Latino-founded bank raises $4.5 million to build financial hub for Spanish-speaking immigrants

Latino-founded startup Comun has raised nearly $5 million to build on its “Spanish-first” banking approach, designed to meet the needs of immigrant communities.

The New York-based company this week closed a $4.5 million investment seed round, and will use the money to grow its collection of online banking services, officials said.

The neobank — a type of direct bank that operates exclusively online without traditional physical branch offices — aims to expand financial stability among U.S. Latinos by offering Spanish-language services.

“My co-founder and I both experienced how challenging it can be to navigate the banking system as immigrants. Our goal is to empower families to be successful in both their finances and the U.S. with a financial partner that they can trust and understand,” Comun co-founder and CEO Andres Santos said in a release. “Banking is a gateway to accessing many services that are vital to a person’s livelihood. We built Comun to make it easier to thrive as an immigrant family in the U.S.”

Comun provides Latino immigrants access to traditional financial services such as a checking account connected to a Visa debit card, direct deposits for payroll and free ATM withdrawals without requiring a social security number, according to company officials.

Latinos are three times more likely to be unbanked and two times more likely to fall into predatory loans, according to Comun officials. What’s more, 41% of Latinos have no credit score, limiting their financial growth and mobility.

Santos said he and Comun co-founder Abiel Gutierrez both faced financial exclusion when they migrated to the U.S. The experience led them to create the banking system in 2021.

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This article appears in Feb 8-21, 2023.