Team: Rodrigo Acuna Cervantes (Stern M.B.A. ’20), Alfredo Cantu, Diego Morones
About the Venture: im Financial is a tech-driven financial services marketplace designed for Hispanic Millennials and Gen Z, offering accessible wealth-building tools across banking, insurance, mortgages, and remittances.
im Financial is a technology-driven financial services marketplace built to eliminate the Hispanic financial desert in the U.S.
Hispanics are twice as likely to be financially invisible, often facing predatory financial products, limited wealth-building opportunities, and discrimination. Without access to essential financial tools, many struggle to achieve economic mobility and their American Dream.
Our platform integrates banking, credit, insurance, and remittances into a seamless, culturally aligned experience that empowers Hispanic Millennials and Gen Z on their financial journey. We provide trusted financial services through key financial institutional partnerships, enabling homeownership, entrepreneurship, and education.
Our goal is simple: to be the first YES for Hispanics on their path to building wealth. By combining financial inclusion with technology and trust, we’re breaking barriers and ensuring millions have the resources needed to thrive in the U.S. economy as 100% Hispanic and 100% American.
As U.S. immigrants, we lived the challenges of being unbanked and underserved in a system that wasn’t designed for us—high interest rates, excessive fees, and credit rejections that impacted our financial future. But we were persistent and focused on learning how the system works and finding ways to build credit and invest. We discovered an opportunity—one that could change not just our lives, but those of millions of Hispanics. im Financial was born from this journey, with a mission to open doors for a community facing similar struggles.
The founding team—“The Four Amigos”—found a way to nurture and share our expertise in finance, technology, product development, and customer acquisition. We’ve worked across Wall Street, in fintech, and marketing, combining our skills to tackle financial inequality with great products and solutions.
Most importantly, we understand our customers because we were our customers. We see them as humans, not numbers. That’s why we are building a platform that partners with financial institutions that want to serve our community but lack the technology, scale or insight to do so effectively. We are bridging this gap to create meaningful financial inclusion nationally, empowering Hispanics to take control of their financial future.
Unlike traditional banks, im Financial goes beyond just offering products. We aim to create a lifestyle- embedded financial platform designed specifically for Hispanic Millennials and Gen Z, integrating financial services in a way that aligns with cultural identity and real-world needs. We focus on cultural alignment, hyper-segmentation, and financial inclusion. We thrive in multicultural environments by understanding the particularities of our own multiculturalism, taking advantage of it to create solutions tailored to our community’s unique needs.
Our partnerships with financial institutions allow us to deliver services at scale, without balance sheet risk, ensuring better access to banking, credit, and insurance. This strategic approach enables us to provide the first debit card for Hispanics with embedded life insurance, credit-building tools, and a
full suite of wealth-building solutions.
We’re not just another fintech— by believing in radical collaboration instead of just acting on
data-driven decisions, we’re creating a movement that connects culture with financial
empowerment. By integrating financial literacy, digital access, and trust-based banking, we ensure our
customers receive not only financial services but also the support and confidence to grow their wealth.
NYU Stern has always been a place that pushes people forward—its reputation, its impact, and the way it challenges entrepreneurs to think bigger. But for our very own Rodrigo Acuña, our CEO, it’s more personal: “It’s a homecoming. I was here before as a student—an MBA (Class of 2020)—and learned from professors like Damodaran (Corporate Finance & Valuation), Marciano (Strategy), and Okun (Managing the Growing Company). Here, I gained insights and experiences that would later help shape im Financial into what it is today”.
So, we have the opportunity to showcase im Financial, reconnect with the NYU network, and put the lessons learned to the test in a way that creates lasting change, which becomes a chance to refine our model, gain exposure, and connect with investors, mentors, and partners who can help us scale.
What better way to take our company to the next level than through NYU Stern, a place that has already shaped so much of our journey? From academia to action. We have the chance to do the same for others, we want to support those who stand where we once stood.
Our journey has been filled with milestones—from being selected out of thousands by American Express Ventures’ “Future of Fintech is Inclusive” initiative, to graduating from the LBAN Stanford Accelerator and Tampa Bay Wave’s “Fintech X Accelerator”.
But THE defining moment was securing our beta testing phase with 1,200+ members through our partner bank. This was the moment we proved there was real demand for im Financial—of transforming ideas of how to achieve equality into reality. It validated our product-market fit, allowing us to refine our offerings before our full-scale launch.
Seeing real customers engage with our product, share their pain points, and trust us with their banking needs has been transformative. It reinforced our belief that im Financial is not just needed—it’s essential. This was the moment when our vision took the first step into reality, and we knew we were on the right path.
The same challenges the Hispanic community faces in the financial system are the ones we’ve had to overcome as a fintech startup—complex regulations, earning trust in an underserved community, and the unpredictable nature of fundraising.
We’ve had investors ghost us after handshake deals, rejections from accelerator programs, and tough negotiations with vendors reluctant to work with a startup. But thanks to a strong core team, every setback only reinforced our resilience and belief in our mission.
Regulatory compliance has been a challenge, but we addressed it by building a robust regulatory framework with trusted partners. Earning trust in our community requires transparency, cultural alignment, and financial literacy initiatives.
Ultimately, entrepreneurship is a team sport, and having a shared mission that drives us forward is
essential. In addition, working with supportive advisors and strategic partners has been crucial in
overcoming setbacks and turning obstacles into opportunities for growth as it enables us to provide
the best technology available to meet our community’s needs—even if it’s not ours.
The next few months are critical as we finalize agreements with our banking partners and transition from beta to full-scale operations. The journey has been challenging but incredibly rewarding. We believe in our future—what we can build, and what our community can become. We know im Financial can play a key role in this transformation, which is why we’re committed to providing financial tools that help Hispanics take control.
Our goals for the next few months include:
✅ Beta testing with our partner bank (1,200+ users)
✅ Securing key partnerships with financial institutions and fintech providers
✅ Closing our Seed Round, $3M at an $11.5M valuation
✅ Launching our first product—the first debit card for Hispanics with embedded life insurance
Start with a mission that fuels your passion—because the road will be tough.
Surround yourself with a team that shares and complement your skills and vision.
Stay customer-obsessed, iterate relentlessly, and don’t fear setbacks—embrace every challenge as a learning opportunity that will push you toward success.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to your network for help, advice, and even funding—they can support you more than you think.
Don’t forget to rest when you can and take vacations, you’ll need the reset and the change in perspective.
In the day-to-day, don’t underestimate the power of a quick break—chat with a friend, laugh at a joke, or take a breath. A clear mind makes better decisions
Be honest and open with investors and partners.
Talk to prospective customers and invite them to try your product.
On a personal note—update your parents about your start-up, they care a lot, even if they don’t understand what your company does, and if they do, they’re a great sounding board.
We’ve said this before, but it is important—entrepreneurship is a team sport. Choosing the right people will lead to success, so create win-win situations and be generous with those you bring along on the journey.
