Zolve, a neobank for immigrants to the US is planning international growth after securing $51 million in a Series B funding round led by Creaegis and joined by HSBC.
SBI Investment, GMO Venture Partners, DG Daiwa Ventures, Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sparta Group, and DST Global joined the round, while Zolve has also secured a $200 million warehouse line from Community Investment Management to fuel its growing credit portfolio.
Zolve was launched to tackle the catch-22 that highly-skilled global professionals face when moving to the US: being declined for credit cards without a local credit history, but needing to build credit to access credit products.
The firm notes that Indian household in the US makes $135,000 - more than double the US average - yet migrants are treated as high-risk borrowers with limited access to credit. Banks offer only secured cards which require large deposits for minimal credit limits, and opening a bank account is often a complicated, time-consuming process for those new to a country.
Zolve uses home country financial data, to provide US credit cards and checking accounts to professionals and students moving to America.
Since launching in 2021, the company has signed up 750,000 customers for whom it has moved over $12 billion. It hit customer-level profitable in early 2024 and is on track for company-level profitability by the end of 2025.
With financing in place, Zolve is planning to launch in Canada, followed by the UK and Australia. It is also expanding its credit portfolio by launching auto loans, personal loans, and education loans.
“The financial system isn’t designed for mobility,” says Raghu G, CEO, Zolve. “When talented people move countries, their financial history is erased overnight. We’re changing that by giving global citizens access to credit and banking from the moment they arrive.”