Portabl – Fintech
What it is:
Portabl offers a financial identification platform to simplify and automate parts of the identity compliance stack that prevents the current financial system from being more cost-effective, inclusive, and equitable. It allows users to verify, organize, and maintain their own financial identity and connect it to any service provider they want to use. Portabl integrates with know-your-customer and identity verification providers like Plaid, to offer consumers verified credentials that they can use to streamline onboarding across web2 and web3.
How it works:
- User creates verifiable credentials, signed by a service provider or Portabl
- Verifiable credentials can be used for one-click onboarding to the apps and services
- As you accumulate credentials from synced providers, users can see and manage all data centrally and know at-a-glance what claims have been shared
- To update data, users can update in Portable once, rather than logging into all apps and services separately
Portabl has not yet launched but has a waitlist to join.
Who Made It?
Portabl was co-founded in 2020 by Alex Yenkalov and Nate Soffio. Company headquarters are in Philadelphia, PA. Soffio serves as CEO while Yenkalov is the Head Engineer.
Soffio was born in Columbia but grew up in the U.S. witnessing varying degrees of financial exclusion due to poverty, immigration, cash reliance, and insufficient proof of identity. He then spent a decade working in identity and finance and has an MBA from Wharton.
Yenkalov was born in western Ukraine and spent most of his life in Kyiv. Most recently, he worked as the CTO of a company bringing secure identities for non-human entities like machines and products.
The company joined Plaid Accelerate, a fintech accelerator program supporting early-stage founders who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color.
Funding status:
The company raised $2.5M of seed funding from Wharton Fintech, 6th Man Ventures, and Dorm Room Fund in September 2022. Bessemer Venture Partners, and 4 other investors also participated in the round.
Why we like it:
- Allows users to control and easily update financial identity
- Integrates with know-your-customer and identity verification providers like Plaid
- More inclusive and equitable
Did you know?
The World Bank estimates that roughly one billion people lack an official foundational identification. These one billion people are unable to prove their identity (ID), and millions more have forms of identification that cannot be reliably verified or authenticated, resulting in exclusion from economic opportunities – such as those being created by the emerging digital economy – as well as social and political rights. More here.