financial-inclusion
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Alliant Credit Union: Less building. More banking.
A credit union born inside an airline learned to serve people wherever they landed. Its branchless model turns an old cooperative idea into a very modern bargain.
C2FO puts a price on waiting.
A million-dollar invoice. A 1% discount. Thirty days bought back. C2FO turned a cash crunch into a marketplace for getting paid sooner.
KOHO wants your money to cost less.
A prepaid card, a credit-building tool and a post-office partnership: KOHO is rebuilding everyday finance around people with little room for error. The interesting part is what it asks them to pay.
Ant International makes your wallet travel
The Singapore fintech connects local wallets, merchant checkouts and business accounts across borders. Its useful trick is letting people keep the payment habits they already have.
Moniepoint made the receipt matter
A bundle of paper receipts exposed a gap in Nigerian banking. Moniepoint built a business around closing it - then followed the money into credit, bookkeeping and cross-border payments.
Cermati Fintech Group opens the next door
A bank account is only the beginning. Cermati built an Indonesian financial marketplace, then moved into the machinery that makes credit, insurance and investing accessible.
Fazz puts finance within reach
An Indonesian shop counter and a Singapore payment API seem an unlikely pair. Fazz built a financial services group by connecting them - and learning that access takes more than an app.
GoTyme Bank put the bank in your shopping trip.
A supermarket kiosk helped South Africa’s TymeBank reach millions of customers. Now, as GoTyme Bank, it is changing where the humans stand - and keeping the everyday account free of monthly fees.
Klar bets on the first yes.
A deposit-backed card gives people a way to start building credit. Seven million users later, Klar is extending that invitation to businesses, everyday spending and the prospect of a home.
Paymob found the business inside the bottleneck
Three students set out to sell online. The trouble was getting paid. Their answer became a payments platform serving more than 390,000 merchants across Egypt and the Gulf.
Addi learned to say no
A Colombian checkout lender lost almost all its business, chased Brazil, then came home. Its next act is a credit network built around the places people already shop.
WeLab and the art of less waiting
Borrowers wanted to know what happened next. WeLab’s answer grew from online credit into two digital banks - and a test of whether convenience can pay its own way.
BFA Global’s big idea: let the shopkeeper sell first
A minibus ride, a rejected delivery, a freezer paid for by the day. BFA Global finds the small frictions that keep businesses small - then helps build a way around them.
DLabs and the awkward art of becoming a business
A prototype can impress a room and still go nowhere. At the Indian School of Business, DLabs helps founders tackle the less glamorous work: validation, market access and investment readiness.
Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation: A small stake, a bigger idea
UTC opened the market to small investors. Four decades later, a change to its oldest fund reveals how much the institution - and its customers - have grown up.
Kashable bets your paycheck can open a better door to credit
Two immigrants with jobs but no American credit history saw a lending system missing half the picture. Kashable built a business around the other half: the paycheck.
Fedi puts Bitcoin in the hands of people you know
A wallet, a chat app, and a rather unfashionable idea: trust people you can actually reach. Fedi is betting that community custody can make Bitcoin useful beyond the technically fearless.
MoCaFi moved the money. Keeping the business alive was harder.
MoCaFi made public aid spendable for people banking often overlooked. Its rise, and its March 2026 liquidation, show how much financial inclusion depends on the machinery behind the money.
Esusu gives renters credit for the bill they already pay
A savings app became a rent reporting business by listening to the people it hoped to help. Esusu’s bet is that a monthly housing payment should leave a useful paper trail.
60 Decibels asks the people your impact report forgot
A solar panel sold is easy to count. A customer helped is harder. 60 Decibels turns short conversations into evidence that investors and businesses can actually use.
Element, Inc. and the 2KB key to financial access
A tiny biometric model meets a very large problem: proving who you are. Element puts identity checks inside the services people already use, from rural lending in Indonesia to digital banking in Nigeria.
Hello Alice: A good business should not need the right friends
A Houston founder could not move across the country for an accelerator. Hello Alice grew from that inconvenience into a platform for finding capital, getting advice and making fewer expensive guesses.
Zolve lets you pack a credit card before you pack a suitcase
Moving to America can make an experienced borrower look like a beginner. Zolve builds its business in that awkward gap, helping newcomers apply for banking and credit before the flight.
Applied Data Finance bets a bank statement can change a lender’s mind
The company behind Personify is using cash flow data to reconsider borrowers conventional credit models overlook. Its experiment widened approvals - but access and affordability remain two different questions.
GAIN Credit and the price of being seen
A lender can make a decision in seconds. GAIN Credit’s longer experiment is finding people the banks overlook - and working out what helping them should cost.
The Bank Card That Became a Fan Club
CARD.com found an unusual way into a familiar market: put the things people love on the card they use to buy groceries. The design catches the eye; the account terms decide whether the relationship lasts.
The Credit Score Has a Cover Charge
Kikoff made a small, restricted line of credit into an entry point for people the credit system overlooks. Its larger wager is that a $5 monthly relationship can grow into a toolkit for the rest of their financial lives.
The Price of Waiting for Friday
Payactiv built a business around a peculiar gap: people can finish the work on Tuesday and still pay to reach the money on Friday. Its answer began at a New Jersey construction company and now runs through payroll systems, cards and digital wallets.
LHoFT wants banks to share their homework
Luxembourg’s fintech hub is tackling the work financial firms keep repeating. Its toolkit now stretches from a shared-data competition to an AI showroom and investment opportunities for financial-inclusion startups.
IIMA Ventures backs the awkward years of a startup
Before the customers, the growth charts and the big funding round comes a much messier job: making the business work. IIMA Ventures has built an institution around that stretch.