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    "all_locations": "Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District, Israel",
    "long_description": "Neema is an app that helps people manage their money as well as send money to other people. Neema is a financial solution for 70 million underbanked Americans. Users download their app, which is a digital wallet, where they can cash their own pay check, send money internationally to their families in 90 countries, and they also provide them with a debit card, which they can use in any store or ATM.",
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    "team_size": 2,
    "industry": "Fintech",
    "subindustry": "Fintech -> Consumer Finance",
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    "regions": [
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      "Middle East and North Africa"
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        "full_name": "Barak Ben Ezer",
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    "id": 12008,
    "name": "Swadesh",
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        "full_name": "Prateek Swain",
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        "founder_bio": "Building the US Bank for the Indian diaspora at Swadesh. Previously worked at Microsoft, Reactive Robotics, and Westbridge Capital. Started HackIndia (India's largest hackathon) and MakeVenturesPrinceton (Princeton's first student run incubator). Princeton University Computer Science '19. ",
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        "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/swadesh/jobs/mkyn6g4xN-senior-software-engineer-fullstack",
        "location": "New Delhi, DL, IN / Gurugram, HR, IN",
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        "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/swadesh/jobs/ZGvah4u-senior-software-engineer-backend",
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        "title": "Sales & Marketing Intern",
        "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/swadesh/jobs/LleQ6av-sales-marketing-intern",
        "location": "Remote (IN)",
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        "title": "Swadesh Raises 2 25 Mn From Khosla Ventures Y Combinator 8VC  - BW Disrupt",
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      {
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        "founder_bio": "Co-founder at afriexapp.com",
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        "user_id": 819594,
        "full_name": "Carlos Alberto Medellin Gonzalez",
        "title": "Founder",
        "founder_bio": "Co-founder of Coba. Former CFO of Icalia Labs. Finance Degree from Tec de Monterrey, Masters Degree from Copenhagen Business School. ",
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        "title": "Coba.ai Hiring | Full-stack developers for US-MX cross-border fintech (remote US or MX)",
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        "id": 69208,
        "title": "Coba.ai Hiring | UI/UX designer for US-MX cross-border fintech (remote US or MX)",
        "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/coba/jobs/2cSKYwP-coba-ai-hiring-ui-ux-designer-for-us-mx-cross-border-fintech-remote-us-or-mx",
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    "launches": [
      {
        "id": 73265,
        "title": "Coba 🇺🇸💸🇲🇽 — Dual currency accounts for LatAm",
        "tagline": "Earn in US Dollars and spend in Pesos. Live across two currencies.",
        "body": "[**Coba**](https://www.coba.ai/) allows international knowledge workers in Mexico to deposit their USD paychecks in US accounts and spend in pesos. One account…two currencies.\n\nHola 👋 ! We are the team behind Coba.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=73265&key=user_uploads/891884/5561585a-e518-429a-bcf9-3f85a1bffa7a)\n\n### **🤔 The Problem**\n\nInternational knowledge workers earn in USD but live their day-to-day in Pesos. Moving money across borders is costly, complex and the existing banking infrastructure is slow. On average, a knowledge worker will lose $1,000 per year in hidden ForEx and transfer fees. In that process, their money will touch at least 3 different accounts adding time and steps along the way.\n\n### **💡 The Solution**\n\nCoba is the app where users can:\n\n* Access a single account to deposit their payroll, save in USD and send funds to Mexico.\n* Transfer Mexican Pesos to local bank accounts in seconds without fees and at competitive FX rates.\n* Receive a local credit card for daily expenses in Pesos that draws from their USD balance.\n\n**Earning and saving in USD… Living and spending in Pesos.**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=73265&key=user_uploads/891884/b144f0dd-5495-4c5a-aa84-41c0c0ddea66)\n\n### **🇺🇸💸🇲🇽 How Do We Do It?**\n\n* **Trust**: Coba runs on existing, regulated banking infrastructure and tools\n* **Convenience**: A single app for two currencies\n* **Efficiency**: Proprietary payment rails mean more competitive FX rates and savings for our Users\n\n### **🇺🇸💸🇲🇽 Why Us?**\n\nFrom the Near-shoring capital of Latin America, Monterrey, MX, we live a cross-border reality. Not only have we employed remote teams across LatAm in the businesses we have operated, but we are remote workers ourselves and know first-hand the costs and complexity of moving money from USD to Pesos.\n\n### **🙏 The Ask**\n\nIf you currently have employees or friends in Mexico who are earning in USD and could benefit from an account, we would love to have them as early adopters. They can sign-up for our priority waitlist [**here**](https://coba.ai/onboarding.html).",
        "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/J3h-coba-dual-currency-accounts-for-latam",
        "votes": 34,
        "created_at": "2023-07-20T19:23:31.123Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": 29465,
    "name": "Polar",
    "slug": "polar",
    "former_names": [
      "Aria",
      "GoldenBasis"
    ],
    "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/a67ca9f40a361ea65885c3e75244352a9f9f8a46.png",
    "website": "https://www.polarfi.com",
    "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; Remote",
    "long_description": "Polar helps remote workers, freelancers, and online sellers outside the U.S. who get paid in dollars get better exchange rates when moving earnings to their local bank. We give them a U.S. dollar account in their name to receive USD earnings and let them withdraw through local bank transfers or stablecoins instead of the expensive options they use today.",
    "one_liner": "The smarter way to manage USD earnings globally",
    "team_size": 2,
    "industry": "Fintech",
    "subindustry": "Fintech -> Consumer Finance",
    "launched_at": 1708655609,
    "tags": [
      "Fintech",
      "Crypto / Web3",
      "Investing",
      "Remittances",
      "Neobank"
    ],
    "tags_highlighted": [
      "Crypto / Web3"
    ],
    "top_company": false,
    "isHiring": false,
    "nonprofit": false,
    "batch": "Winter 2024",
    "status": "Active",
    "industries": [
      "Fintech",
      "Consumer Finance"
    ],
    "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/polar",
    "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2024/polar.json",
    "year_founded": 2024,
    "city": "San Francisco",
    "country": "US",
    "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/polarfihq",
    "x_url": "https://twitter.com/polarfihq",
    "fb_url": "https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586231414913",
    "cb_url": null,
    "github_url": null,
    "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/a67ca9f40a361ea65885c3e75244352a9f9f8a46.png",
    "app_video_url": null,
    "dday_video_url": null,
    "company_photos": [],
    "primary_partner": {
      "name": "Pete Koomen",
      "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/pete-koomen"
    },
    "founders": [
      {
        "user_id": 714908,
        "full_name": "Grant Ackerman",
        "title": "Founder/CEO",
        "founder_bio": "Grant is the co-founder & CEO of Polar. Grant previously led Altruist's integration of SSG, which Altruist acquired to become the third-largest custodian by number of RIAs behind Schwab and Fidelity. Before that, Grant helped grow Princeton’s endowment from $26.1 billion to $37.7 billion as a member of the 20-person investment staff. Grant graduated from Princeton, where he studied Economics, Computer Science, and Finance.",
        "is_active": true,
        "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/grant-a-391184a5",
        "x_url": "",
        "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/fabf18070205e7fed9e6ca2840ea77041aff3025.jpg"
      },
      {
        "user_id": 1691392,
        "full_name": "Andrew Wang",
        "title": "Founder/CTO",
        "founder_bio": "Andrew is the co-founder & CTO of Polar. Before that, he worked in quant research and software engineering at Citadel and Bridgewater. Andrew graduated from Princeton, where he majored in Operations Research & Financial Engineering (ORFE).",
        "is_active": true,
        "linkedin_url": "",
        "x_url": "",
        "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/55ac011d48301889055ce43c035b0cd0f97bac24.jpg"
      }
    ],
    "jobs": [],
    "news": [],
    "launches": [
      {
        "id": 78734,
        "title": "GoldenBasis - Modern back-office software for brokerages",
        "tagline": "Revamping the brokerage operations tech stack, starting with account transfers",
        "body": "### **TLDR;**\n\n[GoldenBasis](https://www.goldenbasis.com) makes it easy for brokerages (think Schwab or Fidelity) to run their back office with modern software, and we’re starting with investment account transfers. For example, when you want to transfer your stocks from Schwab to Fidelity, GoldenBasis would let Fidelity gather your transfer information, track the status of your transfer, and automatically update their internal records.\n\n### **Ask**\n\nIf you or someone you know is leading a brokerage operations team and wants to improve their account transfer process, please reach out at [founders@goldenbasis.com](mailto:founders@goldenbasis.com)!\n\n### **A quick primer on account transfers**\n\n* Account transfers exist so you can move to a new brokerage without selling your positions, which could incur taxes.\n* Incoming account transfers are a primary source of growth for brokerages.\n* Over $90 billion of assets are transferred every month in the US. Surprisingly, 18% of these transfers are delayed, often for several weeks \\[1\\].\n\n**How the process works**\n\nLet’s say you want to transfer your assets from Schwab to Fidelity. The following needs to happen:\n\n* You fill out an account transfer form at Fidelity.\n* Fidelity sends this information to Schwab.\n* Schwab tells Fidelity what assets are in your account.\n* Fidelity makes sure they can hold these assets.\n* Your assets move to Fidelity a few days later.\n\nThis back-and-forth process is part of a standard protocol called ACATS, and it lets brokerages transfer assets to each other electronically \\[2\\]. The process above sounds straightforward, but there are hundreds of edge cases detailed in manuals that total over 1000 pages.\n\n### **Problem**\n\nTransfers are supposed to take 3-4 days but often take weeks. During the transfer:\n\n* You can’t trade your assets.\n* To find out the status of your transfer, you need to contact customer support.\n* The brokerage receiving your assets is missing out on revenue.\n* The brokerage delivering your assets gets in trouble with the regulators if they don’t go quickly enough.\n\nWhy are delays so common? It’s because there are multiple rounds of manual data entry and any small mistake (e.g. missing comma) can delay the transfer. Furthermore, the operations team has to resolve issues on outdated platforms that are hard to use.\n\nHere’s a taste of the experience today:\n\n* You begin the transfer by filling out a daunting form.\n\n  ![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78734&key=user_uploads/714908/c77b27cb-a621-4364-a3dc-4f2f371897b0)\n\n* The brokerage operations team re-enters your form and handles issues in a back-office system.\n\n  ![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78734&key=user_uploads/714908/9a53a162-695a-40b4-a41a-a7cc1cb1834d)\n\n\n### **Solution**\n\nGoldenBasis provides a modern software stack that solves these issues:\n\n* With GoldenBasis, you don’t need to fill out any forms. Just upload your account statement from the brokerage you want to leave, and our AI extracts and validates the fields, which vastly reduces errors.\n\n  ![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78734&key=user_uploads/714908/1966b057-cc89-42ab-b4ce-acc20f50d53a)\n\n* GoldenBasis lets you easily track the status of your transfer so you know what’s going on without having to contact support.\n\n  ![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78734&key=user_uploads/714908/984e522f-5537-4876-b8d3-748ca0971ed5)\n\n* GoldenBasis provides modern GUIs for the operations team to handle issues.\n\n  ![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78734&key=user_uploads/714908/234c33e9-a876-4aba-9080-30c7d741a042)\n\n\n### **Team**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78734&key=user_uploads/714908/9c49f965-4e87-4d7e-86ec-eb85ead3e823)\n\n[Grant](https://linkedin.com/in/grant-a-391184a5) (CEO) met [Andrew](https://linkedin.com/in/andrew-wang-0b5526109) (CTO) in college at Princeton, where they became best friends. In fact, Andrew was the best man at Grant’s wedding. They teamed up to take on their biggest adventure yet: building a startup and reading a couple thousand pages of manuals along the way.\n\nBefore GoldenBasis, Grant worked at Altruist, where he discovered the outdated technology that was causing so much pain for brokerage back offices. He also led Altruist’s integration of SSG post-acquisition, which made Altruist the third-largest custodian for financial advisors, behind Charles Schwab and Fidelity. Before that, Grant helped grow Princeton’s endowment from $26.1 billion to $37.7 billion as a member of the 20-person investment staff.\n\nBefore GoldenBasis, Andrew did quant research and software engineering at Citadel, where he built trading systems that process billions of dollars per day. Before that, he worked at Bridgewater, where he wrote software to model global economies and trade fixed-income securities. Andrew loved the prospect of bringing legacy systems to the modern age, especially the back office since it’s so often neglected.\n\n\\[1\\] <https://www.sifma.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SIFMA-Transfer-of-Customer-Assets-Guidance-2022.pdf>\n\n\\[2\\] <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/acat.asp>",
        "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/KTu-goldenbasis-modern-back-office-software-for-brokerages",
        "votes": 19,
        "created_at": "2024-02-26T04:35:58.966Z"
      }
    ]
  }
]
