Over $135 billionin remittances are sent toLatin America every year by migrants working abroad. But remittances are morethan a transfer. Once received, remittances cover millions of families' daily expenses.
Yet over 85% of those transfers are received in-cash andin-person by family members, over 70% of which are women, who tend to distrust financial services and experience financial stress. When managed mostly in cash, with little or no access to formal and affordable financial services, the potential for remittances to go further in achieving goals, such as housing, business growth, and education, remains limited.
With Paisa, remittances become the gateway to broader financial security for the recipients administering them. Through affordable and accessible financial services, recipients can better cover unexpected emergencies, smooth cash flow, or grow their small businesses.
Founded in June 2021, Paisa is bridging the financial, gender and digital gap left by traditional financial services and fintech. Paisa has launched with remittance-backed loans, where thin file clients can qualify for credit based on their remittance history. These loans are offered via a frictionless WhatsApp bot, as digital capability and trust in purely digital solutions remains low, even though more than 70% of the population has a mobile phone. And users are acquired offline at independent remittance agencies, which pay nearly half of all remittances yet remain fragmented and have low revenue margins.
Through this innovative tech-touch model (referring to the combination of human and digital touchpoints), which provides value for both users and the agencies, Paisa builds trust and provides the most accessible on ramp to digital financial services for cash-based remittance receivers in Latin America, starting in Mexico, which receives 40% of the remittances.
In March 2022, Paisa closed an oversubscribed $600Kpre-seed round with top VCs, such as Magma Partners, Precursor Ventures, Latitud,Forum VC, and Gaingels, and top angel investors, includingCourtney McColgan (Founder& CEO, Runa), Loreanne Garcia (Co-Founder & Chief People Officer,Kavak), Claire Diaz-Ortiz (Scout for Kleiner Perkins), Juan Zavala (Co-Founder & CEO, FinZi), JoshuaGordon-Blake (COO, Pangea), Afropop Star & Entrepreneur "MrEazi”, and Anna Gincherman (Partner,ConsumerCentriX).
The funds will be used to grow the agency network beyond its currentpresence in Michoacán and Guanajuato; consolidate product market fit; build a more robustproduct; and hire key talent.
“Our users tell us again and again how easy Paisa is to use on WhatsApp and how they love how it is offered through their agent, whom they trust and can ask questions. They receive and pay their loan at the same window where they receive their remittances, which makes it a natural gateway for even more value-added services, such as savings and insurance,” said Ryan Newton, Paisa’s Founder & CEO. “Welook forward to continuing to design innovative solutions that help millions of families leverage remittance income at the agent touchpoint as the gateway for broader financial security.”
Over $135 billionin remittances are sent toLatin America every year by migrants working abroad. But remittances are morethan a transfer. Once received, remittances cover millions of families' daily expenses.
Yet over 85% of those transfers are received in-cash andin-person by family members, over 70% of which are women, who tend to distrust financial services and experience financial stress. When managed mostly in cash, with little or no access to formal and affordable financial services, the potential for remittances to go further in achieving goals, such as housing, business growth, and education, remains limited.
With Paisa, remittances become the gateway to broader financial security for the recipients administering them. Through affordable and accessible financial services, recipients can better cover unexpected emergencies, smooth cash flow, or grow their small businesses.
Founded in June 2021, Paisa is bridging the financial, gender and digital gap left by traditional financial services and fintech. Paisa has launched with remittance-backed loans, where thin file clients can qualify for credit based on their remittance history. These loans are offered via a frictionless WhatsApp bot, as digital capability and trust in purely digital solutions remains low, even though more than 70% of the population has a mobile phone. And users are acquired offline at independent remittance agencies, which pay nearly half of all remittances yet remain fragmented and have low revenue margins.
Through this innovative tech-touch model (referring to the combination of human and digital touchpoints), which provides value for both users and the agencies, Paisa builds trust and provides the most accessible on ramp to digital financial services for cash-based remittance receivers in Latin America, starting in Mexico, which receives 40% of the remittances.
In March 2022, Paisa closed an oversubscribed $600Kpre-seed round with top VCs, such as Magma Partners, Precursor Ventures, Latitud,Forum VC, and Gaingels, and top angel investors, includingCourtney McColgan (Founder& CEO, Runa), Loreanne Garcia (Co-Founder & Chief People Officer,Kavak), Claire Diaz-Ortiz (Scout for Kleiner Perkins), Juan Zavala (Co-Founder & CEO, FinZi), JoshuaGordon-Blake (COO, Pangea), Afropop Star & Entrepreneur "MrEazi”, and Anna Gincherman (Partner,ConsumerCentriX).
The funds will be used to grow the agency network beyond its currentpresence in Michoacán and Guanajuato; consolidate product market fit; build a more robustproduct; and hire key talent.
“Our users tell us again and again how easy Paisa is to use on WhatsApp and how they love how it is offered through their agent, whom they trust and can ask questions. They receive and pay their loan at the same window where they receive their remittances, which makes it a natural gateway for even more value-added services, such as savings and insurance,” said Ryan Newton, Paisa’s Founder & CEO. “Welook forward to continuing to design innovative solutions that help millions of families leverage remittance income at the agent touchpoint as the gateway for broader financial security.”
Over $135 billionin remittances are sent toLatin America every year by migrants working abroad. But remittances are morethan a transfer. Once received, remittances cover millions of families' daily expenses.
Yet over 85% of those transfers are received in-cash andin-person by family members, over 70% of which are women, who tend to distrust financial services and experience financial stress. When managed mostly in cash, with little or no access to formal and affordable financial services, the potential for remittances to go further in achieving goals, such as housing, business growth, and education, remains limited.
With Paisa, remittances become the gateway to broader financial security for the recipients administering them. Through affordable and accessible financial services, recipients can better cover unexpected emergencies, smooth cash flow, or grow their small businesses.
Founded in June 2021, Paisa is bridging the financial, gender and digital gap left by traditional financial services and fintech. Paisa has launched with remittance-backed loans, where thin file clients can qualify for credit based on their remittance history. These loans are offered via a frictionless WhatsApp bot, as digital capability and trust in purely digital solutions remains low, even though more than 70% of the population has a mobile phone. And users are acquired offline at independent remittance agencies, which pay nearly half of all remittances yet remain fragmented and have low revenue margins.
Through this innovative tech-touch model (referring to the combination of human and digital touchpoints), which provides value for both users and the agencies, Paisa builds trust and provides the most accessible on ramp to digital financial services for cash-based remittance receivers in Latin America, starting in Mexico, which receives 40% of the remittances.
In March 2022, Paisa closed an oversubscribed $600Kpre-seed round with top VCs, such as Magma Partners, Precursor Ventures, Latitud,Forum VC, and Gaingels, and top angel investors, includingCourtney McColgan (Founder& CEO, Runa), Loreanne Garcia (Co-Founder & Chief People Officer,Kavak), Claire Diaz-Ortiz (Scout for Kleiner Perkins), Juan Zavala (Co-Founder & CEO, FinZi), JoshuaGordon-Blake (COO, Pangea), Afropop Star & Entrepreneur "MrEazi”, and Anna Gincherman (Partner,ConsumerCentriX).
The funds will be used to grow the agency network beyond its currentpresence in Michoacán and Guanajuato; consolidate product market fit; build a more robustproduct; and hire key talent.
“Our users tell us again and again how easy Paisa is to use on WhatsApp and how they love how it is offered through their agent, whom they trust and can ask questions. They receive and pay their loan at the same window where they receive their remittances, which makes it a natural gateway for even more value-added services, such as savings and insurance,” said Ryan Newton, Paisa’s Founder & CEO. “Welook forward to continuing to design innovative solutions that help millions of families leverage remittance income at the agent touchpoint as the gateway for broader financial security.”
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