Mobility Capital Finance [“MoCaFi”], a financial technology, mobile-first banking platform that is committed to bringing financially underserved communities in the United States into the digital economy has raised a $12 million Series A Round. The Series A Round was led by Tom and Wende Hutton (early investors in SoFi, Lemonade, and other successful fintech start-ups), and includes investments from the Citi Impact Fund, Mastercard, 1Flourish Capital, Commerce Ventures, and several family offices. Previous investors also participated in the Series A Round including Radicle Impact, Portfolia America Rising Fund and the Partnership Fund for New York City. Tom Hutton also joins MoCaFi’s Board of Directors.
“In addition to offering high-quality, low-cost financial products and services that have helped many individuals and families across the nation, we are excited to launch a new strategy that allows municipalities to systematically address a significant market failure – the lack of access to banking products for large portions of the population. Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by this phenomenon,” said Wole Coaxum, Founder, and CEO of MoCaFi. “Our model reimagines how cities work with financial services to deliver banking and disbursement solutions to all their residents. Together we have the potential to play an important role in closing the racial wealth gap in the United States.”
“MoCaFi has an opportunity to meaningfully impact the lives of millions of underserved Americans located in cities big and small and has addressed the critical challenge of scale through partnerships with municipalities,” added Tom Hutton. “Through a unique model, the company provides financial services to underserved consumers. The current financing adds the broad resources and commitment of investors who are both uniquely qualified and highly dedicated to the mission of the company.”
MoCaFi — based in Harlem (NY) and Newark (NJ) – has a business model that addresses limited economic mobility and lack of financial equity in Black and Hispanic communities across the United States. These efforts, bolstered by their current participation in the Mastercard Start Path program, has enabled MoCaFi to scale its mobile banking platform to include both Demand Deposit Accounts as well as disbursement accounts for disaster-related and other payments. MoCaFi collaborates closely with Equifax and TransUnion to empower customers to improve their overall financial literacy and augment their credit file with the addition of rent payments and other recurring bills that are processed on the MoCaFi platform.
Last December, MoCaFi partnered with The City and County of Honolulu to assist almost 4,000 households that suffered economic hardship from the pandemic. MoCaFi’s work also supports the Respect initiative offered in partnership with the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago working to eliminate racism and financially empower women. The Company will announce several additional relationships with cities and other organizations across the United States in the coming months.
“In partnership with cities, MoCaFi is bringing financial empowerment and influence on communities. Financial inclusion and greater access to the digital economy are essential ingredients in building greater prosperity and engagement for our citizens,” said Fred Terrell, MoCaFi Director and investor.
“We have for the longest time overlooked many of the most deserving communities and entrepreneurs among us. Ability and hope for advancement is widespread in our society. Opportunity is not,” said Dan Skaff, Managing Partner of Radicle Impact and MoCaFi director. “We’re pleased to continue supporting Wole Coaxum and the team at MoCaFi in providing fair, transparent and economically just financial services to LMI communities with an eye towards narrowing the wealth gap for all families. We’re excited about the endorsement of MoCaFi’s mission by such an accomplished and impactful group of investors, led by Tom and Wende Hutton, which speaks to the opportunity ahead.”
