Digital lending Paisa closed a $600K pre-seed round with Magma Partners, Precursor Ventures, Latitud, Forum VC, and Gaingels. Some of the angel investors are Courtney McColgan (Founder& CEO, Runa), Loreanne Garcia (Co-Founder & Chief People Officer,Kavak), Claire Diaz-Ortiz (Scout for Kleiner Perkins), Juan Zavala (Co-Founder & CEO, FinZi), JoshuaGordon-Blake (COO, Pangea), Afropop Star & Entrepreneur “MrEazi”, and Anna Gincherman (Partner, ConsumerCentriX).
Paisa is a digital lending fintech headquartered in Mexico and led by Ryan Newton. The startup is bridging the financial, gender and digital gap left by traditional financial services and fintech. With Paisa, remittances become a gateway to relevant and accessible financial service solutions through a client-centered, tech-touch approach.
Paisa has launched with remittance-backed loans offered via a WhatsApp bot. Users are acquired offline at independent remittance agencies, which pay nearly half of all remittances yet remain fragmented and have low revenue margins.
Through this innovative approach, which uses a combination of human and digital touchpoints, Paisa provides value for both users and agencies. The lending startup builds trust for cash-based remittance receivers in Latin America, starting in Mexico, which receives 40% of the remittances.
The funds will be used to grow Paisa’s network beyond its current presence in Mexican states of Michoacan and Guanajuato; consolidate product market fit; build a more robust product; and hire key talent.
