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Comun , a digital banking company center on serving immigrant in the United States , has raised $ 21.5 million in a Series A funding round less than nine months after herald a$4.5 million salary increase , TechCrunch is the first to report .
This is a crowded space , filled with a identification number of startups , includingTanda , Bloom Money , Majority , Welcome Tech , MazaandPillar . So the fact thatComunwas able to raise capital in back - to - back round in such a myopic amount of meter is notable . PitchBookestimated its previous valuation , after its last raise , to be $ 62 million . CEO and atomic number 27 - founder Andres Santos enounce PitchBook ’s rating was “ inaccurate ” and that the company ’s current evaluation “ has increased by more than 50 % . ”
The New York - ground startup ’s traction is what drew investor to double down . Comun grew monthly tax revenue by “ 50x ” in the first six months of 2024 , harmonise to Santos . While that development connote that its initial receipts was low , it does show a fast pace of adoption . He also said the ship’s company has grown in users and increased tax income per substance abuser by about 4x since the showtime of the year after launching new products .
Santos and his co - founder Abiel Gutierrez started Comun in late 2021 after face up fiscal exclusion in the U.S. when they migrated from Mexico . They set out to proffer digital banking service , including instant defrayment and cash secession at numerous position , check deposits and early paychecks , to Latino immigrants .
For instance , they allow aboriginal Spanish - verbalise repp seven day a calendar week , and allow customer to put on for an bill using 100 ID type from Latin America , include extraneous country passports . Most traditional banks expect customer to have a U.S. Social Security card or cogent evidence of address , for model a mortgage or utility program bill .
“ The Latino residential area is underserved , ” Santos state TechCrunch , add that his research shows that many such immigrant simply opt not to use a bank . So his inauguration ’s program mental process is designed to “ slay many of the clash points immigrants typically face while also blocking fraudulent actors . ”
Comun is winning them over , too , as their primary bank report , he enunciate , and is particularly produce in California , Florida , Georgia , New York and Texas .
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In March , the company launched a raw remission product which has been democratic , according to Santos , with client on middling broadcast 3.1 remittances per month . Today , Comun is on rails to process over $ 1 billion in payment volume on an annualized footing , he said .
The startup released its first product in October of 2022 using BaaS ( banking - as - a - military service ) middleware . But the cobalt - founder decided that it made more sense to own their own base and determine to build it out . By November 2023 , Comun had launched a new program with Community Federal Savings Bank as a partner .
“ We ’ve been scaling very fast since then , ” Santos said .
That decisiveness may have been a wise one considering that some fintechs who relied on one of the more popular BaaS provider , Synapse , have found themselves facing closure or problems in accessing customer deposits after Synapse fall in .
Comun does n’t charge fee for open an account , and has no minimum balance , monthly or rank fee . It makes money from interchange fees and remitment fees , as well as interest on deposits and fee for facilitating clamant dealing . However , it ’s working to thin its dependence on give-and-take tax revenue .
“ We started the year with most of our gross coming from exchange , standardized to Chime and other neobanks , ” Santos tell . “ Today , interchange tax revenue is less than 50 % of our tax revenue , and we ’re seeing significant maturation in other revenue streams , such as remission . ”
currently , Comun has 20 employees as well as a team of about 50 client support agents .
Redpoint Ventures extend the startup ’s Series A rise , which included participation from ANIMO Ventures , Costanoa Ventures , FJ Labs , RTP Global and South Park Commons .
Meera Clark , principal at Redpoint Ventures ( which has also backed the the like of Stripe and Nubank ) said that Comun ’s metrics and “ organic demand ” are “ among the good ” her firm has date across fintech “ in years . ”
“ With more than one-half of the team ’s technical ground hailing from the like of Brex and Nubank , we believe Comun ’s early expert rigor will only become magnified as the squad expands , ” she said .
The company plan to practice its new majuscule to blow up locations and create new product . For representative , Comun recently hired former Nubank and Capital One employee to help it build out a recognition product , Santos said .
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