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We see the world a certain way and convos go deep.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonalco/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/jasonalco", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/df7956411d3a93f189869a1742716ad9717bc3ed.jpg" } ], "jobs": [ { "id": 76100, "title": "Customer Success Manager (Mid-Market)", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/popl/jobs/8vthtps-customer-success-manager-mid-market", "location": "US / Remote (US)", "type": "Full-time", "role": "Support", "role_type": null, "salary_range": "$100K - $150K", "equity_range": "", "experience": "3+ years", "visa": "US citizen/visa only", "skills": [] }, { "id": 90054, "title": "Senior Backend Engineer", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/popl/jobs/d9TAjlK-senior-backend-engineer", "location": "US / Remote (US)", "type": "Full-time", "role": "Engineering", "role_type": "Backend", "salary_range": "$140K - $180K", "equity_range": "", "experience": "3+ years", "visa": "US citizen/visa only", "skills": [] }, { "id": 111224, "title": "Senior Product Designer ", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/popl/jobs/oRsfoPy-senior-product-designer", "location": "US / Remote (US)", "type": "Full-time", "role": "Design", "role_type": "Product design", "salary_range": "$140K - $180K", "equity_range": "", "experience": "3+ years", "visa": "US citizen/visa only", "skills": [] }, { "id": 111399, "title": "Senior Digital Marketing Manager", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/popl/jobs/Rxav0Tr-senior-digital-marketing-manager", "location": "US / Remote (US)", "type": "Full-time", "role": "Marketing", "role_type": null, "salary_range": "$120K - $160K", "equity_range": "", "experience": "6+ years", "visa": "US citizenship/visa not required", "skills": [] }, { "id": 114953, "title": "Account Manager ", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/popl/jobs/RZba4zY-account-manager", "location": "US / Remote (US)", "type": "Full-time", "role": "Sales", "role_type": null, "salary_range": "$100K - $160K", "equity_range": "", "experience": "3+ years", "visa": "US citizen/visa only", "skills": [] }, { "id": 116837, "title": "Sales Development Representative ", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/popl/jobs/ocuh66a-sales-development-representative", "location": "US / Remote (US)", "type": "Full-time", "role": "Sales", "role_type": null, "salary_range": "$55K - $75K", "equity_range": "", "experience": "3+ years", "visa": "US citizen/visa only", "skills": [] } ], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 95162, "title": "Popl - Make Conferences & Events Your Best GTM Channel", "tagline": "Imagine one AI-powered lead capture platform that finally makes your events worth it.", "body": "# ⚡️ **TLDR**\n\n[Popl](https://hubs.ly/Q03RBCTQ0) is the universal lead capture platform for in-person events. Scan any event badge, business card, or QR code, instantly enrich the lead with accurate data, and sync it into your CRM with full attribution. Events have been stuck with outdated tools for too long. We’re bringing AI-powered enrichment and modern technology to a world ready for disruption.\n\n\\\nHey everyone! 👋\\\n\\\nI’m [Jason](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonalco/), co-founder & CEO at [Popl](https://hubs.ly/Q03RBCTQ0). We’re building the **universal lead capture and enrichment platform for in-person events** — helping companies instantly turn real-world conversations into measurable sales pipeline.\n\n# 🔥 **The Problem**\n\nCompanies (and startups, see data below!) spend **$20K–$1M+** per booth at conferences.\n\nThey send their best reps and team members. They fly the team out, book hotels, pay for meals, etc. They invest in beautiful booths and marketing.\n\nBut when it comes to capturing leads, most still rely on:\n\n* Clunky badge scanner apps that barely work\n* Writing info down in Apple notes or collecting LinkedIns\n* CSVs from event organizer delivered _weeks_ after the event\n* No CRM integrations meaning slow speed to lead/follow-ups\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=95162&key=user_uploads/479381/85854025-5908-4824-bf0e-80d2b029de7f)\n\nThe result?\n\n**Slow follow-ups (leading to your competitors winning more), lost leads, and lower ROI on events.**\n\nWhat if there was a platform that solved all of this, that GTM teams could set up once and then use across every single event…\n\n# 🚀 **Our Solution**\n\nPopl provides your company with a unified in-person GTM platform that:\n\n* Scans any event badge, business card, or LinkedIn QR with the same app every time.\n* Enriches each scan with accurate contact + company data (work email, phone numbers, LinkedIn, company revenue, tech stack, HQ location, etc.)\n* Allows you to add context like notes, qualifying questions, and tags to each lead.\n* Syncs it automatically to your CRM in seconds — HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, Zoho, Dynamics, Monday, Slack, etc all natively supported.\n* Manage everything through event campaigns which also show leaderboards, pipeline generated, and ROI.\n\n**All while your team members stay focused on their conversations, not the tools. Plus no more waiting for CSV uploads, manual data entry, or other post-event headaches.**\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVAza1f74MU\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=95162&key=user_uploads/479381/4c32029c-d3b5-4bc1-8740-f89166adf1e4)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=95162&key=user_uploads/479381/2eec6c29-0795-4dbe-bca9-354b185f75b6)\n\n# **🤔 Is This For Us?**\n\nNow some might assume events are only for big, legacy companies and not for startups or mid-market companies. But here’s what we’re seeing:\n\n1️⃣ With AI flooding channels like cold email and cold calling, in-person GTM is surging. People still want to buy from people (and especially not from AI), and when digital outreach feels saturated and impersonal, meeting potential buyers face-to-face gives you a real edge.\n\n2️⃣ The GTM data on startup companies shared by [@Richard Lee](https://www.linkedin.com/in/zrlee/) showed a hidden insight that “Attending conferences” is the 3rd most popular growth strategy for YC startups. This shows events are not just a nice-to-have, they are a core growth lever.\n\n3️⃣ We’re already seeing modern, fast-growing companies adopt Popl — like Square, Hammerspace, MavenAGI, Turing, Vercel, and Wiz. Events aren’t just for legacy enterprises; they’re becoming a key channel for the next generation of breakout startups.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=95162&key=user_uploads/479381/58dc8dbf-aec3-4f44-b902-15d055feeecd)\n\n# 🤝 **Next Steps**\n\nIf you want to get started with Popl, or are interested in learning more, book a demo with us here:[ ](https://popl.co/pages/request-a-demo)[**Book a Demo**](https://hubs.ly/Q03RBCTQ0)\n\nWe especially love providing value to the YC community, so let us know on your demo that you came from this Launch YC post and we’ll give you a significant discount!\n\n**THANK YOU! 🚀**", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Oks-popl-make-conferences-events-your-best-gtm-channel", "votes": 102, "created_at": "2025-11-13T18:39:43.622Z" } ] }, { "id": 28088, "name": "Waza", "slug": "waza", "former_names": [ "Waza Technologies Inc." ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/92a57e4deee6a07f869cbb379f62bfb1f52114d2.png", "website": "https://waza.co/", "all_locations": "Lagos, LA, Nigeria", "long_description": "Waza is the B2B platform for global payments and emerging market trade. We make it easy and affordable for businesses with no access to USD to fulfil their global payment obligations, treasury and liquidity needs. ", "one_liner": "B2B payments platform for emerging markets.", "team_size": 28, "industry": "Fintech", "subindustry": "Fintech -> Payments", "launched_at": 1673373183, "tags": [ "Fintech", "Payments", "B2B", "Emerging Markets" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2023", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Fintech", "Payments" ], "regions": [ "Nigeria", "Africa", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/waza", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2023/waza.json", "year_founded": 2022, "city": "Lagos", "country": "NG", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/wazahq", "x_url": "https://x.com/waza_hq", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/92a57e4deee6a07f869cbb379f62bfb1f52114d2.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Tom Blomfield", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/tom-blomfield" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1196020, "full_name": "Maxwell Obi", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Maxwell is a 2x founder and experienced FinTech entrepreneur. Before Waza, he served as the Global Head of Business at Sendwave (W12) - which got acquired by Worldremit for $500M. While there he navigated partnerships and regulatory relationships in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Prior to that, he was the Co-founder of Amplify, a Nigeria-based FinTech which got acquired by Carbon in 2019. Maxwell has a background in Software Engineering and holds a Degree in Computer Science.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellobi/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/342a2e097c7b1964a103fb53c687c34aa034a359.jpg" }, { "user_id": 506638, "full_name": "Emmanuel Igbodudu", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Emmanuel is a software engineer with strong experience building financial technology products. Betore Waza, he was a senior engineer at Revolut in London helping to build the vaults product. Prior to Revolut he had held leading roles at Fairmoney, Carbon and TeamApt (now Moneypoint)", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmanuel-igbodudu/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/71db6c7173c23fa3d2216cc194de918b449a277d.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Waza comes out of stealth with $8M to power global trade for African businesses | TechCrunch", "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/19/waza-comes-out-of-stealth-with-8m-to-power-global-trade-for-african-businesses/", "date": "Aug 19, 2024" } ], "launches": [] }, { "id": 29414, "name": "Cleva", "slug": "cleva", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/bb405a26d1a603373572e220fb38dadd2c97c421.png", "website": "https://www.getcleva.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; Remote", "long_description": "Cleva breaks down financial borders across the globe by enabling remote workers, individuals, and businesses to hold stablecoin-backed dollars. Specifically, we enable our customers:\r\n\r\n1. Receive USD, GBP, EUR payments: Individuals and businesses can receive USD, GBP, and EUR payments into their virtual account.\r\n2. Receive and send stablecoins: They can also receive USDT or USDC, and make global payments via USDT and USDC.\r\n3. Hold funds in USD: They can choose to hold their funds in USD instead of converting to local currency. In high inflation countries, this is extremely desirable as it helps our customers hedge against inflation until they're ready to spend in local currency.\r\n4. Stablecoin-backed cards: We issue cards that are stablecoin-backed and accepted by 150M+ merchants across the globe. Users can fund in stablecoins or fiat, spend anywhere VISA is accepted, and earn cashback in the form of Cleva Points.\r\n5. Savings: We recently launched Cleva Pots, allowing users to save towards their goals and earn yield on their savings.\r\n\r\nIt's still very early days at Cleva. We've been hyper-focused on our home country Nigeria but we're now expanding to more countries across the globe.", "one_liner": "Global neobank for emerging markets", "team_size": 30, "industry": "Fintech", "subindustry": "Fintech", "launched_at": 1704535583, "tags": [ "Fintech", "Crypto / Web3", "Remote Work", "Emerging Markets", "Neobank" ], "tags_highlighted": [ "Crypto / Web3" ], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2024", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Fintech" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Fully Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/cleva", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2024/cleva.json", "year_founded": 2023, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleva-banking/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/clevabanking", "fb_url": "https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551351002083", "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/bb405a26d1a603373572e220fb38dadd2c97c421.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Tom Blomfield", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/tom-blomfield" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1322737, "full_name": "Tolu Alabi", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Tolu brings relevant experience from her time as a Lead Product Manager building Issuing and Banking products at Stripe. Prior to Stripe, she was a Senior PM at Amazon working on multiple products from Logistics to Augmented Reality. In addition, she has an MBA from Stanford GSB and a B.A in Computer Science and Mathematics from Grinnell College.\n\nOutside of work, she loves to play multiple sports (for now tennis and basketball). She's also a huge Lebron fan.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/tolu-alabi-08697525", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/tolu_tols1", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/c7a4f53803eeebb6ab7526e48e61875be7db7554.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1564262, "full_name": "Philip Abel", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Philip has spent years building large-scale, multi-region infrastructure and services at industry leaders including AWS, Twilio, and Akamai Technologies. Originally from Nigeria, his journey took him from Kano to MIT and Georgia Tech, where he studied computer science. His story is one of resilience, curiosity, and a deep commitment to using technology to make a positive impact on the world.\n\nOutside of work, Philip is a lifelong FC Barcelona supporter and a devoted Lionel Messi fan.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/abelphilip", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/fad65ffe0893f9e38cffc65c2ac8ff49df870eed.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Empowering change through fintech collaboration | Mastercard Newsroom", "url": "https://www.mastercard.com/news/perspectives/featured-topics/fintech/empowering-change-through-fintech-collaboration/", "date": "May 30, 2024" }, { "title": "Cross-border fintech stands out in Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 cohort | TechCrunch", "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/05/cross-border-fintech-y-combinator-demo-day/", "date": "Apr 05, 2024" }, { "title": "YC-backed African fintech Cleva, founded by Stripe and AWS alums, raises $1.5M pre-seed | TechCrunch", "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/08/yc-backed-african-fintech-cleva-founded-by-stripe-and-aws-alums-raises-1-5m-pre-seed/", "date": "Jan 08, 2024" } ], "launches": [ { "id": 79028, "title": "Cleva: USD banking platform for Africa", "tagline": "Helping businesses earn, save and invest in USD!", "body": "Greetings, YC community! We are Tolu and Philip, the co-founders of [Cleva](https://www.getcleva.com/).\n\n**tl;dr:** _Cleva makes it easy for freelancers and businesses in emerging markets to get paid for their services and manage their money in USD. We do this by providing USD accounts to receive international payments at very low costs, a debit card to spend, the ability to convert currencies, and the ability to save and earn interest over time. We launched in August 2023 and now process over 4 million dollars monthly for customers while doubling revenue month-over-month._\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=79028&key=user_uploads/1564262/c0929233-d351-4cc5-a419-586ae957dec3)\n\n**The Problem**\n\nDespite the growing number of young remote African workers and businesses serving global partners, international payments and investments in USD are still a complex puzzle for many talented Africans and businesses. This intricate challenge can stifle economic growth and opportunities. We firmly believe that Africans should have an effortless way to receive international payments and manage their finances without paying excessive fees or dealing with local currency fluctuations. This problem is not only relevant; it's a catalyst for empowerment. \n\n**Cleva's Solution**\n\nWe are building an all-in-one platform to enable payments, spending via debit cards, and investments. Our flagship product, launched in August 2023, simplifies payments for remote workers and freelancers in Nigeria. It enables them to establish a Cleva US-based account, effortlessly receive salaries and customer payments, and seamlessly manage their finances, including currency conversion, with remarkable ease. Over the coming months, we will build tools for investments.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=79028&key=user_uploads/1564262/d34476fb-66ea-425a-b4fb-d3b604fcae1c)\n\n**How We Started**\n\n[Tolu](https://linkedin.com/in/tolu-alabi-08697525) and [Philip](https://linkedin.com/in/abelphilip) have known each other for over 10 years and understand how expensive cross-border transactions are from personal experiences. We also understand how hyperinflation and devaluation of African currencies have diminished the spending power of friends and family. We take this problem personally and want to tackle it head-on to enable prosperity for Africans and others across emerging economies. We believe simplifying how people earn and invest in USD will empower businesses and remote workers across emerging economies.\n\n**Our Ask**\n\n1. Check out [Cleva](https://www.getcleva.com/), sign up for your USD Banking needs, or refer people in the countries we serve today.\n2. Share this post! Please help get the word out. We want more people to know about Cleva and how we add value.\n 1. iOS AppLink: \n 2. Android: Link coming soon. (it’s pending play store approval)\n3. Connect us with USD Banking Providers and Remote Work Companies at [contact@getcleva.com](mailto:contact@getcleva.com).\n\n**The Team**\n\nTolu Alabi: Handles all things business, product, and more. Tolu has 10+ years of experience building customer-centric products at Stripe and Amazon. She also has an MBA from Stanford GSB and is an enthusiastic basketball and Lebron James fan!\n\nPhilip: Handles all things tech and more. Philip has significant experience as a software engineer and has worked at AWS, Twilio, and Akamai Technologies. He is passionate about using technology for good. He is an FC Barcelona fan (soccer)  and a big Lionel Mesi fan.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=79028&key=user_uploads/1564262/687c2db8-c5f6-4287-bdcb-783756521bf7)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/KYe-cleva-usd-banking-platform-for-africa", "votes": 21, "created_at": "2024-03-04T18:42:54.669Z" } ] }, { "id": 29789, "name": "Paasa", "slug": "paasa", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/69545faa0fc0f7ee6b89313f1c320d59486f1802.png", "website": "https://paasa.com", "all_locations": "Gurugram, HR, India", "long_description": "Paasa helps wealthy Indians invest in global equities - without middlemen, hidden fees, or paperwork.\r\n\r\nWhile high-net-worths in India often have international expenses from children's education to healthcare, most still save in INR, a currency that depreciates ~2–5% per year against the USD. Why?\r\n\r\n- Broken outward remittance process\r\n- Fear of making mistakes in tax or compliance\r\n- Paper-heavy onboarding processes of international brokers\r\n- Lack of trustworthy guidance\r\n\r\nPaasa offers a mobile app that enables Indians to trade worldwide, invest via advisory, and automate every cross-border tax filing.", "one_liner": "Invest in Global Equities from India", "team_size": 9, "industry": "Fintech", "subindustry": "Fintech -> Asset Management", "launched_at": 1723926494, "tags": [ "Fintech", "Consumer", "Investing", "Emerging Markets" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2024", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Fintech", "Asset Management" ], "regions": [ "India", "South Asia" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/paasa", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2024/paasa.json", "year_founded": 2024, "city": "Gurugram", "country": "IN", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/paasa", "x_url": "https://x.com/paasainvest", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/69545faa0fc0f7ee6b89313f1c320d59486f1802.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1349737, "full_name": "Nitish Sahni", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Invest in global markets from India.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/nitishsahni", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/5698052f2c8b615eea9d1b979f9eac883fdc5342.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1961202, "full_name": "Sparsh Sharma", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Chief product officer at Paasa", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/sparsh-sharma-design/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/8b3548ef5824a7bc28611d7c2c95679e26331d43.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 83571, "title": "Paasa - Build wealth across borders", "tagline": "Invest in US markets from emerging economies.", "body": "[Paasa](https://paasa.com/) gives high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) in emerging markets the same globally diversified portfolios as HNIs in America.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=83571&key=user_uploads/1349737/99f6cc47-f702-4c67-b7c8-9659ff814b35)\n\n**What’s the problem?**\n\n‘Pre-HNIs’ and HNIs in countries like India want to diversify their wealth internationally. A few cross-border brokerage apps exist, but most customers hesitate due to:\n\n* Lack of guidance on foreign investments\n* Remittance regulations that change every year\n* Cross-border tax filing that their CFAs struggle with\n* Slow outflows from local banks\n\nThese barriers keep global investing out of reach, reserved for the top 0.001% who can afford wealth managers and family offices. We’re changing that.\n\nOur vision is to bring all the opportunities of the 0.001% to the pre-HNI without any hassle.\n\n**Team**\n\n[Sparsh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sparsh-sharma-design/) and I ([Nitish](https://linkedin.com/in/nitishsahni)) grew up in India and have known each other for 5 years. Both personal finance nerds, we previously worked at SoFi, where Sparsh led design on Student Loan Refinance, and I led engineering projects on Data Governance.\n\n**Ask**\n\nIf you’re in India and want to invest globally, [reach out](https://paasa.co/form)! We’re [founders@paasa.co](mailto:founders@paasa.co)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=83571&key=user_uploads/1349737/821d0b76-d224-43b7-996d-a539b271dba9)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Ljv-paasa-build-wealth-across-borders", "votes": 131, "created_at": "2024-08-29T15:14:04.755Z" } ] }, { "id": 30285, "name": "Karsa", "slug": "karsa", "former_names": [ "Agency" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/4e70eb9dc2e6d81269e32986a94420bc07247202.png", "website": "https://gokarsa.com/", "all_locations": "New York City, NY, USA", "long_description": "Karsa is a stablecoin neobank for over 100M people in emerging markets. We enable people to buy dollar-denominated stablecoins, save money in US bank accounts, and spend anywhere with a Visa card.", "one_liner": "Stablecoin neobank for emerging markets", "team_size": 2, "industry": "Fintech", "subindustry": "Fintech", "launched_at": 1737358426, "tags": [ "Fintech", "Emerging Markets", "Cryptocurrency" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2025", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Fintech" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/karsa", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2025/karsa.json", "year_founded": 2025, "city": "New York City", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/karsa/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/go_karsa", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/4e70eb9dc2e6d81269e32986a94420bc07247202.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Tyler Bosmeny", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/tyler-bosmeny" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1110862, "full_name": "Shahryar Hasnani", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Enabling the 1B+ people in emerging markets to save in stablecoins and protect against currency instability. Previously head of BD at Ethereum infrastructure startup. ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahryar-hasnani/", "x_url": "https://x.com/0xLilShah", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/51c1797e56fb26c41054c7edcac21c003ab3430a.jpg" }, { "user_id": 951402, "full_name": "Dale Wilson", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Enabling the 1B+ people in emerging markets to save in stablecoins and protect against currency instability. Previously protocol development lead at a layer 1 AI Blockchain.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalewilson21/", "x_url": "https://x.com/0xdwil", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/24f58a7f8d633bc89787206c02838a7bd257977b.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 87203, "title": "Karsa 💸 - The Global Dollar Account", "tagline": "Save in stablecoins; protect against inflation in emerging markets", "body": "Hey YC, we’re Shahryar and Dale, the co-founders of Karsa!\n\n# **tl;dr:**\n\n**Karsa is a global dollar account—enabling anyone in emerging markets to buy and save in stablecoins to protect against currency instability.**\n\n# **The Problem**\n\n_Over a billion people live in countries with severe inflation (5-10%+) and are unable to protect their wealth due to strict capital controls_ (Shahryar’s family in Pakistan still acutely faces this problem). The traditional banking systems in most of these countries are systematically designed to prevent access to assets like dollars.\n\nWe’ve spent the majority of our careers in crypto, traveling everywhere from the Middle East to Southeast Asia for work—and we observed how people in regions with economic instability have begun to adopt stablecoins as a store of value. However, existing products—typically peer-to-peer crypto exchanges—are centered on traders and are still too complex for average users, hindering mass-market adoption.\n\n# **Our Solution**\n\n\n\nKarsa is a global digital wallet that makes it easy for anyone across the world to deposit money using local payment methods and save in dollar-denominated stablecoins.\n\nFor a user, it looks similar to a bank—but under the hood, we route our supply from a network of verified peer-to-peer stablecoin traders, whom buyers are making their deposit payments to.\n\n* Structuring it as peer-to-peer allows us to _actually_ be global from day one and circumvent government interference: in most of these markets, centralized products (i.e., requiring a bank account in the relevant country) often get shut down. _This means that in many of the regions we operate in, we’re the only way anyone can reasonably get access to stablecoins._\n* Unlike incumbent exchanges, however, we’ve entirely abstracted the ‘P2P’. Traditionally, buyers and sellers engage in chats for each transaction (to confirm details, etc.). This is onerous for sellers, and off-putting for new buyers. Instead, we sit in the middle, matching price orders and managing verification, appeals, etc. with sellers directly—much less work for sellers, and an incredibly simple process for buyers.\n* We’ve also abstracted everything _crypto_ about it—no crypto knowledge, wallet / key management, etc. needed, so that even your parents could use the platform.\n* User funds are held in self-custody crypto wallets, meaning your money is always yours—unlike a centralized exchange (e.g., FTX) there’s no way for us to access, freeze, or lose your funds.\n\n# **Team**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=87203&key=user_uploads/1110862/dbb9d996-6d96-4caf-9820-899438b2748d)\n\nShahryar and Dale have been working in the crypto space for the majority of their careers (leading business development and protocol engineering, respectively). We’ve lived and worked across the world in the same regions that we want to provide our product to—we deeply understand the tech, the market, and how stablecoins can best be leveraged to create more financial freedom.\n\nWe’ve been close friends for years, joined the industry at similar times (Shahryar actually got Dale to FOMO in), and we now work together out of Dale’s kitchen in New York. \n\n# **Asks**\n\nWe’re already going live today with sellers in Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Paraguay and setting up a couple other regions as we speak. If you know or work with anyone in South Asia, Africa, Southeast Asia, or the Middle East—whether they’re a contract worker, freelancer, developer, crypto trader, SMB owner, or just family/friends who would be interested in saving with Karsa or working with us as a stablecoin supplier—please don’t hesitate to connect us at [**shahryar@gokarsa.com**](mailto:shahryar@gokarsa.com). Folks with these profiles have been incredibly helpful in getting feedback and suggesting future product features.", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/MgV-karsa-the-global-dollar-account", "votes": 59, "created_at": "2025-01-27T18:32:54.258Z" } ] }, { "id": 31083, "name": "Kita", "slug": "kita", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/0e2c404c5bbc49c9c8e25d9c60779b50f507ba65.png", "website": "https://www.kita.ai/", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "In emerging markets, open finance is still nascent. Most of the population is traditionally unbanked, banking APIs don’t exist, and a borrower’s financial history lives in documents: e-wallet records, bank statements, utility bills, and more. Because this data is unstructured, credit and risk teams are forced into manual review. This slows decisioning, increases costs, and caps lending volume. \r\n\r\nKita is the AI platform for global lending operations. We help lenders in emerging markets automate application completion, document verification, and underwriting from messy financial documents — using AI to extract fraud-checked data and localized risk signals that power faster, better credit decisions.\r\n\r\nUnder the hood, Kita is a learning engine. We link document-level signals to repayment outcomes, allowing our models to continuously improve fraud detection and risk assessment over time. This creates a compounding advantage for lenders as their distinct underwriting decisions feed back into the system.\r\n\r\nWe’re Carmel and Rhea. We met before Stanford and have been building together ever since. Carmel is from Manila, is a repeat founder, and spent three years in product at Apple. Rhea has a research background in computer vision and received the highest honor in Stanford Computer Science. Together, we combine deep local context with strong technical execution to build the infrastructure that expands access to credit in emerging markets.", "one_liner": "Underwrite borrowers around the world in minutes", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Fintech", "subindustry": "Fintech", "launched_at": 1767738733, "tags": [ "Fintech", "Computer Vision", "Lending", "Emerging Markets" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2026", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Fintech" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": true, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/kita", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2026/kita.json", "year_founded": 2025, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/kitafi/", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/0e2c404c5bbc49c9c8e25d9c60779b50f507ba65.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/video_event/81/1774380993-db0dbd44c2140f7bda4ffe83a4e00da4/e196deff5409ad3bcec6d1491f2ca310.mp4?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAQC4NIECABPQ2AHNW%2F20261020%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261020T022732Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=8c33ac15b728e7fabaeb0ef7b95f2ed0abf0a9af632563f8172cbb9433860c19", "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Ankit Gupta", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/ankit-gupta" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 2926213, "full_name": "Carmel Limcaoco", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Carmel is the co-founder and CEO of Kita.\n\nShe is from Manila and studied Symbolic Systems & Music at Stanford. Prior to Kita, she was completing her Master’s in Computer Science. She spent three summers in audio and music product at Apple, where she was one of few interns to ever ship a feature in iOS.\n\nShe was awarded by the United Nations at 16, launched the first Product Fellowship in the Philippines, and co-founded DAHA in 2022, where she took Stanford’s first marketplace from 0 to 1.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmellimcaoco/", "x_url": "https://x.com/carmelkita", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/3f01d97aa2ddb42ff43b3ff920557ed3e357c93a.jpg" }, { "user_id": 933442, "full_name": "Rhea Malhotra", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Rhea is the co-founder and CTO of Kita.\n\nRhea completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science at Stanford, and was an incoming PhD in Computer Vision and Robotics at Princeton. \n\nShe received the Firestone Medal, the sole highest honor of the Stanford CS Department, for her research in 2025.\n\nRhea joined her first research lab at age 13, worked on the COVID-19 vaccine at Pfizer at 17, and has since authored 7 papers recognized and awarded internationally.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhea-malhotra-198744142", "x_url": "https://x.com/_rheamalhotra_", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/41cd921951ca9a07459a11145a54b179b7e9353f.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 97013, "title": "Kita: Turn financial documents into risk signals for lenders", "tagline": "Make document-driven decisions 70x faster, with built-in fraud checks", "body": "Hi YC! We’re Carmel Limcaoco and Rhea Malhotra, the co-founders of Kita. We met over our gap year during COVID while we were undergrads at Stanford, and have been best friends ever since. Carmel is from Manila, is a past founder, and worked in computational music and audio at Apple. Rhea has a background in computer vision & robotics and was awarded the highest honor in Stanford Computer Science. We were both completing our Master’s in CS at Stanford when we chose to build Kita full time. \n\n**TLDR:** We turn messy borrower documents into the data layer that powers lending in emerging and undertapped domestic markets.\\\n\\\n[Kita (YC W26) Launch Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z9lR5p9NMg)\n\n**The problem**\n\nIn emerging markets like the Philippines, where there are no banking APIs, a borrower’s financial history is locked in noisy documents: bank statements, payslips, utility bills, and more. For lenders, accessing and validating a borrower’s data is nearly impossible.\n\nToday, lenders either review these documents manually or rely on legacy OCR. Manual review is slow and expensive, while OCR breaks on real-world inputs and still requires human verification. This slows loan decisioning, raises costs, and caps lending volume.\n\n**What is Kita?**\n\nKita uses vision-language models to outperform traditional OCR, turning noisy borrower documents into fraud-checked, decision-ready signals for underwriting models. We are built specifically for emerging and undertapped markets, hyperlocalized around the signals that actually drive underwriting outcomes in places like the Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, and beyond.\n\nOver time, Kita links historical repayment outcomes to document-level signals, becoming a custom learning engine trained on a lender’s own data and decisions.\n\nWe’re starting in Southeast Asia with plans to expand to other emerging markets. We’re also exploring underserved segments in more developed markets, like parts of the U.S. where borrowers still rely on documents.\n\n**Our ask**\n\n* **Intros:** We’d love introductions to lenders or fintechs operating in lending or credit, in emerging markets or in the U.S.\n* **Founder wisdom:** If you’ve built or scaled lending, underwriting, or risk infrastructure, we’d love to learn from you and compare notes.\n* **Operators in financial services:** If you work with document-heavy workflows, we’d love to understand the problems with turning documents into usable data.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=97013&key=user_uploads/2926213/83392dd0-d24f-4c82-b04a-61c6649bcaeb)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/PEj-kita-turn-financial-documents-into-risk-signals-for-lenders", "votes": 23, "created_at": "2026-01-23T20:12:27.746Z" } ] } ]