Sheena Allen has announced the closure of a venture supporting unbanked communities.
Since 2018, Allen has been the founder of CapWay, a mobile bank inspired by her upbringing in Terry, MS, a small town near Jackson, where there was only one bank at the time.
“Jackson has some of the highest rates of unbanked residents in the United States,” Allen previously told AFROTECH™. “I was very familiar with people not having fair or proper access to mainstream financial services and products.”
Creating a solution, CapWay offered savings tools and allowed users to cash checks, establish checking accounts, and send money from their phones, as AFROTECH™ reported.
Allen also believed the fintech company’s offerings geared for underserved communities were essential back in 2018 given that she felt this area had been overlooked by Silicon Valley.
“Silicon Valley’s definition of real-world problems and everyone else’s definition of real-world problems are not the same,” Allen said. “They live in such a bubble.”
Fast forward to 2024, and CapWay’s efforts have come to an end. Though it received nearly $800,000 in funding from investors including Backstage Capital, Fearless Fund, and Khosla Ventures, notes TechCrunch, the lack of venture capital dollars appears to be a factor in Allen’s decision, according to a post shared on LinkedIn.
“There is still much work to be done in the financial inclusion space, but I am not yet convinced that those who can write a check are ready to write a check large enough or have the patience it will take to see the change, particularly from Black and brown fintech founders,” Allen wrote on LinkedIn. “It will take more than a few million dollars and a few years! It’s a long game. (With that being said, be sure to support startups like Goalsetter/Tanya Van Court).”
She added, “Yes, we dealt with a lot of investors who said no because they had ‘already invested in the other Black-owned debit card company.’ Some said it verbatim, and others didn’t, but we got it….a lot. That, or they felt we were so far behind in the amount raised, it was a lost cost.”
Despite CapWay’s closure, Allen’s work in the fintech space is far from over. She plans to maintain a presence in the sector and hints a new startup could be in the works.
“I love building. I love creating,” she said. “I’ll continue working in the financial inclusion space in some capacity because it’s not only a passion of mine, but I know there is still much work to do. Mainly, I am going through the ideation phase of a few ideas for what could be my next startup. I’ve also been looking at some potential EIR opportunities at venture firms so that I can learn from the other side. Nothing is solidified, but I trust the journey and am ready for what is next.”
