WASHINGTON, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Harvard Business School (HBS) on Wednesday named StreetShares the winner in the Best Investment category of its 2015 New Venture Alumni Competition, as chosen by a panel of international venture capital judges. StreetShares Co-Founder and HBS graduate Mickey Konson announced plans to confer the$25,000 award to deserving Veteran-owned businesses on the StreetShares marketplace.

StreetShares plans to distribute the award money through a special program named the Commander’s Call Award. The program will give $5,000 each month to a deserving Veteran- or military spouse-owned business that fills a market need, provides a competitive product or service, and holds potential for mass appeal. Each month’s winner will be chosen by a panel led by StreetShares advisor and former U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General George Casey.

“HBS alums were our first investors and customers,” Konson said. “It is terrific to be recognized by them for the important work StreetShares is doing to fund America’s small businesses.”

Konson partnered with Air Force Veteran and Wall Street lawyer, Mark L. Rockefeller, to create StreetShares. Their Board of Advisors includes General Casey, former Deputy Director of the CFPB, Raj Date, and SoFi founding team member Pete Hartigan. StreetShares recently secured more than $200 million in funding to back loans to veterans on its marketplace.

The HBS New Venture Competition is sponsored by HBS’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Alumni Relations and Social Enterprise Initiative. The Greatest Impact award and Most Innovative award were given to the fashion brand, Eve & Tribe, and the Bollywood-inspired dance-fitness program, BollyX Fitness, respectively.

StreetShares is an affinity-based, peer to peer small business lending marketplace that connects small business owners with qualified retail and institutional investors. Investors compete in an online auction to fund portions of the requested loan, and StreetShares blends the lowest bids into a single loan. StreetShares membership is open to all small business owners. StreetShares is located outside of Washington, D.C.

Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University, located inBoston, Mass. HBS is consistently ranked among the foremost business schools in the world and offers full time MBA, doctoral and executive education programs. Their mission is to educate leaders who make a difference in the world.