Fintech founder announces run for Congress

Max Ukropina, founder of Newport Beach credit monitoring app Float, announced this month his run for Congress in California’s 47th District, which includes Irvine, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Seal Beach.

The Orange County native joins former state Assemblyman Scott Baugh among other Republican candidates.

Baugh, who is also running for the same seat in 2022, has raised over $500,000 to date, the most of any Republican in the field, according to recent reports.

The seat is currently held by Democrat Katie Porter, who is now seeking a seat in the Senate. California state Sen. Dave Min and community organizer Joanna Weiss are the leading fundraisers for the Democratic nomination.

“OC has great schools, safe communities, and natural beauty, but if you drive 30 minutes north, our beloved cities like LA and San Francisco fall apart [from] rampant crime, homelessness and drug use,” Ukropina told the Business Journal.

Ukropina said he aims to keep the “lawlessness” of other California cities out of OC by avoiding their policy of “not prosecuting crimes” and providing the proper support to homeless people.

On the business side, he is an advocate of a “light-touch” government, whose laws do not impede the ability of entrepreneurs to start and operate businesses in an agile manner.

Float founder

Ukropina’s passion for ventures stems from the challenges he’s faced as the current CEO of Float and the former director of business development at Irvine-based micro-investment money manager Acorns, OC’s best-funded fintech.

His work with the two startups also opened his eyes to the financial challenges facing American families, which he hopes to continue helping on a much larger scale if elected to Congress.

“I’ve seen tens of thousands of American families struggling to figure out how to get paid, where their next meal is going to come from,” Ukropina said.

“But I’ve had the absolute pleasure of helping many people start their first savings and investment account with Acorns,” he added. “With Float, we [teach] families with bad credit, how to pay off their debt and improve their finances.”

Ukropina founded Float in 2018 out of frustration with “how difficult it was for the average consumer to monitor their own credit, let alone let someone else monitor their credit with their consent.”

Float allows couples to share their credit information with each other, helps combine a household’s finances and offers advice on how to improve credit scores, according to its website.

Float has raised about $1 million to date. If elected, Ukropina says he will step down as executive director to dedicate his time to congressional affairs.

California’s Corporate Exodus

Ukropina hopes to transform California into a state that is less hostile to businesses.
He cited California’s recent corporate exodus as an example of the state’s “anti-business policy.”

“Businesses are fleeing our state because it is not business friendly,” he said.

The state two years ago saw 153 companies move their headquarters beyond its borders, more than double the exits that took place in both 2020 and 2019, according to a report by the Hoover Institution think tank.

If elected, Ukropina said he would support lower taxes, looser employment laws and deregulation of corporations to keep and promote the growth of businesses in California.