Xodus

A digital banking solution designed for African immigrants living abroad

Highlights

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‍ Techstars alum, {Traction by #}
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Team


A Pan-African Digital Banking Solution


At Xodus our vision is to be the leading digital banking solution for the global diaspora. Our Mission is to provide cross border banking solutions for unbanked and underserved populations.

👉 Problem


US banks miss out on a $60B every year in revenue because they ignore a huge and powerful market; African immigrants.

  • Without a bank, immigrants will pay 3-5% to cash their payroll check.
  • Then pay an average of 8% per dollar to send money to support family in Africa - the most expensive place to send money on the globe. 
  • Additionally, a small loan costs them 400% interest from the predatory payday loan business. These problems are experienced by some 10 million US immigrants.


👉 Solution


A digital banking solution designed for African immigrants living and working in the US and other developed countries.

We partner with banks across continents, leveraging technology and expert banking compliance to provide immigrant families the freedom and access they deserve.

👉 Business Model & Traction


Xodus makes revenue from interchange fees, interest on deposits, interest and fees on loans, global money transfer fees, and value added services.

In the last 3 months, our team of compliance experts have been able to engineer banking relationships with several US banks to launch our product to a financially excluded market.

👉 Customer


Unbanked and underbanked African immigrants who desperately need equitable financial services.

👉 Market Size


African immigrants contributed $140 billion to the US economy in 2020 alone.

The Neobanking market:

  • Transaction value in the Neobanking segment is projected to reach US$1.07tn in 2022.
  • Transaction value is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2027) of 19.33% resulting in a projected total amount of US$2.60tn by 2027.
  • The average transaction value per user in the Neobanking segment amounts to US$25.97k in 2022.
  • From a global comparison perspective it is shown that the highest transaction value is reached in the United States (US$1,075.00bn in 2022).
  • In the Neobanking segment, the number of users is expected to amount to 78.37m users by 2027.

In 2021 African diaspora families living in the US and Europe sent $90B in remittances back to Africa. With numbers increasing every year.

👉 Competition


Bank Greenwood

  • Does not serve immigrant communities around their specific banking needs.
  • Does not offer services to customers without a SSN.
  • Does not offer small business accounts.
  • No global remittances.

Chime

  • Does not serve immigrant communities around their specific banking needs.
  • Does not offer services to customers without a SSN.
  • Does not offer small business accounts.
  • No global remittances.

👉 Distinct Advantage


Xodus is being built by and for immigrants.

Our distinct advantage is that banking compliance is our edge; supported by a strong compliance team. We take the perceived risks and biases that banks have with banking immigrants; and through compliance, we de-risk the process to provide banking services.

👉 Vision


To be the leading digital banking solution for the global diaspora.

👉 Team


Jelani Sutherland (CEO/Founder) is a decorated United States Air Force combat veteran and a seasoned former airline pilot (captain) with 2 major airlines. Jelani developed proven leadership and unique problem solving skills from his military and aviation career. However, as an immigrant to the United States as a teen, Jelani had a unique lens to experience the same pain points many immigrants experience without equitable banking access from his time living in the Caribbean and in Africa. This led him to launch of Xodus Technologies Inc., a digital banking platform with a mission to create financial inclusion for those in the African diaspora and other emerging markets.

James DeFrantz (Head of Compliance), CRCM, CAMS, J.D., has more than 30 years of experience in the financial service regulatory industry. He has served as a senior compliance examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco and has spent time as an analytical manager at the Office of Thrift Supervision as well as a commissioned national bank examiner at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. He also is a certified regulatory compliance management and anti-money laundering specialist.

Carlton West (Chief Technology Officer) worked in the fast-paced, merger-oriented community banking sector as a senior technology and operations manager in such institutions as Republic Security Bank, BankAtlantic, Union Bank of Florida, BankUnited, and Florida Community Bank. In 2011 Mr. West was hired as the Senior Vice President, Chief Information and Operations Officer for City National Bank of New Jersey (CNB). Mr. West works as a Sr. Vice President for Service Finance Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Truist. Currently working from within banking to assist Fintechs in leveraging cloud utility platforms such as AWS to provide innovative services to the un-banked and under-banked domestically and internationally.

Collectively, our experience in this space makes us uniquely prepared to build this solution.

👉 Use of Funds


Xodus is raising a $1,500,000 pre-seed SAFE. The funds will be used for the following:

  • Capital reserve requirements for banking partners.
  • Hiring a CTO, CFO and developers
  • Targeted WhatsApp/Facebook/Instagram ads for grassroots approach to aquire 50K customers in year one.
  • SEO and SEM marketing

Overview