MOSTLY, a mobile banking service for migrants to the United States, said Tuesday it raised $ 27 million in its Series A funding round led by the United States Valar Ventures. Other existing investors, including Enthusiastic companies, Heartcore Capital, and a group of Nordic fintech founders, also took part in the raise.
The round comes just six months after MAJORITY Raised $ 16 million in seed funding, previously reported by TechCrunch, bringing MAJORITY’s total funding to $ 46 million to date. Since the Seed Round, the company has been expanding its consultancy program, particularly in Florida, and developing its Know Your Customer (KYC) process and referral offering to bring “larger Hispanic communities in the US” on board, “Founders and CEO Magnus Larsson told TechCrunch in an interview.
The team consists of approximately 45 technical and product employees based in Stockholm, Sweden, and over 20 in-house employees in the US, Larsson said. He added that the company employs “hundreds” of local advisors who host and support members of various migrant communities by working with them in their native language.
Larsson himself is a Swedish immigrant to the US who served as the CEO of one of Sweden’s largest telecommunications companies before starting a previous company to provide low cost cross-border calling.
He is currently awaiting visa approval so that he can move from Stockholm to Miami to expand MAJORITY’s marketing and branding activities. The company also intends to scale its risk team and back office functions, which it operates from its Houston location.
The MAJORITY meeting point in Miami, Florida. Credit: MOSTLY
Larsson founded MAJORITY in 2019 to help the millions of migrants who move to the US each year through its mobile app. The app, which costs $ 5 per month, has a number of features, including an FDIC-insured bank account with no overdraft fees, a debit card with community discounts, free transfers, and paid international calls.
The company says it has saved its Cuban members an average of $ 21 per month due to its cost-effective service offerings and its Nigerian members $ 10 per member a month.
While the app’s core banking services are available in all 50 US states, its advisors are now only available in Texas and Florida. These states are hubs for some of the key communities the app already serves, Larsson said.
“When you look at the different communities we serve, they usually have one focus. There’s a city for Cubans – it’s Miami. For Ethiopians, it’s Washington, DC. For Somalis, it’s Minneapolis, ”he added.
MAJORITY offers tailored services to around seven different specific migrant communities by offering them culturally specific features such as discounts at local businesses. Larsson hopes to bring MAJORITY’s full suite of products to another five or six communities in the coming months.
The MAJORITY mobile app. Credit: MOSTLY
Partnerships with local businesses have proven to be an effective way for MAJORITY to grow its subscriber base, which has increased tenfold over the past year, despite the company refusing to share the number of users on its platform.
“You can meet an advisor outside the grocery store and five minutes later you can go to the bank from there [information] in hand and a Visa debit card in hand and you can usually add money and send it to another country right in the store, ”Larsson said.
