Pesto
“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?”
Founded2022
HQSan Francisco, CA, USA
FoundersJames Savoldelli
Total raised$11M
Latest roundSeed/Early Stage, 2023
IndustryFintech / Consumer banking
The story
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.
Product timeline
2022
PingLend, Inc. founded, operating as Pesto, targeting underbanked Americans with asset-backed credit solutions.· pivot
2023
Launched the Pesto Mastercard®, the first asset-backed credit card using valuables as collateral, issued by Continental Bank; raised $11M from Activant Capital and Plural.· card
2024
Pivoted to B2B infrastructure play: launched the 'Pesto Collateral Operating System' enabling brands to launch their own revolving secured credit card programs.· pivot
The stack
3 layers disclosed in Pesto’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Continental Bank
Lending
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
2 more providers across 2 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.