Black-Owned Fintech Kinly partners with Data Aggregation and Enhancement Platform MX

• Black-founded and operated fintech Kinly announced a partnership with open finance company MX.
• The partnership will bring MX’s financial data aggregation and improvement solutions to Kinly via the Lehi, Utah-based company’s open finance APIs.
• MX is a multiple winner of Finovate Best of Show. Founded in 2020, Atlanta, Georgia-based Kinly has raised $20 million in funding.

Kinly, a digitally-focused financial services company dedicated to helping African Americans build generational wealth, has teamed up with financial data aggregation and improvement solutions platform MX to operate their purpose-built financial tools.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and founded in 2020 by CEO Donald Hawkins, Kinly leverages financial education, savings and wealth building, and other strategies to improve financial performance. The company offers a checking account, a Visa debit card, early pay access, overdraft protection up to $100, and cash back rewards for purchases made at participating Black-owned businesses as well as thousands of popular retailers. There are no hidden fees, no minimum balance required, and Kinly customers can also take advantage of fee-free ATM withdrawals across the country. Deposits are FDIC insured, and Kinly’s banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank.

Hawkins praised MX for both its mission and its “passion for diversity.” He added: “I have been impressed with MX’s world-class financial data platform for years and look forward to working with them. MX’s open economy APIs will help us help serve and improve the economic livelihoods of our broad community.”

The collaboration with Lehi, Utah-based MX – a multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner – will bring valuable data aggregation and enrichment to Kinly thanks to MX’s open finance APIs. This connectivity will enable Kinly to quickly and securely connect and verify data for a wide range of financial use cases, from account opening and money movement to underwriting.

“Working closely with Kinly to help bring data enhancement and personalized financial advice to the Black community aligns perfectly with our mission to empower the world to be financially strong,” said MX Chief Product Officer Brett Allred. “We are huge fans of Kinly and the underrepresented community it serves and look forward to its continued growth and ongoing partnerships into the future.”

Kinly joins a growing ecosystem of black and African American-based financial institutions, including Greenwood, CapWay and Guava. The company has raised a total of $20 million in funding thanks to a $5 million seed round in November 2020 and a $15 million Series A round in August 2021. Forerunner Ventures led Kinly’s Series A, which featured participation from Kapor Capital, Anthemis Group , and Point72 Ventures, as well as from individual investors from the world of professional sports such as Marshawn Lynch and Kevin Durant.

Photo by Elijah O’Donnell