In an interview on the Daily Signal podcast on March 13, unelected Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler claimed the business she owned before being appointed Senator was a “small startup” despite that business being valued at approximately $740 million. 

“In December, I was still working in the private sector leading a small startup, fintech company after about a 28-year career. I stepped out of the private sector to public service,” Sen. Loeffler said on March 13.

However, according to a report by the Block Daily, Loeffler’s former business, Bakkt is a subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange—the organization that owns the New York Stock Exchange—and was valued at a whopping $740 million in 2019. Bakkt reportedly raised $180 million in funding in 2018 alone.

And Bakkt’s early market investors were reportedly giant corporations such as Microsoft and Starbucks. 

Loeffler’s apparent lie about the “startup” status of her business is not the first time the Senator has falsely described her background to appeal to Georgia voters. In February, Loeffler released a campaign advertisement in camouflage hunting gear and holding a shotgun, yet she has never had a license to hunt in the State of Georgia.