Cross-border neobank Zolve has secured $251 million in equity and debt funding in a Series B round, led by Creaegis and with participation from HSBC, SBI Investment, GMO Venture Partners, and DG Daiwa Ventures. Existing investors Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sparta Group and DST Global have also participated in the round.
The neobank provides immigrants in the US with access to FDIC-insured bank accounts and credit & debit cards issued by their banking partners, without requiring a Social Security number or US credit score. This latest funding round also includes a warehouse line from Community Investment Management to fuel its growing credit portfolio across geographies.
Zolve aims to use the funds for aggressive expansion into new geographies and product categories. The company plans to expand to Canada, followed by the UK and Australia. It will also expand its credit portfolio by launching auto loans, personal loans and education loans.
“Despite being high earners – the average international household in the US makes $135,000, more than double the US average – newcomers are often treated as high-risk borrowers with limited access to credit,” the company said in a statement.
By leveraging financial data from their home country, Zolve provides US credit cards and checking accounts to professionals and students moving to America, improving their access to credit.
So far, Zolve has reached 750,000 customers, for whom the company has moved over $1.2 billion, and is on track for profitability by the end of this year.
The company was founded in 2021 by Raghu G, who had previously founded TaxiForSure, which was acquired for $200 million in 2015.
The company raised a $40-million Series A in October 2021, and a $15-million seed round in the same year in February. In 2023, the company had raised a $100 million debt round, according to data from Tracxn.