MAJORITY, the world’s first mobile banking service for migrants, has announced its service expansion into all 50 US states, alongside $19million in seed funding. The round was led by New York-based venture capital firm Valar Ventures with participation from Avid Ventures, Heartcore Capital, and a group of prominent Nordic fintech unicorn founders. The new funds will allow the company to scale the technology and operation of its platform and prepare for expansion into new migrant communities across the US.
MAJORITY was founded in 2019 as the first mobile banking service for migrants and initially started operations in Texas and Florida, focused on the Nigerian and Cuban communities. Now, service is available for residents in all 50 US states with additional products for Mexicans, Cameroonians, Colombians, Ethiopians, Ghanaians and Kenyans. For $5 per month, MAJORITY members in the US get access to a number of migrant-tailored services, including an FDIC-insured account with early direct deposit and no overdraft fees, a Visa debit card with cashback and community discounts, no-fee remittances, at-cost international calling and the ability to send mobile credits to support loved ones back home. MAJORITY’s offerings are tailored for specific communities depending on location, with advisors from members’ home countries available for in-person advice and consultations. Members also receive community support through local meet-up spaces, migrant resources and events.
“As veterans within the migrant tech sector, the team behind MAJORITY has already established themselves as builders of disruptive solutions for the world’s immigrants,” said James Fitzgerald, Founding Partner at Valar Ventures. “By supporting them for continued growth, we are confident that they will bring better and well-needed banking services to immigrants in the US”
MAJORITY will use the recent funding to enhance their service offering and continue growing in the US, where the company strives to become the number one partner to the country’s nearly 45 million immigrants. The company also plans to expand internally and make hundreds of new hires over the next year. MAJORITY’S American headquarters are currently located in Houston, Texas, but most of the new recruits will be based in different cities in Georgia and Florida, where the company opened an office in May. To enhance its presence in local communities, the company will also set up more MAJORITY community meet-up spaces similar to those in Houston and Miami. MAJORITY is proud to employ a diverse coalition of community brand ambassadors and MAJORITY advisors, who meet potential consumers at local shops and spaces.
”Given the current climate, we are thrilled to be in a strong position to ramp up our expansion plans and lead the way in building the best solutions for migrants to thrive in their new country,” said Magnus Larsson, Founder and CEO at MAJORITY. “Since we are a company of immigrants for immigrants, we also look forward to hiring diverse talent that exists within the different immigrant communities we serve. This is more important now than ever given that many have been hit hard by the pandemic.”
Immigrants are often financially underserved
“Many of the nearly 45 million immigrants in the US and 300+ million globally are underserved by financial institutions who have not developed product offerings for the millions of immigrants who have unique financial considerations across credit, remittances, international calling and more,” said Addie Lerner, Founder and Managing Partner and Tali Vogelstein, Founding Investor at Avid Ventures. “MAJORITY is at the forefront of the massive opportunity to reinvent banking and financial services for migrant communities across the US We have been incredibly impressed with Magnus and his team and their deep understanding of their customers’ bespoke needs, having worked with similar immigrant communities previously.”
“We built MAJORITY to provide service to an underbanked community that’s been previously excluded from the fintech space,” Larsson added. “There are 45 million migrants in the United States who need specialised resources to serve their unique experience; we’re creating networks and meeting spaces where they can get the assistance they need. As a company built by migrants for migrants, we’re on a mission to continue growing and serving this community.”
