, Cole said the van would be used to get to clinics and assisted living facilities for shopping-day experiences for residents, as well as to community events like climbing days and bike events to support athletes seeking adaptive clothing.
Cole and No Limbits earned a lot of notoriety in 2022 following an appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” where she earned a deal with Mark Cuban and Emma Grede that landed her $100,000 in exchange for 10% equity. It raised a $1.4 million seed round in 2022 that included participation from Georgetown's Halcyon Angels and New York's The Disability Opportunity Fund and follow-on investments from Cuban and Grede.
Cole started her company after a 2018 car accident resulted in her left leg being amputated below the knee. She began creating clothing in response to a need for pants that fit over her prosthesis.
Progressive said it worked with Houston fintech platform Hello Alice to administer the grant program. No Limbits was the lone Virginia-based grant recipient from the program this year.
Along with the vehicle grants, the winning companies will have the opportunity to participate in Boost Camp, what Progressive called “a business coaching program” from Hello Alice that focuses on core concepts of business growth, such as budgeting, forecasting, funding and pitch strategies, sales and customer acquisition.
