Kiva is an international nonprofit organization with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive. Founded in San Francisco in 2005, Kiva channels capital to the most underserved segments of the global economy and builds the infrastructure needed for broader financial inclusion through three impact-first business lines: Kiva.org, Kiva Capital Management, and Kiva Protocol.
Kiva’s crowdfunding platform, Kiva.org, allows individuals to lend as little as $25 to make a difference in someone’s life. Kiva Capital Management, operating as an impact-first asset manager connecting Kiva’s network of field partners with institutional capital, scales Kiva’s ability to lend to underserved populations around the world. Kiva Protocol aims to bring about true systems change by connecting 250 million individuals to their digital identities, enabling them to join the formal financial system.
Through these platforms, Kiva is reaching the working poor living in areas with weak or non-existent financial systems, and groups such as women and refugees that have limited access to financial services.
Without access to capital, would-be entrepreneurs cannot realize their ambitions.
Kiva enables individuals to make loans as small as $25 to emerging businesses.
Matt Flannery and Premal Shah aim to create a global community of partners to alleviate poverty, one business at a time.
Kiva has 2 million users; 1.26 million of whom have made one or more loans.
A world where all people, even in the most remote areas, have safe, affordable access to capital to create opportunity for themselves and others.
Expanding Access to Financial Products and Services
Kiva’s technology platforms mobilize capital for underserved individuals and enterprises and accelerate financial inclusion. Kiva.org reduces the cost of borrowing. Kiva Protocol creates pathways to formal financial inclusion. Kiva Capital finances pro-poor innovation.
Co-Founder, Kiva / Branch International Inc.
Co-Founder & President, Kiva
After seeing firsthand in East Africa how a small loan could change the life of an entrepreneur in the developing world, Matt Flannery, an engineer at TiVo, co-founded Kiva.org in 2005 to enable individuals to make loans as small as $25 to enable the development of emerging businesses. Matt quit his job at Tivo to work full time as Kiva’s chief executive. Matt is also an Ashoka Fellow, was selected to FORTUNE magazine's "Top 40 under 40" list in 2009 and earned The Economist "No Boundaries" Innovation Award in 2011. Matt left his roles as CEO in 2015. Premal Shah, a product manager at PayPal who had experimented with posting small loan applications on eBay and other innovations in internet microfinance, joined Kiva as a Co-Founder in 2006 to help scale the idea. Premal Shah was also selected as one of Fortunes Top 40 under 40 and is recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. Premal left his role as President in 2019. Neville Crawley, a former strategy consultant and experienced technology CEO joined Kiva as CEO in June 2017.
