US banking app CapWay readies to launch
Start-up is currently in the testing phase
Mississippi-based digital and financial literacy app CapWay is preparing to launch and offer its services to millennials, inner cities and rural areas.
The start-up is currently in the testing phase but its targets are clear. It says millennials are coined the “unbanked generation” and the majority of them are “either underbanked or uncertain (when it comes to their financial future)”.
Like many other companies, it believes those in inner cities and rural areas have not always had the same access and convenience as others. CapWay also wants to fill a gap that has emerged from branch closures across the US.
The company is the creation of Sheena Allen, who is also founder and CEO of media tech company, Sheena Allen Apps.
In 2016, Allen thought of the idea for her second start-up, CapWay.
She says: “Growing up in Mississippi, a state with a high population of financially underserved residents, [I] saw the perfect opportunity to solve a problem that impacts over three billion people worldwide from a perspective that most wouldn’t understand.”
At present, CapWay users can connect existing accounts to the app or get a pre-paid card.
Its only partner is the University of Southern Mississippi – but it is on the lookout for more. These include high schools, community colleges and universities, community organisations, employers, city and government agencies, and financial institutions.
It will first roll out to iOS, Android and mobile web users in Mississippi, but plans to launch across the US later this year.
The firm is inviting people to sign up for a waitlist on its website. The CapWay beta app can be downloaded now for iOS and Android.
Allen has got some momentum already as at Barclays BlackTech FinTech Day, held earlier this month, her firm won the pitch competition and a $4,000 grant.
