Founded by Egyptian entrepreneurs Amr Shady and Mohamed Elkasstawi, Tribal Credit is a San Francisco-based fintech startup that leverages a proprietary AI-driven approval process and blockchain technology to provide instant credit to startups with complete control over the spending.
The startup on Thursday raised $5.5 million seed funding from UAE’s BECO Capital and Global Ventures with backers including Edure Capital, 500 Startups, Valve VC, AR Ventures, Off The Grid Ventures, Rising Tide Fund, RiseUp and Tribe Capital
A statement issued by Tribal mentions – Around 200 million SMEs in emerging economies lack access to formal savings and credit, which often restrict or slow startup growth. Strict banking regulations often limit or make difficult the opening of business bank accounts, obtaining credit cards, and making cross-border payments.
“Tribal Credit will bring startups closer to the payment channels and capital they need to grow and scale, giving them access to banking services previously only available to large corporates,”
– Amr Shady, CEO, Tribal Credit
“Blockchain is key for achieving business financial inclusion in emerging markets,”
– Mohamed Elkasstawi, Chief Strategy Officer, Tribal Credit
The Executive team of Tribal includes comprises of veterans including Duane Good, former HSBC EVP, and founding member of eCapital Financial and MBNA International; Bill Crawley of IBM, iSON Technologies, and NetwPhone; Mark Graves of Marqeta Inc., Silicon Valley Bank, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
“Tribal Credit will help remove financial barriers for the next generation of global entrepreneurs,”
– Duane Good, President, Tribal Credit
