CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/
-- LendingTree, the nation's leading online loan marketplace, has named STEM Center USA the winner of its inaugural small business contest with a grant of $50,000.
"We are incredibly honored to receive LendingTree's small business grant," said Lavanya
Jawaharlal, president and co-founder of STEM Center USA and recent engineering graduate
of the University of California, Berkeley. "With this money, we will be expanding our operations to a
second Robotics Creativity Center to excite more students about STEM through hands-on learning."
STEM Center USA, one of over 1,100 businesses that applied for LendingTree's grant, is a
California-based robotics education company that aims to inspire the next generation of STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) leaders through hands-on activities. Melissa and Lavanya
Jawaharlal, the two sisters who founded STEM Center USA in 2011, believe that true
learning takes place when a student is allowed to discover the underlying principles through an experiential learning model. STEM
Center USA currently employs roughly 15 full and part-time employees at their Claremont, CA location.
"These two young women are passionate entrepreneurs who envisioned a way for more children to learn about STEM, hoping to
close the gender gap in the field and enrich the lives of children through innovation," said Doug
Lebda, founder and CEO of LendingTree. "The LendingTree family supports this mission and is proud to contribute to STEM
Center USA's growth."
Marc Prosser, the co-founder of the small business information site, Fit Small Business, added, "Early life educational companies
have two clients, the parents and the kids. STEM Center's courses on Robotics and 3D printing should make both clients happy."
Mr. Prosser served as an expert contributor for LendingTree's small business grant contest.
LendingTree launched its small business loan marketplace in 2014 to simplify the loan process and help small businesses gain
access to credit and financing opportunities. To further its commitment of helping American business owners achieve growth,
LendingTree launched the small business grant contest in November 2016 with the goal of awarding
one deserving small business $50,000 to help fund future growth. After reading through over 1,100
entries, and with input from Marc Prosser of Fit Small Businesses, LendingTree employees voted on who they believed was most-deserving of the
$50,000 grant. Businesses were judged on a variety of factors including historical performance,
future growth plans, distinctiveness, community impact and the company's overall vision.
To read more about STEM Center USA, please visit http://www.stemcenterusa.com/ or LendingTree's contest page, which can be found here: https://www.lendingtree.com/about/business-grant
About LendingTree
LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) is the nation's leading online loan marketplace, empowering consumers as they comparison-shop
across a full suite of loan and credit-based offerings. LendingTree provides an online marketplace which connects consumers
with multiple lenders that compete for their business, as well as an array of online tools and information to help consumers find
the best loan. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 65 million loan requests. LendingTree provides free monthly
credit scores through My LendingTree and access to its network of over 400 lenders offering home loans, personal loans, credit
cards, student loans, personal loans, business loans, home equity loans/lines of credit, auto loans and more. LendingTree, LLC is
a subsidiary of LendingTree, Inc.
For more information go to www.lendingtree.com, dial
800-555-TREE, like our Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter @LendingTree.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Megan Greuling
704-943-8208
Megan.Greuling@LendingTree.com
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SOURCE LendingTree