Maza Raises $8 Million to Give US Immigrants Financial Foothold

Financial platform Maza has raised $8 million to help provide immigrants with financial identities.

The Los Angeles-based company announced the seed funding in a Wednesday (June 28) press release, saying the financing will bolster its platform, which automates a U.S. tax presence for immigrants.

“As descendants of Latin American immigrants, my co-founders and I are building the company our parents needed,” Maza Co-founder and CEO Luciano Arango said in the release. “Individuals who have moved to the U.S. are often at a financial disadvantage. Even those who are highly educated and already have well-paying jobs may become targets of predatory lending and exploitative financial products.”

Maza works with the IRS’ Certified Acceptance Program, to get individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs) for its members, according to the release. With an ITIN, members can file taxes, build credit, obtain driver’s licenses in many states, and buy homes.

In addition, the company works with Visa and Blue Ridge Bank to let users access its banking product without a Social Security number. This product includes “broad payment functionality, as well as integrations with all major payment platforms,” the release said.

Maza has been operating in stealth for more than a year and has 50,000 active members, according to the release. Its funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from several venture capital firms and independent investors.

PYMNTS explored some of the financial barriers facing newcomers to the U.S. earlier this year in an interview with Roy Ng, co-founder and CEO of Bond, who came to America from Hong Kong as a child.

He recalled how his mother, lacking a credit profile in the U.S., struggled to find a credit card that she could use at any store. She found herself stuck with a Sears card, which could be used only at Sears stores.

“A lot of people, not only immigrants, have a challenge because they’ve never built credit in the past,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a [vicious circle, wherein if] you can’t build that credit profile in the beginning, you’re never going to have great credit.”