# Will Kim

> Will Kim is the co-founder and co-CEO of Karat Financial, the West Hollywood fintech that treats YouTubers, streamers and TikTokers as the businesses they actually are. After watching top creators with great credit scores get rejected for ordinary credit cards because banks called their income 'risky,' Kim and co-founder Eric Wei built a credit card, then a bank, underwritten on social-media metrics instead of W-2s. Karat has issued more than $1.5 billion in credit and advances, counts Alexandra Botez, Ludwig and Nick DiGiovanni on its roster, and raised a $70M Series B in 2023 backed by Union Square Ventures, SignalFire, Will Smith's Dreamers VC, Biz Stone and Steve Chen.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Karat Financial
- **Organizations:** Karat Financial, Lucky Capital, Palantir Technologies, Goldman Sachs
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Symbolic Systems, Stanford University, M.S., Computer Science (on leave / left to start a fund), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-built Karat Financial into the leading financial-services company for the creator economy, Issued more than $1.5 billion in credit and advances to creators via Karat's business card, Raised over $100M total across Series A and Series B rounds

## Career timeline

- **2014** — Summer Analyst at Goldman Sachs (Special Situations Group)
- **2016** — Joined Palantir Technologies; became an investor, later raising ~$5M for his own fund (Lucky Capital)
- **2019** — Co-founded Karat Financial with Eric Wei to build financial products for creators
- **2021** — Karat raised a $26M Series A; launched the Karat Black / business credit card with Visa
- **2023** — Karat raised a $70M Series B ($40M equity led by SignalFire, $30M debt led by TriplePoint)
- **2025** — Karat launched Karat Banking, a full banking platform for creators, with Visa and Grasshopper Bank

## Achievements

- Co-built Karat Financial into the leading financial-services company for the creator economy
- Issued more than $1.5 billion in credit and advances to creators via Karat's business card
- Raised over $100M total across Series A and Series B rounds
- Named to the Observer's list of 25 People Powering the Creator Economy (with Eric Wei)
- Recognized by President Obama in high school for founding a micro-lending organization for student entrepreneurs in underserved Bay Area communities
- Y Combinator-backed founder

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Karat launched Karat Banking, a creator-focused banking platform with 2-3% APY checking, built-in tax services and partnerships with Visa, Grasshopper Bank and Nebula.
- **2023-07** — Karat closed a $70M Series B and expanded its Visa-backed creator credit card business.

## Links

- Website: https://trykarat.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wdkim/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/trykarat

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/will-kim
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-04