The monetary sector is seeing an increase in challenger suppliers focusing on the distinctive wants of its 47M+ immigrant inhabitants in america. These innovators are addressing key challenges immigrants face in banking, corresponding to constructing credit score, overcoming language boundaries, and accessing appropriate fee providers. Comun, a digital banking platform, stands out on this area by providing immigrant-focused monetary providers. Their choices embrace no-fee accounts with no minimal stability necessities, entry to an unlimited money deposit community, and remittance providers to seventeen Latin American nations. This method has resonated strongly, leading to a formidable 52% month-over-month development in lively prospects since launching. By tailoring their providers to the particular wants of immigrant communities, Comun just isn’t solely tapping into a major market alternative but in addition selling larger monetary inclusion in america.
AlleyWatch caught up with Comun Cofounder and CEO Andres Santos to study extra concerning the enterprise, the corporate’s strategic plans, newest spherical of funding, which brings the corporate’s whole funding raised to $26M, and far, way more…
Who have been your buyers and the way a lot did you elevate?Our buyers have been Redpoint Ventures, ANIMO Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, FJ Labs, RTP International, and South Park Commons. Redpoint Ventures led our Collection A funding spherical of $21.5M.
Inform us concerning the services or products that Comun provides.At Comun, we provide an inclusive, low-fee, digital monetary answer that features an FDIC-insured US checking account, VISA debit card, on the spot remittance service, entry to Zelle, and entry to the most important money deposit community within the U.S., all accessible by way of a user-friendly, Spanish-first cell app.
What impressed the beginning of Comun?My cofounder, Abiel Gutierrez, and I have been impressed to start out Comun after dealing with monetary exclusion within the U.S. once we migrated from Mexico. Once we each got here to the US to review, we confronted a number of challenges opening a checking account, from a language barrier to ID necessities.As we appeared into this matter, we discovered the Latino group has been underserved in accessing monetary services and products that match their distinctive wants. Many don’t have social safety numbers or credit score scores within the US, so the extra conventional methods banks assess and perceive potential prospects don’t work for this group. Along with these obstacles, entry to monetary providers within the US will be extraordinarily pricey. Latinos are 3x extra more likely to go unbanked and pay a mean of 5x increased charges for primary providers. All these elements, together with our personal experiences, impressed us to start out Comun. We wish to present all Latinos within the US with easy-to-access and inexpensive banking options and assist them obtain upward mobility.
How is Comun totally different?Clients can open an account with over 100 IDs from Latin America – we’ve a really complete KYC system that has allowed us to take away lots of the friction factors immigrants usually face whereas additionally blocking fraudulent actors.
Our accounts don’t embrace charges – There’s a $0 opening charge, $0 minimal stability, $0 month-to-month charge, and $0 membership charge.
One of many largest and inexpensive money networks – our customers can deposit and withdraw money at ~100k places across the US without cost or at industry-leading costs.
Worldwide transfers (remittances) to 17 nations in Latin America – relations in LATAM can obtain funds at a checking account or by way of a money community of over 300k retailers throughout the area at industry-leading costs in comparison with incumbents like Western Union.
Spanish-first buyer assist – prospects can contact Comun 24/7 by telephone, e-mail, chat, and WhatsApp with native audio system.
Peer-to-peer on the spot fee community – prospects of Comun can ship cash simply to family and friends who even have Comun accounts for no price.
What market does Comun goal and the way huge is it?At Comun, our mission is to empower immigrants and their households to show their laborious work into upward mobility. As we speak, the Hispanic inhabitants within the U.S. is greater than 63M and is predicted to achieve 111M by 2060.
What’s your online business mannequin?Just like different fintech providers like Chime, our income comes from interchange charges and different product choices like our remittance program and money deposit community.
How are you making ready for a possible financial slowdown?We’re lucky that our remittance service and expanded money deposit community have diversified our income streams, lowering our reliance on interchange charges and demonstrating resilience towards 2025’s unsure macroeconomic headwinds. Our focus this 12 months is to proceed providing the perfect product expertise and increasing our remittance program into different nations in Latin America. We’ve got additionally been very considerate in increasing our workforce and have remained lean regardless of our development.
What was the funding course of like?To be frank, we weren’t seeking to elevate our subsequent spherical. We began receiving preemptive provides from buyers, which led us to launch a full course of. We acquired considerably extra curiosity than we might settle for, and each earlier investor determined to double down.
What are the largest challenges that you just confronted whereas elevating capital?We really feel very lucky that our buyers consider in our mission, which sparked this funding spherical.
What elements about your online business led your buyers to jot down the test?We acquired constructive suggestions from our buyers. A standard theme amongst buyers was our development. Many VCs advised us that we have been one of many fastest-growing shopper fintech corporations that they had seen lately. We have been additionally advised we had superior unit economics than most different corporations they evaluated.
What are the milestones you propose to attain within the subsequent six months?We’ve got aggressive targets set for this 12 months that can assist deepen our relationship with our prospects. That features offering prospects with further options on how they fund their accounts, enhancing our fraud detection capabilities, ensuring each buyer has an amazing product expertise, and together with extra nations in Latin America the place prospects can ship cash.
What recommendation are you able to supply corporations in New York that would not have a contemporary injection of capital within the financial institution?Be laser-focused on what actually issues. At Comun, we stripped away something non-essential and zeroed in on our core mission. We stayed near our prospects and ruthlessly prioritized solely what would considerably transfer the needle. In robust instances, the power to prioritize ruthlessly could make all of the distinction.
The place do you see the corporate going now over the close to time period?We envision Comun because the one-stop trusted monetary associate for immigrants within the US. Nevertheless, to get there, we acknowledge that immigrants want entry to credit score options, the data on the right way to construct an amazing credit score rating and ongoing monetary recommendation, whether or not it’s round saving for retirement, shopping for a home, or constructing an emergency fund. We consider we’re well-positioned to change into that trusted associate for our prospects.
What’s your favourite summer time vacation spot in and across the metropolis?I like happening street journeys with my spouse and daughter and discovering new locations round New York. There’s all the time one thing new to discover only a brief drive from town.
