San Francisco launches new licensing tool

notary public

San Francisco is offering its small business community online licensing and permitting with a new tool. The release follows similar releases in other cities like Santa Cruz and New York. The announcement came through the Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation on Friday. The new tool – License123 is online and available for businesses to use.

License123 was created out of a partnership between the Office of Small Business, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and the Department of Technology. San Francisco is one of the first city governments to partner with Docstoc, the company behind the technology, to bring their solutions to citizens free of charge.

The tool is the first in a longer initiative to streamline licensing and permitting throughout city offices.

Currently, small businesses who wish to apply for proper licenses have to navigate 10 or more departments, each requiring their own information and often requiring multiple visits to city offices. Through the new website, users can choose their industry and learn which license they need in one click.

The pages are also available in Spanish and Chinese.