Kiwi – FinTech
What it is:
Kiwi is a financial application that provides affordable loans to help build credit. Users can borrow up to $1,000 and pay over time with no hidden fees, regardless of credit history. As users repay loans on time and build creditworthiness, Kiwi provides for larger loans, longer repayment terms, and at lower interest rates. They claim it takes less than 3 minutes to get approved.
Kiwi reports loan payment behavior to the major credit bureaus to help build a credit score.
The company launched in early 2021, and by September 2021, Kiwi had more than 1,500 clients in Puerto Rico and in the U.S. mainland, and the application had been downloaded by more than 60,000 people.
Who Made It?
Kiwi was launched in 2021 and is based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The company was created by founder and CEO Mariano Sanz. Sanz was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and when he came to the U.S. for college, he found that it was very difficult to create credit in the United States and access the financial system. He sat down with his business partner to look at business opportunities and realized that proportionally, minorities in the United States are the most underbanked. They created Kiwi to help address the situation.
Kiwi operates with a mission to promote financial inclusion by providing access to affordable capital, help build credit, and improve the financial literacy of their users.
Funding status:
The company raised $2.5M of seed funding from undisclosed investors on April 19, 2022.
Why we like it:
- Unsecured loans and credit builder loans are a better alternative to payday loans, cash advance, car title loans, secured credit cards, and other forms of short-term credit that can often be predatory
- Helps minorities access credit and establish a credit history
Did you know?
According to Kiwi, there are an estimated 67 million people who do not have access to traditional credit products from financial institutions. Consumers who need it the most have no access to fair credit.