Pomelo

Pomelo operates as a financial technology platform that integrates consumer credit with international money transfers, founded in 2020 by Eric Velasquez Frenkiel and headquartered in San Francisco. Frenkiel, a Stanford University engineering graduate and early engineer at Meta, previously founded the billion-dollar database platform SingleStore. His experience traveling and a personal need for a better remittance solution inspired the creation of Pomelo.

The company's core offering is the Pomelo Mastercard®, which allows U.S.-based customers to send money to family members abroad. Instead of a traditional cash transfer, the service extends a line of credit to the sender. The U.S. account holder can invite up to three family members, who then receive virtual and physical cards to spend on that credit line. This model is designed for individuals, particularly immigrants in the U.S., who need to remit funds to countries like the Philippines, Mexico, and India. By using this service for remittance obligations, U.S. customers can build a positive credit history.

Pomelo's business model circumvents traditional transfer fees by earning revenue from merchant interchange fees whenever a purchase is made with the card. This allows for fee-free transfers for the customer, with Pomelo applying a real-time exchange rate at the point of sale. For users with limited or no credit history, the company provides a secured version of the Pomelo Mastercard to help them establish credit. The platform, available as a mobile app, allows the primary account holder to manage the account, set spending limits for each card, and monitor transactions. Funds can be accessed instantly by recipients through the card or transferred directly to popular digital wallets like GCash in the Philippines.

The company launched officially in 2022, initially focusing on the U.S.-Philippines corridor. It has since raised significant capital, including a $35 million Series A and a warehouse facility expansion to $125 million, to support its growth into new markets. Keywords: international money transfer, remittance, credit building, fintech, cross-border payments, Mastercard, financial inclusion, send now pay later, family finance, P2P payments, digital wallet transfer, no-fee remittance, US to Philippines money transfer, US to Mexico money transfer, US to India money transfer, consumer credit, virtual card, shared credit line, merchant interchange revenue, secured credit card