“Can a collateral-backed credit card infrastructure platform unlock credit access for underbanked Americans and become the white-label operating system for secured credit card programs?”
Founded as PingLend, Inc. dba Pesto, the company initially targeted underbanked US consumers by letting them pledge physical valuables as collateral for a secured Mastercard credit card — a fintech take on pawn lending. After demonstrating product-market fit with its consumer card, Pesto pivoted its commercial model to a B2B infrastructure play, positioning itself as the 'Collateral Operating System' that powers other brands' secured credit card programs, leveraging the same underwriting, ledger, and compliance stack it built for its own product.
Pesto discloses Continental Bank as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Pesto does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Continental Bank.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 3 layers in Pesto's stack: Banking / BaaS (Continental Bank); Lending (Asset-backed secured credit line (collateral-based)); Sponsor bank (Continental Bank).
Pesto was founded by James Savoldelli and is founded in 2022, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, USA.
Pesto has raised $11M in total (latest round: Seed/Early Stage, 2023).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Pesto and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.