More big names have invested into Houston fintech platform Hello Alice, which its co-founders take as a sign that their business model is delivering results.
“These are people that want to manage their wealth, optimize their returns, but they are also interested in making beneficial societal returns as well,” Carolyn Rodz, co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice, said in an interview with the Houston Business Journal.
Hello Alice reached a milestone valuation of $130 million after a Series C round in early April. Mastercard Inc., celebrity restaurateur Guy Fieri, and Twitch streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and his wife, Jessica, were among the investors. Big names from earlier rounds include Atlanta-based serial entrepreneur Phyllis Newhouse and Serena Ventures, the venture capital firm founded by tennis star Serena Williams.
The company supports 1.5 million small-business owners across the U.S. by providing access to credit, loans, grants and business-planning services.
Rodz said that Hello Alice's established mission and embracing of new technology such as artificial intelligence helped drive investor interest for continued funding. The company’s plan to scale up its technology segment and refine its capital continuum meant another venture round was preferable to organic growth.
“Our executive leadership really came to the conclusion that as we're starting to deploy AI and data components, that it required a strategic integration with financial technology-focused companies,” Rodz said. “That’s why a core focus of this round was bringing Mastercard on board.”
Mastercard has been working with Hello Alice for several years. In 2022, the two companies teamed up to launch the Hello Alice Small Business Mastercard, a credit card that also offers provisions for businesses to build credit. The credit card company has also been involved in grant opportunities for Hello Alice, Rodz said.
Last year, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) provided the initial grant for Hello Alice to start The Equitable Access Fund, and financing partners include First National Bank of Omaha. Mastercard also partnered on the company’s Equitable Access Program, which Hello Alice runs in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network.
Meanwhile, changes in social impact strategies for corporations and celebrity investors mean new opportunities for Hello Alice programs. She highlighted the amount of data that Hello Alice processes to provide insights to companies of all sizes.
“Behind those impact programs, there's a metric or measurement that they're trying to achieve. And it was always very difficult [to reach],” Rodz said. “What we’re able to do with Hello Alice is get funds from these programs to small businesses and quantify their successes not only on the business impact side but also on the marketing side.”
That data is also key for feeding Hello Alice’s AI growth. Rodz highlighted the potential for artificial intelligence to democratize business insights and knowledge previously only known to a few entrepreneurs.
“If you meet a business owner, and you're trying to mentor them and guide them, you connect them — what happens in the real world?” Rodz said. “You have a conversation and you ask questions. You want to understand what are they doing. Our technology is centered around [figuring out] how do you take that one-to-one experience and scale that so everybody has access to it?”
