SUMA Wealth now has $2.2 million in new capital to continue developing financial tools, content and live and digital activations for young US Latinos to build wealth.
Radicle Impact led the investment with participation from Vamos Ventures, OVO fund and American Heart Association Impact fund. They join investors from previous rounds including Ulu Ventures, Female Founders Fund and Chingona Ventures. This brings SUMA’s total funding to $5.5 million.
We first profiled the California-based fintech company when it presented as part of the Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022. Beatriz Acevedo started the company with Mary Hernandez and Xavier Gutierrez a few years ago to create a financial app designed for Latinos – a demographic he believes is often overlooked.
It offers financial content, products and experiences within the culture to help them take control of their financial power and build wealth. SUMA Wealth also works with financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, seeking to work with the Latino demographic.
“We’re really leaning hard on AI functions to be able to highly personalize how you spend your money and how you can do better, but also that our community comes from so many different countries of origin,” said Acevedo to TechCrunch. “It was very important that even for the features, even for the tone and voice, even for the content that we bring to you for education about what you’re trying to learn and achieve, that we do it in a completely customized and personalized way .”
That means if you’re Venezuelan, the app knows that and uses references and examples of things familiar to that culture, or uses a tone similar to one of your family members, he explained.
SUMA Wealth’s financial planning application. Image Credits: SUMA Wealth
In addition to the consumer app, Acevedo was also working on an enterprise offering. Since then, as well as a new version of the app in December, both of these entities have now reached 1 million users.
Obviously, this personalization is catching on with users. SUMA Wealth’s platforms have seen 62% annual user growth. The app continues to be free for users, however, the company monetizes its partnerships with different brands, including dating app Match.com, or for features like more personalized guidance. The corporate app also relies on subscriptions for purchases by companies for employees or their own customers.
And while Acevedo built SUMA Wealth for young U.S. Latinos and their families, what has surprised her is the adoption of the app by non-Latinos.
“30 percent are not Latino, even though our jokes, our knowledge and our imagery are very unapologetically Latino,” Acevedo said. “This is a place where people feel welcome. We are excited to see that not only Latinos have been attracted to the app and find our tools and content useful.”
In addition to the increase in clients, SUMA Wealth’s revenue has grown nearly fivefold in the past year. It has also made some acquisitions: Intellecto, a learning management system to further personalize the user’s learning experience;
This followed the acquisition of savings and personal finance platform Reel in February 2023. As part of this acquisition, Reel co-founder and CEO Daniela Corrente joined SUMA as head of strategy and business management.
Meanwhile, this new funding will go towards the acquisition of Intellecto as well as new hires in engineering, product and sales. The company is also working to expand its technology offerings for more personalization, data and AI analytics.
