Retail giant Walmart has teamed up with a venture capitalist firm to form a new startup. The venture capitalist, Ribbit Capital is the company behind Robinhood, a no-fee investment platform, Credit Karma, a consumer technology platform and Affirm, a fintech company that gives consumers installment options to pay for items.
Walmart will own the majority of the new startup whose name has not as yet been disclosed. Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brett Briggs, Ribbit Capital’s managing partner Meyer Malka and independent industry experts will form the board.
The start-up’s date of operations has not been mentioned but it is said that the company will grow through partnerships with like-minded firms and acquire companies necessary for its growth.
Each week the retail giant serves more than 265 members and customers across 27 countries. It has 11,500 stores and a huge e-commerce website. It employs more than 2.2 million associates all over the world.
Although Walmart is looking to tap into the unbanked and underbanked consumers as these markets are huge, the retailer said that it will continue to serve customers with existing financial services and third-party partnerships.
The Federal Reserve says that about 6% of adults are unbanked and 16% of adults are underbanked. Both these categories use alternative financial services and products while the remaining 79% are fully banked and do not require alternative financial services or products.
Walmart also said that services such as Walmart credit cards, Walmart money card and other services will still function. Options including check cashing, installment financing and money transfers will also stay in place.
