US-based startup Tribal Credit, which raised $9.1 million in a series of seed rounds, announced that it had joined Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program, adding it to an elite group of fintech and accelerating its integration with Visa’s global payment network.
A corporate card designed to help emerging market startups break free from local financial barriers, Tribal Credit, uses a proprietary AI-driven approval process to provide small and medium companies with access to payments.
Tribal Credit is a privately held company founded by serial entrepreneurs, data scientists, and fintech execs who have built and led startups in both emerging markets and Silicon Valley, the startup aspires to bridge the business financial inclusion gap between the two.
Tribal Credit is backed by BECO Capital, Global Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Endure Capital, 500 Startups, Off The Grid Ventures, Rising Tide Fund, and Tribe Capital.
“The Visa Fintech Fast Track Program is a critical enabler for us as we quickly scale our business to ensure global reach. Through direct engagement and integration with Visa’s global network, we can make our services available to new markets in weeks instead of months,” said Duane Good, President of Tribal Credit.
Around 200 million small and medium-sized businesses in emerging economies lack access to formal savings and credit, hindering their growth and ability to scale. Strict banking regulations make it difficult for startups in those markets to open business bank accounts, obtain charge cards, and manage cross-border payments.
Globally, there are ~1 billion potential new card credentials and more than 65 million merchants coming from fintech, neobanks, and wallets, according to Visa’s 2020 Investor Day Report, which described its Fintech Fast Track program as key to unlocking this opportunity.
“By joining Visa’s Fast Track program, exciting Fintechs like Tribal Credit gain unprecedented access to Visa experts, technology, and resources,” said Terry Angelos, SVP and Global Head of Fintech, Visa. “Fast Track lets us provide new resources that rapidly growing companies need to scale efficiently.”
“Visa’s Fintech Fast Track will help us meet our goal of reaching over 500,000 corporate cardholders in emerging markets by 2024,” said Amr Shady, CEO of Tribal Credit.
After launching its waitlist in December, Tribal Credit has seen demand from startups in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Mexico who struggle to access traditional financial services like opening bank accounts, issuing business credit cards, and making cross-border payments.
“We effectively just tapped into a friendship with over 60 years of dedicated experience in international payments and partners,” Good added.
