Tag: financial inclusion

Meet Serene — A Demo Day 11 Presenting Startup

Posted on by Jim Smith

This year, Fintech Sandbox Demo Day will take place on April 28. The presentations will be virtual and the event, as always, is free. Demo Days are exciting because we get to showcase startups that are on the very cutting edge of innovation and you get to see what they’re up to before they’re discovered.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight this year’s presenting entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking to Savannah Price, Co-founder and CEO of London-headquartered fintech Serene. Serene is transforming customer care in financial services by helping banks and financial organizations proactively identify, predict, and support customers in vulnerable circumstances.

Savannah Price, Co-founder and CEO of London-headquartered fintech Serene

Savannah, tell us a bit about Serene. What problems are you solving?

Serene is an AI-driven platform tackling one of the biggest blind spots in financial services — how to identify and support vulnerable customers before they fall into financial distress. The need for this has never been greater. Two-thirds of UK adults show characteristics of vulnerability, whether due to life events, emotional distress, or financial hardship. These customers are 7 times more likely to experience problem debt, scams, and financial exclusion, yet fewer than 10% are detected by firms today. Right now, most institutions rely on reactive methods, stepping in only after a missed payment or a collections call. But by then, it’s often too late.

We use AI-driven behavioural analysis to detect early signals of vulnerability — whether it’s due to a life event, emotional distress, or financial instability. This allows firms to act proactively with tailored interventions, reducing bad debt, improving retention, and ensuring regulatory compliance.

For businesses, vulnerability management isn’t just a compliance requirement — it’s a commercial opportunity. Done right, it leads to stronger customer relationships, reduced losses, and better financial outcomes for everyone.

How does Serene leverage behavioral science?

Financial vulnerability doesn’t appear out of nowhere — it builds up over time, often reflected in subtle changes in behaviour. At Serene, we apply behavioural science principles to transactional data to detect these shifts before they escalate into financial distress.

For example, a customer going through a bereavement, mental health struggles, or job loss might not immediately default on payments, but their transaction patterns, spending habits, or engagement with financial services may change. By analysing real-world behavioural data, we can detect these early warning signs and provide actionable insights for institutions to intervene in a way that’s both personalised and ethical.

Our approach ensures that support isn’t just available — it’s timely, relevant, and effective.

What is your company’s origin story?

My journey to founding Serene was deeply personal. Growing up, I saw how my siblings’ struggles with poor mental health showed up in their financial behaviour — missed payments, erratic spending, sudden withdrawals. These were subtle signals that something was wrong, but no one was connecting the dots.

That was my aha moment. Vulnerability isn’t just about financial hardship — it’s about life events, emotional distress, and health challenges that impact financial well-being. Yet, businesses were still using outdated, reactive methods to support customers — leaving millions of potentially vulnerable customers both unidentified and underserved.

I founded Serene to change that. By combining AI, behavioural science, and transactional data analysis we help institutions identify vulnerability early, so they can act before customers reach crisis point — protecting both people and businesses.

Can you describe what it’s been like to be part of the Fintech Sandbox community?

Being part of the Fintech Sandbox community has been an absolute game-changer for Serene. One of the biggest barriers to innovation in financial services is access to high-quality data, and the Fintech Sandbox has helped us overcome that challenge.

It’s also been invaluable to be surrounded by like-minded innovators solving complex financial problems. The ecosystem provides not just data access but also mentorship, networking, and industry collaboration — all of which have helped us accelerate our growth and refine our product offering.

Why is data access important to your startup?

For AI-driven fintech solutions, data is everything. Without access to real-world financial data, it’s impossible to build models that accurately detect early signals of vulnerability.

Traditional financial data — like credit scores — only tells part of the story. To truly understand vulnerability, we need transactional behaviour, spending patterns, and interaction metrics. But many startups struggle to get access to this kind of data.

That’s why initiatives like Fintech Sandbox are so important. By providing access to high-quality datasets, they help companies like Serene train, test, and refine AI models in a way that ensures accuracy, fairness, and real-world applicability.

What milestones has Serene achieved so far?

We’ve moved fast — validating our product, securing major customers, and building a strong pipeline. In just a few months, we’ve gone from regulatory validation to commercial traction, with a clear path to scaling across the industry.

A major milestone was securing FCA Sandbox approval, allowing us to test our technology in a real-world, regulated environment — a huge credibility boost when working with financial institutions. We’ve also been selected for key industry innovation labs like FinTech Innovation Lab London and TSB Labs, which has accelerated adoption and opened doors to new partnerships.

The market response has been incredible. We’ve built a £45M pipeline, with 70% of leads coming inbound, proving the strength of demand. We’ve secured 2x commercial deals and we’ve secured investment from a tier 1 UK bank, further validating the urgent need for our solutions.

Beyond direct sales, we’re unlocking growth through strategic partnerships, which now give us direct access to 85+ financial institutions. We’ll be announcing more details soon, but this marks a significant step toward embedding Serene into the broader financial ecosystem.

What trends in fintech are you most excited about?

There are a few major shifts happening in fintech that I find really exciting:

  1. The rise of AI-native financial services. AI is no longer just a tool — it’s becoming central to decision-making across lending, risk management, and customer support.
  2. Embedded finance & proactive financial wellness. Financial institutions are shifting from being transactional to becoming proactive partners in customer well-being.
  3. Regulatory innovation. With regulations like the FCA’s Consumer Duty, firms are now being held accountable for delivering better customer outcomes — and fintech is playing a huge role in enabling that.

All of these trends reinforce the need for smarter, more ethical AI-driven solutions — which is exactly where Serene fits in.

How does Serene think about leveraging AI in a differentiated way?

Serene is AI-native, meaning AI is embedded in both our product suite and internal operations, allowing us to continuously refine our models and improve customer outcomes. Unlike traditional approaches which rely on static vulnerability indicators of vulnerability or manual self-disclosures, which are often backward-looking, our approach is designed to predict vulnerability before financial distress escalates.

We use a combination of supervised and unsupervised learning to detect both known patterns of vulnerability and emerging risks that traditional models miss. Our machine learning-powered behavioural insights go beyond static affordability checks, analysing real-time transactional and behavioural data to flag early warning signs. We also leverage conversational AI to enhance — not replace — human decision-making, equipping agents with real-time insights so they can provide personalised, proactive support at scale.

Beyond our product, AI plays a critical role in how we develop, test, and optimise our models. We use automation to continuously refine our algorithms, ensuring they remain accurate, ethical, and aligned with evolving regulations. For us, AI isn’t just about automation — it’s about fundamentally transforming how businesses identify and support vulnerable customers in a scalable, responsible way.

What’s next for Serene?

We’re laser-focused on scaling our impact. Some of our next big moves include:

  • Expanding our partnerships with financial institutions, insurers, and telcos.
  • Enhancing our AI models with additional behavioural datasets.
  • Launching new self-service integrations to make adoption frictionless.
  • Expanding into international markets, starting with Europe.

Our mission is to make proactive, ethical vulnerability management the industry standard — and we’re just getting started.

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To hear more about Serene and 4 other exciting fintech startups, be sure to register for Fintech Sandbox Demo Day 11!

 

The Fintech 5 (+2!) with Paula Grieco — SVP at Commonwealth

Posted on by Jim Smith

The Fintech 5 is a series of blog posts consisting of questions and answers designed to help you get to know the people in the Fintech Sandbox community.

Commonwealth is a national nonprofit that builds financial security and opportunities for financially vulnerable people through innovation and partnerships. These are interests we share. Through action-oriented innovation, Commonwealth is reshaping the financial industry to better serve individuals with low-to-moderate incomes (LMI) through collaboration with partners, policymakers, and employers on integrated solutions that transform communities and strengthen the economy.

Commonwealth collaborates with industry leaders to launch cutting-edge financial tools, security benefits, and transformative technologies to drive widespread adoption to create lasting change in financial security and wealth-building. Commonwealth’s mission is to make wealth possible for all through systemic workplace, financial and fintech innovation, and next-gen tech solutions.

Their recent research and initiatives include:

Paula Grieco is a Senior Vice President at Commonwealth, where she oversees a number of the organization’s initiatives, including inclusive investing and financial AI, as well as strategic marketing and development. Paula spoke at Boston Fintech Week in October on the topic of emerging technologies, such as generative AI, and their practical use in retail investing and other financial service solutions.

Paula Grieco — SVP at Commonwealth

#1. Paula, tell us about Commonwealth’s vision to have more than one million new low- and moderate-income investors by 2027, and to serve these investors responsibly.

Participation in capital markets is a proven driver of wealth creation. A growing body of research, both Commonwealth’s own and others, finds that people realize this—including and especially people living on low and moderate incomes (LMI), and that many want to participate and become investors. Yet there is an enormous gap between those who aspire to invest and those who actually participate in capital markets today.

We are embarking on a multi-year, national initiative to enable 1 million new investors—alongside a coalition of industry leaders committed to serving these new investors responsibly. This ambitious undertaking will showcase what is possible, demonstrate what we’ve learned, identify where and what policy actions are required, and foster new conversations about who can and should build wealth. Partnerships and sector collaborations are critical to effecting systemic change in the investing industry. Building the right coalition for this work is vital. The financial services industry will be critical to this coalition, as we see leadership and action by industry as the single most powerful lever of change. We welcome conversations with those entities looking to blaze new pathways for broader wealth creation.

#2. Why does Commonwealth want to get more college students interested in investing?

Actually, research demonstrates that college students are already interested in investing. We have a recent report where 80% of non-investor students from LMI backgrounds express a desire to invest. Commonwealth’s work is to ensure that this early investor market is recognized and served. Early investing presents an important opportunity for the 16.6 million undergraduate students enrolled at academic institutions and those who are recent graduates, providing a fundamental strategy for building long-term wealth and addressing pervasive racial and gender wealth gaps. Federal Reserve data shows white households hold on average eight times more wealth than Black households, with that figure growing to 17 times for the Millennial population and Gen Z.

A shift toward earlier financial engagement is evident: On average, today’s Gen Z adults began saving and investing at 19 years old, compared to baby boomers who started at age 35. Despite this progress, only 18% of young people aged 18-25 are currently investing, highlighting a significant opportunity to increase their involvement and set the foundation for greater financial security. The growing popularity of investing apps among young adults has likely contributed to the rise, creating unprecedented access to wealth-building opportunities for students interested in and actively investing.

However, despite an increase in the number of investors over the past decade, participation in capital markets remains lower among college students living on LMI, according to recent Commonwealth research.

#3. What are some of the barriers student investors from low- to moderate-income households encounter?

Commonwealth’s research reveals that while college students with LMI demonstrate an interest in capital market investing, they face significant barriers to building wealth. Our survey identifies three primary barriers that are likely to deter students with LMI from investing: fear of losing money, gender disparities, and knowledge gaps. These challenges highlight the importance of addressing the systemic concerns that may hinder college students with LMI and provide the necessary support to empower them.

Our work also offers areas of opportunity where industry leaders – financial institutions and fintechs, higher education bodies, and government—may play a role in fostering an inclusive investing ecosystem for college students with LMI. For financial institutions and fintechs, these include developing inclusive products tailored to the needs of these students and integrating streamlined technology features and positive messaging into educational resources and tools.

#4. What should we know about the potential of employer-provided student debt solutions?

Americans owe about $1.76 trillion in student loans, and one in four U.S. adults under the age of 40 has student loan debt. The average U.S. household with student debt owes $55,777. Clearly, student debt is a daunting issue for a significant portion of the population.

More than six in 10 people with student loans report that their student loan debt is a source of stress and emotional challenges (TIAA, 2020). Student loan repayment often takes priority over competing financial goals, preventing many Americans from building short-term savings or investing in retirement savings, and causing them to delay buying homes, getting married, and having children.

Employers can play a critical role in improving the financial well-being of their employees. Tens of millions of workers are feeling financial pressure and this financial stress is bleeding over into the workplace. In our research, we’ve found that nearly one-third of financially stressed employees say their finances are a detriment to their productivity. This is especially true for workers earning LMI. Yet, fewer than one-third of workers have access to workplace benefits that would help them manage critical financial needs. Employers can help build financial resilience for these employees with benefits like student debt assistance.

A 2021 survey by Betterment found that 74% of respondents would be likely to leave their job for an employer that offered better financial benefits; 24% overall, and 49% of Gen Z respondents, noted that student loan financial assistance or repayment programs could entice them to do so.

Many employers are offering student loan repayment assistance as a benefit to their employees to alleviate the student debt burden, and recent policies present new opportunities to do so. For example, the SECURE 2.0 Act allows employers to provide retirement contributions as a match for student loan payments, making retirement savings more possible for employees who are prioritizing paying off education loans.

Our research showed that 40% of respondents said student loan repayment benefits are very or extremely important to their overall employer benefit package. Asked to select the top three benefits they would participate in today if offered by their employer, 60% of respondents selected student debt relief; 47% selected an employer-sponsored retirement plan, and 38% selected an emergency savings solution.

By matching student debt payments with retirement contributions, workers may be able to double their 401(k) balances at retirement. In addition, focusing on student debt reduction and other benefits that address financial vulnerability such as emergency savings can help strengthen the health of the retirement plan benefit by increasing participation and reducing leakage from the plan.

#5. What is an “investor identity” and what can investment firms do to cultivate it among people who aren’t but could be investing today? 

Tens of millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck with little savings cushion and no meaningful wealth. This is a significant market of “regular working people” who want to save and invest, but are not well served today. This customer wants to invest in capital markets. They want to build wealth. However, there are barriers to their participation, creating a gap between desire and action. Investor identity is one of these barriers.

Investor identity refers to perceiving oneself as the kind of person that can or should invest, and that one belongs in the community of people who invest. It is the feeling that investing is “for me” rather than a space where a customer feels like an outsider. Our research showed that investor identity can be cultivated and developed over time: in fact, 71% of participants told us investing was easier than they thought once they got started.

With support from the Nasdaq Foundation, we launched the “Transforming Investor Identity Research Project,” a groundbreaking, national research and pilot program designed to expand the investing community and make it more inclusive. Over a year, we followed more than 850 beginner investors who each received $150 in seed funding to invest at one of three leading financial platforms: Ellevest, Public, and Stash. Our research unearthed what attracts, motivates, and sustains these new investors so they feel welcome in the wider investing community.

The project provides insight into how the development of an investor identity can allow new investors to fully take advantage of the wealth-building opportunities afforded by retail investing by overcoming initial feelings of doubt, discomfort, or not belonging.

Alongside the research, we created a toolkit for practitioners who would like to better understand investors earning LMI and apply best practices to how to enable and support the development of investor identity. All of our recommendations are based on the research and vary in the level of effort required from incremental, “low-hanging fruit” to new strategic initiatives.

These solutions correspond to each stage of the consumer journey (attract, activate, and retain). For instance, in the “attract” stage, you might use identifiers that address this group directly such as “new investors” or “first-time investors” along with warm, welcoming imagery and content that demystifies the investing experience. In the “activate” stage, consider providing opportunities for beginner investors to participate without the risk of feeling embarrassed through things like chatbots, individual live chats, dedicated webinars, and AI tools that provide safe spaces to ask questions.

#6. Which fintech problem or solution are you personally most interested in right now?

I’m actually really interested in two issues. Over 42 million households are living on LMI. I’m personally most interested in democratizing investing for these individuals who have traditionally been underserved by the investment ecosystem. While technology has expanded access in recent years, the gaps remain stark, particularly for Black, Latinx investors, and women.

Having conducted extensive research into the needs and wants of LMI investors, we’ve piloted human-centered solutions that we believe can increase access and close the interest/action investing gap: modest seed funding, access to quality products, relevant and actionable investing knowledge, and a fundamental shift in who we expect can and should be an investor. The next step is to use this growing body of evidence to drive action by financial service providers, by fintechs, by policymakers, and by people living on LMI themselves.

Second, I’m interested in how financial AI can be unlocked to transform financial security for those living on low to moderate incomes. As has been the case historically, next-generation technologies provide new and creative ways to improve financial security and opportunity for everyone, but they can also carry new risks if they’re distributed unevenly.

Financial services leaders, fintech entrepreneurs, social impact innovators, and others shaping the financial system can have a major impact on creating financial security through the thoughtful use of these technologies. Harnessing the power of AI to serve these previously untapped consumer segments also opens up potential new customer opportunities. This is a pivotal moment for innovators to expand and engage their customer base and bring more people into the financial system.

For instance, our Emerging Tech for All research initiative shows that conversational AI provides a key opportunity to improve access for households living on LMI. These households are nearly twice as likely to want to bank through in-person interactions, yet have significantly lower access rates to local bank branches. Conversational AI can provide the personalized and context-sensitive support this group seeks at scale in a way that has never been possible before. In a Commonwealth field test, we also found that a majority (57%) of LMI participants felt that using a chatbot positively impacted their financial situation.

That said, concerns about privacy and security remain barriers to engagement with conversational AI in finance. Overcoming these barriers through clearer communication and transparent policies will be an important part of building the kind of trust that will allow conversational AI to better support customer financial health.

Our 2024 national survey report, Generative AI and Emerging Technologies, additionally offers actionable insights around larger trends in using generative AI, chatbots, and digital financial services.

#7. If you could change one thing about the fintech ecosystem, what would it be?

Financial insecurity and wealth gaps remain widespread. They cause concern across the political spectrum, and they create social and economic harm. If I could change one thing it would be to ensure that the needs of financially vulnerable people are understood, visible, introduced early into relevant conversations, and integrated into solutions. To that end, in 2023, Commonwealth set a bold four-year strategic vision to drive systemic change in the workplace, in emerging technologies, and in financial services, enabling 10 million working families to build $15 billion in equitable financial security and wealth by the end of 2027. Commonwealth remains dedicated to achieving broad financial security and opportunity for all through continued innovation and partnerships.

Bonus question! What is the best career or life advice you have received?

Commit to your goal – but pair that commitment with adaptability in terms of how to reach this goal.  You will inevitably encounter obstacles. The path to achieving a bold vision is rarely exactly as you planned it. I have found that a willingness and ability to pivot and to adapt, to be able to ask yourself, “How else might we do this?” or “What are our other options?” – is highly necessary to be effective.

Another bonus question! What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read recently?

I recently re-read “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel. In the book, Morgan weaves historical and personal anecdotes on success and failures in capital markets as he shares both this theory on “the psychology of money” and evidence-based practical approaches to building wealth.

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The Fintech 5 with Biju Kizhakhemadtil — SVP of Fintech Solutions at the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology

Posted on by Jim Smith

In this ongoing series of blog posts, we are introducing you to some of the sponsors, partners, advocates, and entrepreneurs who make up the unique Fintech Sandbox community, and without whom our small team could not provide fintech startups with access to critical data and resources, entirely for free.

The Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (“FCAT”) serves as Fidelity Investments’ hub for exploring emerging technologies and social trends that may shape the future of financial services. FCAT’s charge includes assessing, testing, and scaling concepts and ideas that advance Fidelity’s market leadership and enhance customer experiences. FCAT is a frequent sponsor of our events, including, most recently, Demo Day[s] 10 in April.

Biju Kizhakhemadtil is the Head of Fintech Solutions at FCAT, where he has spent most of his career. He is responsible for developing cutting-edge technology platforms that scale with the cloud and leverage AI to power new businesses. Biju engages and collaborates with innovative fintechs to co-create financial solutions built to drive financial wellness and access. He brings decades of proven experience across financial markets and the global fintech ecosystem, including granted patents in the fields of natural language processing and advanced trading.

Biju KK, Head of Fintech Solutions at Fidelity Investments

Question #1.  Biju, how does FCAT engage with fintech startups?

At FCAT, we have a long history of engaging with fintech startups and have developed some wonderful relationships over the years. FCAT engages with fintech startups by providing a platform they can leverage to help advance their solutions and innovative ideas. We are happy for fintech startups to collaborate in experiments, research, and simulations, which also brings innovation into our own business units. We look at emerging technologies three to seven years out to drive the future, and collaborating with startups is critical to understand “where the puck is going”. An example of this is our collaboration with Dogpatch Labs, who we work with to provide support and opportunities to startups, including expertise, resources, and access to a global network. Our research also prompts us to explore startup activity in particular areas of interest so we can develop informed insights.

#2.  What fintech problem or solution are you focused on or most interested in right now?

From a fintech perspective, I’m proud to say that one of FCAT’s core focuses is making investing more accessible for the average person. We’ve seen that financial services firms often use complex and potentially intimidating terminology, so we focus on helping these people overcome that barrier by simplifying language, providing education, and helping fintechs present information more accessibly. We do this by sharing knowledge and tools to help manage the risks associated with investing, which can help the average person move forward in their journey.

#3.  Do you foresee a role for either VR (virtual reality) or AR (augmented reality) in the delivery of financial services in the near future?

FCAT has a solid track record of exploring technologies as they emerge, and we have teams dedicated to exactly this. One of our core principles at FCAT is that we strongly believe that innovation happens at the intersection of technology and customer demands — and when it comes to VR and AR, we believe that these incredible technologies have the potential to open an entirely new paradigm on how we look at, understand and leverage data. For example, this might include 3D data visualizations and data interactivity to uncover new insights.  It’s clear that there is a demand for all things data-related and we are excited to research these technologies more.

#4.  What advice do you have for startups about partnering successfully with incumbent firms?

For a successful collaboration with incumbent firms, my first bit of advice to fintech startups is to try to ensure that you are partnering with a firm that has an innovative or entrepreneurial streak. I’ve found this to be important, as I’ve seen that firms sometimes look for collaborations based on a general managerial urge to see what’s out in the market, but that can lead to mismatched cultures and priorities.

My second bit of advice is to try to fit into the existing ecosystem with minimum friction. Keep in mind that incumbent firms have businesses that operate at an established pace, so it’s easier for a startup to integrate and adjust accordingly. Incumbent firms provide stability and scalability, so it is important to respect their approach and align with their ecosystem.

My final bit of advice is to make sure that you and the incumbent firm understand the problem that you are trying to solve. If your startup and your partner share a clear understanding and are on the same page, everything will be off to a great start.

#5.  If you could change one thing about the fintech ecosystem, what would it be?

I think we need to reshape the paradigm in which startup and legacy fintech firms interact. We often see problems emerge when one party sees the other as a hindrance or a threat — perhaps the startup is too idealistic or hasty, perhaps the legacy firm is too rigid or unnecessarily bureaucratic in its decision-making. But the reality is that both can and should learn from one another, and there is quite often a happy balance stakeholders can strike when appropriately leveraging both the startup’s entrepreneurship and legacy firm’s structure and collective experience.

Bonus Question! What’s the best career or life advice you’ve received?

Many years back when I was managing teams that delivered on “business as usual” projects, someone told me that it was critical to focus on the things that matter, no matter how unrealistic. This changed my perspective and outlook on how I managed my time and career. Since then, I have always looked for opportunities that allow me and my team to push the envelope of what we do as a firm even in the face of risks, failure, and limitations.

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If you are a fintech entrepreneur with an early-stage company and you could benefit from free access to data, cloud hosting and a supportive community, please  visit our website to learn more!

Meet Starlight — A Demo Day[s] 10 Presenting Startup

Posted on by Jim Smith

This year, FinTech Sandbox Demo Day[s] will take place across two days, April 9 & April 11. The presentations will be virtual and the event, as always, is free. Demo Days are exciting because we get to showcase startups that are on the very cutting edge of innovation and you get to see what they’re up to before they’re discovered.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight a few of this year’s presenting entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking to Catherine Xu, Co-Founder of Brooklyn-based Starlight, which is unlocking the $140 billion in government benefits left unclaimed each year for households in need by using AI-powered coaching. Starlight is presenting on Tuesday, April 9.

Catherine Xu, Co-Founder of Brooklyn-based Starlight, which is unlocking the $140 billion in government benefits left unclaimed each year for households in need by using AI-powered coaching.

Q. Cat, tell us a bit about Starlight. What problems are you solving?

A. Today, 41% of America is financially vulnerable. At the same time, there is over $140 billion unclaimed in government financial assistance programs that could provide households with a financial bridge in tough times. Starlight helps financial institutions connect their customers to government programs that give them the financial help they need. Our white-labeled technology platform proactively identifies and matches customers to relevant programs and provides personalized guidance through the application process.

Q. What is your company’s origin story?

A. My co-founder and I had left our jobs in big tech to focus on problems facing underserved communities. For six months, we were Fellows with the Robin Hood Foundation, doing on-the-ground research and running co-design sessions with different communities, e.g., gig/frontline workers, young parents. Starlight formed after we heard repeatedly from communities about the awareness and process challenges when it comes to government benefits.

Q. Can you describe what it’s been like to be part of the Fintech Sandbox community?

A. Being a part of Fintech Sandbox has allowed us to connect with like-minded financial innovation groups such as Commonwealth, a national nonprofit focused on financial security.

Q. Why is data access important to your startup?

A. Data access helps us to quickly test some of our key use cases, including the usability of data to proactively identify individuals who could qualify for benefits.

Q. What milestones has Starlight achieved so far?

A. Reaching 5000 workers, using financial data to match them to benefits they may be eligible for but not know about, and helping them save on average $1000/year. We also forged early pilot partnerships with fintechs and nonprofits like Steady and Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners.

Q. What trends in fintech are you most excited about?

A. Hyper-personalized digital experiences that effectively employ data and proactively meet the financial needs of each member/customer. New sources for non-interest revenue for financial institutions, in lieu of regulatory changes around fees, and more customer-centric products that address holistic financial health and recovery.

Q. How does Starlight think about leveraging AI in a differentiated way?

A. Using AI to more efficiently process unstructured data at scale, including inferring needs from user-permissioned financial data. Using AI to deliver hyper-personalized experiences, such as financial resources delivered at the right time and in the right format.

Q. What’s next for Starlight?

A. Expanding partnerships with credit unions and community banks, with Starlight providing an easy-to-integrate, value-added product that helps grow balances and reduce delinquencies.

To hear more about Starlight and 11 other exciting fintech startups, be sure to register for FinTech Sandbox Demo Day[s] 10!

Meet Moffin — A Demo Day[s] 10 Presenting Startup

Posted on by Jim Smith

This year, FinTech Sandbox Demo Day[s] will take place across two days, April 9 & April 11. The presentations will be virtual and the event, as always, is free. Demo Days are exciting because we get to showcase startups that are on the very cutting edge of innovation and you get to see what they’re up to before they’re discovered.

This week and next we’ll continue highlighting this year’s presenting entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking to Nicholas Yepes, Co-Founder & COO of Moffin, which is based in the city of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco in Mexico. Moffin is a data integration platform-as-a-service that helps companies digitize client screening in LatAm. Moffin is presenting on Tuesday, April 9.

Nicholas Yepes, Co-Founder & COO of Moffin, which is based in the city of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco in Mexico. Moffin is a data integration platform-as-a-service that helps companies digitize client screening in LatAm.

Q. Nico, tell us a bit about Moffin. What problems are you solving?

A. We provide companies with access to data, technological infrastructure, and software tools to screen clients.

Q. What is your company’s origin story?

A. Moffin’s story begins when my two co-founders, Santiago and Victor, were working at a Mexican fintech that provided loans to refinance credit card debt. They spent most of their time developing from scratch the fintech’s core banking system, connections with data providers, client screening tools, and other pieces of technological infrastructure necessary prior to being able to provide digital credit products. They had a stronger interest in developing software and financial infrastructure than in operating a lending business.

They were offered a sponsorship to start Moffin by a Mexican non-bank financial institution (NBFI) to resolve similar data integration issues. That financial institution then entered into a sale process with the private equity firm I used to work for. I interviewed my co-founder, who was then the head of technology. Following the sale process, my co-founders lost their sponsorship at the NBFI, but they fortunately found their first angel investor that helped them get Moffin off the ground.

After working as an investor in financial institutions in LatAm for more than three years, I understood very well the need for what Santiago and Victor were building. I became an advisor to Moffin shortly afterwards and joined as their third co-founder in April 2023.

Q. Can you describe what it’s been like to be part of the Fintech Sandbox community?

A. I am relatively new to the Fintech Sandbox community, but I love its mission to aggregate financial data and make it available to fintech entrepreneurs to build applications and services. I am also excited for the opportunity to partake in Empire Startups’ New York Fintech Week this year with Fintech Sandbox.

Q. Why is data access important to your startup?

A. Data access is central to our product as we are a data integration platform as a service. We take care of the engineering work to connect with data providers, standardize the information, and create tooling to work with and analyze the data.

Q. What milestones has Moffin achieved so far?

A. Our first product was an API to access Mexico’s credit bureau data. Now we have 10 different data sources integrated via both API and our no-code platform and a suite of software tools to help work with and analyze the data. We’ve reached 73 active monthly corporate clients and sold more than 500,000 data reports in 2023.

Q. What trends in fintech are you most excited about?

A. We are excited about digital lending, buy-now-pay-later, embedded finance, biometrics, neobanking, and AI-based solutions. Moffin helps about 70 companies today access and power these types of solutions through its platform.

Q. How does Moffin think about leveraging AI in a differentiated way?

A. AI applications tend to require a lot of data and that data must be clean and easy to use. When our clients use Moffin, the data is available for consumption in multiple ways and is easy to integrate with AI applications.

Q. What’s next for Moffin?

A. We are consistently broadening our data offering and improving software tools to help our clients increase productivity. This year we are releasing tools for monitoring and fraud prevention.

To hear more about Moffin and 11 other exciting fintech startups, be sure to register for FinTech Sandbox Demo Day[s] 10!

Meet Nufi — A Demo Day[s] 10 Presenting Startup

Posted on by Jim Smith

This year, FinTech Sandbox Demo Day[s] will take place across two days, April 9 & April 11. The presentations will be virtual and the event, as always, is free. Demo Days are exciting because we get to showcase startups that are on the very cutting edge of innovation and you get to see what they’re up to before they’re discovered.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight a few of this year’s presenting entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking to Hans Villa, CEO of Nufi, which is based in the city of Monterrey in Mexico. Nufi empowers all companies in Mexico to make accurate and reliable decisions based on identity validation. Nufi is presenting on Tuesday, April 9.

Hans Villa is CEO of Nufi, which is based in the city of Monterrey in Mexico. Nufi empowers all companies in Mexico to make accurate and reliable decisions based on identity validation.

Q. Hans, tell us a bit about Nufi. What problems are you solving?

A. Nufi revolutionizes identity verification in Mexico, streamlining background checks to a single data point for quick, secure trust decisions. With unique data sources and a flexible platform, Nufi targets financial services, real estate, and hiring, enhancing digital trust and simplifying operations.

Q. What is your company’s origin story?

A. Nufi started when my co-founder Ilich Núñez and I saw a big problem: verifying someone’s identity in Latin America was slow and complicated. We decided to fix this by using technology to make it quick and safe. With just a photo of an ID, Nufi can tell businesses everything they need to know to trust someone. Ilich and I are deeply committed to building trust within the LatinX community around the world, making every transaction secure and straightforward.

Q. Can you describe what it’s been like to be part of the FinTech Sandbox community?

A. Being part of the Fintech Sandbox community has been transformative for Nufi. This engagement has provided us with invaluable resources, such as access to premium data feeds and APIs, which have been instrumental in refining our technology and scaling our services. The collaborative environment has fostered connections with industry leaders, offering mentorship opportunities and insights into fintech trends. It’s been a platform for growth, innovation, and networking, enhancing our capabilities and positioning us as a key player in the identity verification space.

Q. Why is data access important to your startup?

A. Data access is crucial for Nufi because it powers our identity verification service. The more data we can gather, the better and more accurate our background checks become. This helps us build stronger trust with our clients by offering them precise and current information. Simply put, having access to a wide range of data allows us to improve our services continuously and address our clients’ needs effectively, ensuring their transactions are safe and reliable.

Q. What milestones has Nufi achieved so far?

A. Nufi has achieved several significant milestones that showcase our journey towards enabling trust and transforming identity verification in Mexico and for the LatinX community worldwide:

1. Extensive Customer Base: We’ve built a strong foundation with over 190+ B2B customers, generating substantial revenue and demonstrating the market’s trust in our solutions.

2. Capital Raise: Successfully raised USD 450K in an angel round, highlighting investor confidence in our vision and execution capabilities.

3. Techstars and Google Accelerator Alumni: Participation in these prestigious accelerators, Techstars W21 and Google Accelerator W22, underscores our innovative approach and potential for scale.

4. Exclusive Data Sources: Nufi is the sole provider of certain crucial data sources in Mexico, offering unmatched depth and breadth of information for identity verification.

5. Comprehensive Background Checks: Developed the most exhaustive background check system in Mexico, ensuring our clients can make quick and safe trust decisions.

6. Flexible and Modular Solutions: Offering both a user-friendly platform for immediate checks and an API for seamless integration into clients’ workflows, showcasing our adaptability to diverse client needs.

7. Growth and Expansion: Focused on scaling, with goals to capture a significant share of the Serviceable Obtainable Market within the next three years, targeting approximately $22.5 million in annual revenue.

Each of these milestones represents a step forward in our commitment to providing a safer, more efficient, and trustworthy environment for transactions and interactions in the financial services sector and beyond. Ilich and I have a deep commitment to enabling trust in the LatinX community throughout the world, driving every innovation and decision at Nufi.

Q. What trends in fintech are you most excited about?

A. I’m really excited about a few fintech trends that I think are changing the game:

1. AI and Machine Learning: These are making our work faster and smarter, especially when it comes to checking someone’s identity. It helps us catch fraud better and make sure our clients can trust the people they’re dealing with.

2. Blockchain: This technology is all about making transactions super secure. It keeps records safe and unchangeable, which is great for protecting personal info and building trust online.

3. Digital Identity Verification: As more of our lives move online, it’s super important to have a safe way to prove who we are on the internet. We’re working on making this process really easy and secure for everyone, especially for the LatinX community around the world.

4. RegTech for Compliance: With all the rules and regulations out there, fintechs need to stay on top of them without slowing down. Technology that helps with this is really important for keeping things smooth and legal.

5. Financial Inclusion: Fintech is helping bring banking and financial services to people who haven’t had them before. By making it easier to verify identities, we’re helping open up these services to more people, which is something I’m really passionate about.

Each of these trends is helping us at Nufi do our job better and make the financial world a safer, more inclusive place.

Q. How does Nufi think about leveraging AI in a differentiated way?

A. At Nufi, we approach AI with a distinct perspective, focusing on enabling trust across financial interactions, especially within the LatinX community. Here’s how we differentiate our use of AI:

1. Custom AI Models for Identity Verification: Unlike generic solutions, we develop AI models specifically tailored to the unique challenges of verifying identities in Latin America. These models are trained on a wide range of data points, including those exclusive to Nufi, ensuring higher accuracy and reliability.

2. Real-time Data Analysis: We leverage AI to analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, providing immediate insights for decision-making. This capability is critical in environments where speed and accuracy are paramount, such as in fraud detection and customer verification processes.

3. AI-driven Compliance and Regulation Adherence: Given the complex regulatory landscape in Latin America, our AI systems are designed to adapt to and comply with local laws and international standards. This proactive approach to compliance is a key differentiator, ensuring our solutions meet the highest standards of legal integrity.

4. Enhanced Financial Inclusion: Our AI technologies are instrumental in extending financial services to traditionally underserved communities. By simplifying and securing the identity verification process, we make it easier for individuals and businesses to access essential financial services, fostering greater inclusivity.

5. Continuous Learning and Improvement: Our AI systems are built to learn from each interaction, constantly improving their accuracy and effectiveness. This commitment to ongoing learning ensures that our solutions evolve alongside our clients’ needs, maintaining our edge in innovation.

In essence, our differentiated approach to leveraging AI is deeply intertwined with our mission to build trust and enhance security in financial services, all while promoting greater inclusivity through technological innovation.

Q. What’s next for Nufi?

A. Looking ahead, Nufi is focused on expanding our reach and impact, particularly in serving the LatinX community across the Americas. Our roadmap includes several key initiatives:

1. Expansion into New Markets: We’re planning to extend our services beyond Mexico, targeting key markets in Latin America and the United States where the LatinX community significantly benefits from enhanced identity verification and financial inclusion services.

2. Product Innovation: Continuing to innovate our platform with the latest AI and machine learning advancements to offer more comprehensive and efficient identity verification solutions. This includes developing new features that cater to the specific needs of our expanding customer base.

3. Strategic Partnerships: Forming strategic partnerships with financial institutions, fintech startups, and community organizations to broaden our reach and impact. These collaborations will allow us to bring our services to underserved communities, furthering our mission of enabling trust and financial inclusion.

4. Regulatory Compliance: As we expand, we’ll continue to navigate the complex regulatory environment of each new market, ensuring that our services remain compliant while advocating for regulatory frameworks that support innovation and inclusivity in financial services.

5. Community Engagement: Deepening our engagement with the communities we serve through educational initiatives, financial literacy programs, and community-based projects. We believe that empowering individuals with knowledge and resources is key to fostering financial wellness and inclusion.

Our journey is driven by the belief that access to trustworthy financial services is foundational to economic empowerment. As we move forward, Nufi remains committed to being at the forefront of using technology to break down barriers to financial inclusion, making safe and equitable financial services accessible to all, especially the LatinX community.

To hear more about Nufi and 11 other exciting fintech startups, be sure to register for FinTech Sandbox Demo Day[s] 10!

The New Faces of Fintech — Featuring Tamsey

Posted on by Jim Smith

While we may not know exactly how fintech will impact our future, we have an idea as to who will be leading the charge. In the next installments of our ongoing blog series, “The New Faces of FinTech”, we will spotlight some of the emerging leaders in the fintech world to get their thoughts on what the future of the industry will look like.

Their origin stories are different, their paths to entrepreneurship are unique, but their impacts on their respective industries are significant. No one truly knows what the future of fintech holds, but these industry leaders may have an inkling as to what we can expect.

Our next guest is Grishka Bonlong, Founder and CEO of London-based Tamsey. Tamsey is creating innovative solutions that will transform how payments are made globally. The Tamsey team is enabling low-cost international money transfers and payments that are also fast, safe, and secure for both individuals and businesses.

Grishka Bonlong is Founder and CEO of London-based Tamsey. Tamsey is creating innovative solutions that will transform how payments are made globally.

Grishka, tell us a little bit about your background. What were you working on before founding this company?

After obtaining my Engineering degree, I spent the next decade in banking during which I qualified as an accountant. I started my career in systems management and reporting, but then evolved into finance, risk management, and later treasury management.

Tell us a bit about your company? What’s the problem you’re solving?

Tamsey is a cross-border payment solution that specialises in solving two problems: (1) simplifying the process for individuals to send money home to their loved ones; and (2) reducing bottlenecks for businesses who pay salaries and suppliers abroad. The undergoing next phase of our evolution is focused on the African market, where our solution will significantly reduce the number of adults without access to formal banking services.

We are reducing the cost of doing business internationally while increasing the percentage of adults with access to digital financial services in Africa. According to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database, only 55% of adults in Sub Saharan African have access to digital financial services, which is substantially lower than the global average of 76%.”

What’s the origin story behind your company? How and why did you come up with the idea? 

Being born and having lived in Africa has enabled me to experience how lack of access to reliable and convenient financial services can hinder economic prosperity. Tamsey was born out of the deep desire to contribute to the global democratisation of finance that has been enabled by technology.

Tamsey means “Together”, because we want to enable people to remain connected to what’s important to them, no matter where they are in the world. More importantly, we were motivated by contributing our efforts to the huge challenge of increasing financial inclusion in Africa. That is the reason why we started in remittance to get a detailed understanding of the global payment landscape, learning from what has worked and failed in other continents, to design practical solutions that sustainably democratise access to financial services in Africa.

What milestones has your company achieved so far?

We have registered more than five thousand users on our platform after having obtained licenses in the UK and Canada from the FCA and FINTRAC respectively. We have built a payment network that spans four continents. Our Tamsey For Business solution facilitates bulk payments to hundreds of recipients in just a few clicks. We are present in more than fifty countries in Africa, four countries in Asia. We have begun the pilot phase of our neobanking solution aimed at the African market.

Can you describe what it’s been like to be part of the Fintech Sandbox community?

Being part of the Fintech Sandbox community has been extremely rewarding first from a personal point of view because participating at events has enabled me to meet extremely talented and resourceful people that I continue to learn from. Access to timely and quality data is extremely important, especially due to the volatile nature of some fintech markets. I was able to connect with a Data Partner to discuss a potential partnership to access more accurate currency exchange rate data.

What’s next for your company?

In June 2023, McKinsey & Company published an economic research paper predicting that by 2050 Africa would add 796 million people to the global workforce and be home to the world’s largest and youngest population. Our existing payment network will help these workers receive their salaries on time regardless of where the employer is in the world. We are building a merchant payment solution that will make it easier for the rising African middle class to transact, consume, and travel.

What is some of the best advice you’ve received as a startup founder?

It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. The point is to get back up and keep going.

What fintech trends are you most excited about right now?

I’m very excited about the AI enabled liveness detection solution. They help reduce the cost of keeping the financial system safe, which is very positive.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read recently?

“Le Meilleur Médicamment, C’est Vous!” by Dr Frédéric Saldmann.

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We’re thrilled to feature some of the incredible entrepreneurs who are participating in our Data Access Residency. If you are aware of any fintech entrepreneurs with an early stage company who could benefit from free access to data, cloud hosting, and a supportive community, please have them visit our website to learn more.