NJ CoVest Fund Will Help Mobility Capital Finance Bring its Community Banking Platform to the Global Marketplace
Company Offers Banking Services and Financial Literacy and Personal Finance Tools
TRENTON, N.J. (March 10, 2020) – The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) today approved a $250,000 convertible note for Mobility Capital Finance, Inc. (MoCaFi) through the NJ CoVest Fund. The Newark-based financial technology company plans to use the financing to build up its business operations, product development, and sales revenue.
The NJ CoVest Fund helps emerging technology companies like MoCaFi scale commercialization.
MoCaFi is a data-driven, mobile community bank that serves financially underserved communities by offering low-cost access to banking services, tools to build credit and access to capital at scale. The company’s financial inclusion platform includes a mobile app and a prepaid Mastercard® debit card. The card enables customers to access financial services such as check cashing, custom loans, sending money, debit cards, etc. at low or no cost from anywhere in the country. MoCaFi also offers its users financial literacy, data analytics and personal finance tools. MoCaFi’s mobile app is available on Android and iOS systems.
“We started MoCaFi to be the community bank of the future and to provide low-cost, personalized financing to a population that has been overlooked for far too long,” said MoCaFi Founder & Chief Executive Officer Wole Coaxum. “The funding we’ll receive through NJ CoVest will be instrumental in enabling us to scale our business and expand our value to customers.”
Under Coaxum’s leadership, MoCaFi graduated from Newark Venture Partners (NVP) Lab accelerator in the spring of 2018 and is based in NVP’s coworking space in Newark.
The NJ CoVest Fund provides funding to New Jersey-based early-stage technology companies in the form of convertible notes with warrants, requiring a negative pledge and springing lien on protected intellectual property. No payments are required on the notes for seven years to allow companies sufficient time to grow. With a total funding pool of $3 million, eligible technology companies can receive investments ranging from $100,000 to $250,000. NJ CoVest funds feature three percent interest and 10-year maturity. A complete list of NJ CoVest Fund program guidelines and company requirements and an application can be found at www.njeda.gov/njcovest.
“Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, the NJEDA is working hard to increase access to capital for emerging companies, with a particular focus on building an inclusive innovation ecosystem that reflects New Jersey’s diverse population,” said NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan. “Supporting minority-led companies like MoCaFi that focus specifically on serving underrepresented communities bolsters our work and moves us closer to our goal of a stronger, fairer New Jersey economy.”
Today’s NJ CoVest Fund approval comes less than two weeks after the NJEDA issued a Request for Information seeking insights into the obstacles and disparities that Black and Latinx entrepreneurs face as well as suggested measures that could address these inequalities. Responses to the RFI are due by April 23.
To learn about the multitude of resources available to help technology and life sciences companies thrive, visit https://www.njeda.gov/tls and follow @NewJerseyEDA on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
