Greater than 1,000,000 folks migrate to the U.S. every year. Upon their arrival, they face challenges in opening a neighborhood checking account and accessing monetary providers at common charges.
These challenges for migrants, a good portion of whom additionally have to ship cash dwelling, have endured globally for many years, regardless of large government support programs.
Now an entrepreneur, who in his earlier enterprise fought exorbitant cellphone tariff costs to assist folks make cellphone calls at low-cost, believes he has discovered the answer — and positively a vote of confidence from traders.
MAJORITY mentioned on Tuesday it has raised $19 million in its seed funding. The monetary spherical was led by Valar Ventures whereas Avid Ventures, Heartcore Capital and several other outstanding Nordic fintech unicorn founders participated in it.
The 2-year-old startup operates an eponymous cellular banking service. MAJORITY, whose title is a play on bringing monetary inclusion to extra folks, runs a subscription service the place it costs $5 a month to people and supplies them with a spread of monetary providers, together with an FDIC-insured checking account with early direct deposit at no overdraft charge, a debit card, cellular credit score and at-cost worldwide cellphone calls.
Picture Credit score: MAJORITY
Another excuse why so many migrant communities are apprehensive of opening accounts with conventional banks, mentioned Magnus Larsson (pictured above), founder and chief government of MAJORITY, is that they don’t really feel welcome there.
“You won’t converse the language, or perceive the cultural variations,” he mentioned. To sort out this, MAJORITY has employed buyer and gross sales relation representatives from varied communities to work with prospects to grasp their wants.
Houston and Stockholm-headquartered MAJORITY additionally runs a neighborhood on its app to assist people who’ve moved to the U.S. discover acquainted folks and a “dwelling” setting, he mentioned. “Clients there discover how you can get a visa in addition to issues like details about locations to do native procuring,” he mentioned.
“As veterans inside the migrant tech sector, the workforce behind MAJORITY has already established themselves as builders of disruptive options for the world’s immigrants,” mentioned James Fitzgerald, founding associate at Valar Ventures. “By supporting them for continued progress, we’re assured that they may convey higher and well-needed banking providers to immigrants within the U.S.”
Beginning at present, the service is offered in all 50 U.S. states and complies with native rules, mentioned Larsson, who beforehand served because the chief government of Swedish know-how agency Rebtel. Sutton Financial institution is MAJORITY’s banking associate.
The startup plans to deploy the brand new funding to increase its product choices and broaden its workforce of about 80 folks. “Since we’re an organization of immigrants for immigrants, we additionally stay up for hiring numerous expertise that exists inside the totally different immigrant communities we serve. That is extra essential now than ever provided that many have been hit arduous by the pandemic,” he mentioned.
