credit-building
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Carlo Kobe
Carlo Kobe is the co-founder and CEO of Mine (formerly Fizz), a New York fintech building credit-building debit cards and AI-powered money tools for Gen Z. A German immigrant who dropped out of Harvard at 19 to join Y Combinator's Summer 2021 batch, he built the company after being denied a credit card in Harvard Square because his parents couldn't co-sign. Mine has grown to roughly a million users, about $10M in annual recurring revenue, and raised around $28.5M from Kleiner Perkins, 359 Capital, SV Angel, and Y Combinator.
James Savoldelli
James Savoldelli is the founder and CEO of Pesto, a San Francisco fintech building an asset-backed secured credit card that lets people borrow against valuables like gold and watches without selling them or needing a credit score. A Stanford Human Biology grad and NYC native, he worked inside Los Angeles's largest pawnshop during the pandemic, watched customers cycle through loans that never built credit, and turned that observation into a Mastercard issued by Continental Bank. Pesto went through Y Combinator (W21) and raised $11M in Series A funding in 2023 from investors including Activant Capital and Plural.
Lamine Zarrad
Lamine Zarrad is the founder and CEO of StellarFi, an Austin-based fintech that reports everyday bill payments to the three major credit bureaus so Americans with thin or no credit files can build a score without taking on debt. A refugee from Soviet-era Azerbaijan who sold pirated VHS tapes in a Moscow chemical lab as a teenager, he went on to serve in the Marine Corps, work as a National Bank Examiner at the OCC, and build three fintech startups in a decade. StellarFi raised a $15M Series A in March 2023 led by Acrew Capital, and its members average a 26-point credit-score jump in their first month.
Hussein Fazal
Hussein Fazal is the Co-Founder and CEO of Super.com, a financial super app serving everyday Americans with savings, credit building, travel bookings, and cashback rewards. Previously, he co-founded AdParlor, a Facebook ad optimization platform acquired by AdKnowledge in 2011 after scaling to $100M+ in revenue. At Super.com (formerly SnapTravel), he has grown the platform to 30+ million users and $200M+ ARR, raising over $261M in total venture funding, with backing from Steph Curry, Harley Finkelstein, and institutional investors including iNovia Capital and Lion Capital.
Petko Plachkov
Petko Plachkov is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bright Money, a San Francisco-based AI-powered personal finance platform that helps middle-income Americans manage debt, build credit, and access affordable financial products. A Princeton and Wharton-educated serial entrepreneur who grew up in Bulgaria and Swaziland, Petko spent over a decade building digital financial products at McKinsey and as Co-Founder of CommuterClub before launching Bright Money in 2019. The company has raised $93M in funding, serves over 1 million users, and is powered by MoneyScience - a patented system of 34 AI algorithms.