USA – Pomelo, a San Francisco, CA-based fintech startup that combines credit and international money transfer, raised $20m in venture capital and $50m in warehouse facility for a total of $70m in seed financing.
Keith Rabois at Founders Fund as well as Kevin Hartz, Co-Founder of Xoom and General Partner, at A* Capital led the round with Afore Capital, Xfund, Josh Buckley, the Chainsmokers, and the Weeknd also investing in the round. The company also announced its official launch and availability to serve its first corridor, the Philippines. Led by Eric Velasquez Frenkiel, founder and CEO, Pomelo is a new credit card that allows consumers to extend credit to family overseas to solve remittance transfer.The Pomelo Mastercard is issued by Coastal Community Bank, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International, and features a mobile app available on both Android and iOS. U.S. citizens and permanent residents 18 years and older can apply for the Pomelo Mastercard and invite their loved ones abroad to join their family plan. Pomelo sends their loved ones a virtual card instantly and a physical card via courier delivery, enabling the convenience of shopping online and swiping at checkout instead of handling cash. It ensures customers get the best real-time exchange rate for each purchase made with the card. For those with low or no credit, the company offers a secured version of their Pomelo Mastercard, which allows customers to establish or build credit with the funds they would normally remit.Prior to founding Pomelo, Frenkiel co-founded Singlestore, now valued at over $1 billion, which he led as CEO from 2011 to 2017. A graduate of Stanford University’s School of Engineering and early engineer at Meta, he was previously named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list of technology innovators for Singlestore. 16/08/2022
