35 min
Victor Fimbres, Co-Founder & CTO of Forage - Building the Stripe for Government Benefits Wharton FinTech Podcast
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- Technology
Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Victor Fimbres, Co-Founder and CTO of Forage, a third-party payments processor which helps grocers accept Electronic Benefit Transfers, or EBT, online. Forage is on a mission to create a world where all families with any budget can afford a meal.
Today over 42 million people receive EBT benefits or food stamps. This is government support to pay for groceries. 14% of all grocery spend is paid with EBT, but only 5% of this was online. When Forage first started there were less than 20 merchants who could process EBT online. Today there are close to 100 merchants — and Forage is just getting started.
In this episode you will learn all about how Forage was started during the COVID-19 pandemic when going to a grocery store was impractical, specifically in food deserts across the country. You will also learn about the obstacles Forage overcame to build its current API, how they successfully completed the Y-Combinator accelerator last summer, and all about Victor’s and his Co-Founder Justin’s passion for making technology accessible to those who need it the most.
About Victor Fimbres
Victor Fimbres is the Co-Founder and CTO of Forage. Prior to founding Forage, he was a Software Lead at TreeStack and ROBO 3D. He is a graduate of Northwestern University where he studied Psychology and Environmental Policy & Culture.
About Forage
Forage is a third-party payment processor (TPP) and a pin provider that authenticates and processes EBT recipients and transactions. For additional information on Forage, please visit joinforage.com.
For more FinTech insights, follow us below:
Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech
WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech
Gabriela’s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC
Gabriela’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde
Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Victor Fimbres, Co-Founder and CTO of Forage, a third-party payments processor which helps grocers accept Electronic Benefit Transfers, or EBT, online. Forage is on a mission to create a world where all families with any budget can afford a meal.
Today over 42 million people receive EBT benefits or food stamps. This is government support to pay for groceries. 14% of all grocery spend is paid with EBT, but only 5% of this was online. When Forage first started there were less than 20 merchants who could process EBT online. Today there are close to 100 merchants — and Forage is just getting started.
In this episode you will learn all about how Forage was started during the COVID-19 pandemic when going to a grocery store was impractical, specifically in food deserts across the country. You will also learn about the obstacles Forage overcame to build its current API, how they successfully completed the Y-Combinator accelerator last summer, and all about Victor’s and his Co-Founder Justin’s passion for making technology accessible to those who need it the most.
About Victor Fimbres
Victor Fimbres is the Co-Founder and CTO of Forage. Prior to founding Forage, he was a Software Lead at TreeStack and ROBO 3D. He is a graduate of Northwestern University where he studied Psychology and Environmental Policy & Culture.
About Forage
Forage is a third-party payment processor (TPP) and a pin provider that authenticates and processes EBT recipients and transactions. For additional information on Forage, please visit joinforage.com.
For more FinTech insights, follow us below:
Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech
WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech
Gabriela’s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC
Gabriela’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde
35 min
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