FINALIST outside of Japan

United States

Firstcard is neo-banking for college students. The debit card allows students to get up to 15% cashback at over 25,000 merchants in the U.S. We help students to save money as much as possible because there is $1.7T student loan debt in the US and 70% of college students feel stress about their financial situation. Our incoming credit product will improve student’s credit score.

Co-founder and CEO Kenji Niwa started Firstcard during his MBA at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Kenji is a serial entrepreneur and successfully exited his first startup that provides a job platform for college students to help get internships. Also, Kenji was an angel investor in 35 startups such as Substack, Oxygen, and Odeko.