Airfox CEO Victor Santos Honored with MIT Tech Review 'Innovator Under 35' Award
Boston fintech leader recognized for accelerating financial inclusion with blockchain and data science
BOSTON, Nov. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Airfox, a startup aiming to provide transformative financial services in emerging markets, today announced Victor Santos, CEO and co-founder, has been selected by MIT Technology Review as a 2018 Innovator Under 35 in Latin America.
The Innovators Under 35 award recognizes individuals whose technical work promises to shape the coming decades. Selected by a jury of tech experts, winners are honored for creatively applying technology to solve the world's biggest problem. Starting in 2012, the MIT Technology Review expanded its program to include young innovators and entrepreneurs transforming Latin America.
Transformative financial solutions for emerging markets
Santos was selected by MIT Technology Review for his dedication to accelerating financial inclusion through technology. Today, billions still remain unbanked and underbanked, meaning they lack access to basic financial services. Airfox recognized an opportunity to provide inclusive mobile financial services to the underserved, with two-thirds of the global unbanked adults having a mobile phone.
In February 2018, Airfox successfully brought thousands of unbanked and underbanked Brazilians unprecedented access to much-needed mobile financing solutions. Airfox has already allowed nearly 15,000 users to engage freely in the financial economy. Users can deposit cash at over 250,000 locations, including ATMs and post offices. To significantly expand its footprint, Airfox signed a strategic partnership with a Brazilian retail giant and is currently preparing to extend the Airfox digital wallet to nearly 1,000 physical stores that serve 68% of Brazil's population. Airfox plans to replicate its vision to surrounding markets across Latin America.
About the Innovators Under 35 Award
The Innovators Under 35 award is curated by the MIT Technology Review to honor young minds for making exciting strides that shape their fields and solve problems in remarkably different ways. Previous winners include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Santos will present his vision at an award ceremony in Guadalajara, Mexico on November 15. Airfox is excited to share the Airfox mission of bringing financial inclusion to underserved populations around the world with this community of innovators.
About MIT Technology Review
Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899, MIT Technology Review is a world-renowned, independent media company whose insight, analysis, reviews, interviews and live events explain the commercial, social and political impact of new technologies. MIT Technology Review derives its authority from the world's foremost technology institution and from its editors' deep technical knowledge, capacity to see technologies in their broadest context, and unequaled access to leading innovators and researchers. For 117 years, MIT Technology Review's mission has been to equip readers with the intelligence to understand a world shaped by technology and the impact upon their careers and lives.
About Airfox
Airfox develops inclusive financial services for emerging markets. To break down financial barriers and provide opportunities to build wealth, Airfox aims to create an entirely new financial services model that serves the unbanked with reliable, egalitarian, and democratic access to capital and financial services. To power its revolutionary peer-to-peer microloans program, Airfox developed and released its own cryptocurrency, AirToken (symbol: AIR), an ERC-20 token issued on the Ethereum blockchain. Airfox has offices in Boston and São Paulo. To learn more about the future of decentralized digital banking, visit www.airfox.com.
SOURCE Airfox
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