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Pesto
Pesto is a San Francisco fintech building an affordable alternative to pawn and payday loans. Its flagship product, the Pesto Mastercard, lets people pledge valuables - gold, jewelry, watches and other assets - as collateral to receive a secured credit card, regardless of credit score. Cardholders unlock liquidity and build credit history without selling what they own, at interest rates the company says are a fraction of equivalent pawn loans.
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.