zmarks.eth

Expanding financial access @jia_DeFi 💸 Telling chai stories @thechaiwallahs ☕️ Cheffing it up @ 👨‍🍳

[jia @jia_DeFi]

This funding belongs to the biz owners who couldn't get a bank loan. Who turned down contracts bc they couldn't front the cash. Who paid 20% monthly interest — their only option.

$7.3M raised to change that.

Thank you to our investors — and every entrepreneur who trusted us.

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

7/ To the Jiaraffes — building with you is just the best. LFJia. 🦒

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

1/ We just closed $3M for @jia_DeFi from @cbventures @StellarOrg @A100x_Ventures @tcg_crypto @HashedEM

@bayareawriter at @twifintech broke the story.

https://t.co/I1w554PC6w

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

6/ Banks have the capital. They don't have the infrastructure to reach these businesses.

We give them the intelligence layer. That's the real play.

[Mary Ann Azevedo @bayareawriter]

Jia, a startup building a financial operating system for small businesses in Southeast Asia, has raised $3 million in funding, it tells @twifintech exclusively.

@cbventures (Coinbase Ventures) led the round, which included participation from Stellar Development Foundation and A100x as well as existing backers TCG and Hashed Emergent. The financing brings Jia’s total raised since its 2022 inception to $7.3 million.

Founded by Zach Marks and Cheng Cheng, alumni of financial inclusion pioneer Tala, the startup aims to resolve a systemic credit crunch in Southeast Asia by replacing “predatory” local lenders with institutional-grade capital, driven by a proprietary artificial intelligence engine.

"Think of modern financial infrastructure platforms like Brex or Mercury, but purpose-built for small businesses in emerging markets that have historically been locked out of the traditional banking system," Jia CEO Zach Marks told This Week in Fintech.

Read more in the article link in the comments

[Nik @NikMilanovic]

One thing I love about @twifintech is all the non-obvious companies doing interesting things that we get to cover around the world.

Jia, built by Tala alums, is one of them!

Fixing business credit in SE Asia, with backing from @coinbase.

Full story from @bayareawriter.

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

@robbiepetersen_ @jia_DeFi 4/ stablecoins make the unit economics work globally.

but the product is: modern business banking + embedded working capital for markets where bank apps crash on login.

demand signal is unmissable. 🦒

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

@robbiepetersen_ 3/ in the philippines, SMEs can technically open a USD account with a bank (although it takes months and lots of headaches).

what they can't do: finance invoices, manage AP/AR, and settle suppliers in the same place.

that's what we built on top of stablecoin accounts @jia_DeFi

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

Krizanne Ty, who runs our Philippines business, wrote about it this week in @TheManilaTimes. She breaks down the four hidden costs of late payments that most SME owners never fully account for.

Worth a read. https://t.co/ll9EPvV0vQ

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

Met a small business owner outside Manila a few years back. Good contracts, steady demand, growing business. She'd had to let two employees go the year before.

Not because orders dried up. Because she was waiting 90 days to get paid and couldn't make payroll. 🧵

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

I saw versions of this story everywhere I worked across emerging markets. It's one of the main reasons I started @jia_DeFi .

[zmarks.eth @zmarks215]

@snigdhasur Forever Team Snigdha and Team Juggernaut. So proud of you and appalled by this dude in solidarity with you. Keep building, keep telling stories that matter