Early-stage Mexico fintech Aviva makes loans as easy as a video call • TechCrunch

There are about 40 million Mexicans who are excluded from certain financial products because the banks don’t think it’s a segment worth going after, but Filiberto Castro does.

The former banking executive worked at banks including Citi and Scotiabank for almost a decade before moving into the fintech space to be head of growth at Konfio. That’s where Castro said he saw how well technology could help people access financial services that were previously out of reach.

He met his co-founders David Hernandez and Amran Frey at Konfio, and with Israel Garcia founded Aviva, a Mexico-based fintech startup focused on bringing working capital to underserved communities.

Aviva’s approach uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to match customers’ spoken words with the fields of a real-time credit application. Within minutes, customers can qualify for a nano business or home improvement loan of up to $1,000.

Aviva’s co-founders, from left, Amran Frey, David Hernández and Filiberto Castro. Image credit: Aviva

Unlike other fintechs that concentrate on large, urban areas, Aviva concentrates on smaller communities where the company can address the lack of trust in banks, predatory interest rates and help users who may not have the technical ability, such as a smartphone, to purchase financial products products directly.

Now with $2.2 million in pre-seed funding, the company is rolling out a network of physical and digital onboarding kiosks. The five-minute “video call machines” use biometrics and biosignals to determine the customer’s risk and willingness to pay in order to take out the loans.

“No one has done anything for this segment in the last 25 years,” Castro told TechCrunch. “A lot has been done in big cities, but by creating deep technology, AI and video calls, we can establish elements to investigate credit and lower interest rates. This has the potential to create a new middle class in Mexico and later in Latin America.”

The company makes money by financing the interest on the loans, but can charge less than today’s banks. Average interest rates in Mexico can be as high as triple digits, but Aviva is able to charge around 80%, but still high, he added.

Aviva is still very much in its early stages. It launched its product in November with 10 employees and has three kiosk locations where more than 500 customers have visited since. The kiosks are located in Chalco de Díaz, Ixtapaluca and Texcoco, cities about an hour’s drive from Mexico City. The company is also seeing a lower percentage of non-performing loans than first thought, Castro said.

The pre-seed was led by Wollef Ventures, which was joined by Newtopia VC, Seedstars International Ventures, 500 Startups, Magna Capital VC, Xtraordinary VP and a group of angel investors.

With the new capital, Aviva will invest in expanding the credit and underwriting system, preparing the launch of the company’s own credit card and expanding the kiosks. In the future, Castro also sees the company providing a complete banking offer to its customers.

“The credit card will give us a way to deposit loans if customers don’t have a bank account,” he said. “It’s great for us because it shows we’re dealing with the right segment – people who don’t have a relationship with a bank.”