Nico
TAM
$12B
Annual DR inflows
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NICO
Seed Round — Investor Deck · 2026
The Investment Thesis

The Nubank of
the Caribbean.
Now Raising.

NICO is building the financial infrastructure the Caribbean has never had — led by Thomas K. Matecki, the architect who scaled Zilch from 100K to 3M+ customers and a $2B valuation in 18 months. The DR of 2026 is Brazil of 2013. The seed round is open now.

Raise Target
$5M
Stage
Seed
Market
Caribbean
Bank Less  ·  Vive Más
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The Opportunity

The Dominican Republic is Brazil circa 2013. Nubank saw it first — NICO is doing it better.

01

The Parallel Is Undeniable

When Nubank launched in Brazil, 60% of adults were unbanked, mobile penetration was surging, and legacy banks held a stranglehold through fees and friction. The Dominican Republic sits at that exact inflection point today — with 11M people, $12B in remittances, and zero credible digital challenger.

02

The Underserved Majority

Over 60% of DR adults have no meaningful banking access. They operate in cash, accumulate no credit history, and have no structured path to financial security. This is not a niche — it is the entire mass market, waiting to be activated by the right product.

03

NICO's Structural Advantage

NICO is not a bank that added technology. It is an AI system designed from the infrastructure layer to serve this market — with a remittance-first distribution strategy that turns organic money flows into near-zero-cost customer acquisition at scale.

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Market Size

A $12B TAM — with the remittance corridor as a built-in acquisition engine.

11M+
Population — rising middle class, rapid smartphone adoption, and zero dominant neobank challenger
60%+
Adults unbanked or underbanked — the addressable market is not a segment, it is the majority
80%+
Of transactions still in cash — digital financial rails are virtually non-existent in this market today
$12B
Annual remittance inflow — a live acquisition engine with organic network effects built in from day one

"When Nubank launched in Brazil, everyone called the market too risky, too unbanked, too complex. Ten years later, it serves 114 million customers and is worth $60 billion. The Dominican Republic today looks identical to Brazil in 2013. We are not chasing a trend — we are repeating a proven playbook, applied to a market where competition is minimal."

— Thomas K. Matecki, Co-Founder & CEO
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Why Now

Three forces converging — a once-in-a-generation window.

🤖

AI Levels the Playing Field

The cost of building world-class financial infrastructure has collapsed. NICO is AI-native from day one — not a legacy bank with AI bolted on. That means the unit economics of a tech company inside a banking product. Incumbents cannot replicate this without rebuilding everything from scratch.

📱

Mobile Is the Moment

Smartphone adoption across the Caribbean is accelerating fast. Millions of people will have their first-ever banking experience on a mobile device — not in a branch. NICO is the only AI-native product designed specifically for that moment. There is no incumbent defending this ground.

⚖️

Regulation Is Moving Our Way

Progressive digital banking frameworks in the DR and across the Caribbean are creating real licensing pathways for challengers. The structural barriers that blocked earlier entrants are receding. NICO has already secured sandbox access with the SIB — the regulatory door is open.

💸

$12B Acquisition Engine, Built In

Twelve billion dollars flows into the DR annually from the diaspora. NICO converts that corridor into a closed-loop acquisition engine: senders onboard abroad, recipients join to receive funds, both become active customers — at near-zero marginal cost. No competitor has built this natively or is trying to.

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Traction & Milestones

Pre-revenue, pre-launch — and further ahead than most funded teams twice our size.

5K+
Waitlist sign-ups acquired without paid marketing — driven entirely by organic and community channels
4
Active discussions with Google, Visa, Mastercard & IFC — banking infrastructure, payments rails and development finance confirmed in pipeline
70%
MVP completion — cross-platform mobile app 75% built. Product is real, architecture validated, and team has shipped at this scale before
✓

Regulatory Framework Mapped

DR banking licence pathway identified and actively pursued. Compliance architecture designed. Legal counsel engaged in-market. Licence targeted by end of 2026 — this is a managed milestone on a confirmed regulatory track, not a speculative future risk.

✓

Core Platform Built

MVP 70% complete. Cross-platform mobile app 75% complete. AI-powered KYC, core banking infrastructure, virtual card issuance and remittance rails all in build. The product is real, the architecture is solid, and the team has shipped at this scale before.

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Product Suite

Four products. One platform. A complete financial life for people who've never had one.

🔄

Automatic Round-Ups

Every transaction rounds up — spare change flows silently into dedicated sub-accounts. Users build savings without effort. Each Round-Up is a micro-investment in engagement and loyalty. Stickiness by design, not by lock-in.

🎓

NICO Fintech Bites

Bite-sized financial education woven into the daily app experience — non-invasive, personalised, and delivered without lecturing. Financial literacy as a product feature creates retention that no competitor can buy. Users who learn stay, cross-sell, and refer.

💳

NICO Cards

Virtual and physical debit cards issued on approval. Real-time spend visibility, instant notifications, and no foreign transaction fees. This is the first financial product many users will ever own — and NICO becomes their default from day one.

🤲

Empathetic Credit (BNPL)

AI-powered BNPL driven by behavioural data, not traditional credit bureau scores. NICO can underwrite customers that traditional lenders overlook — unlocking a large, high-margin credit opportunity in an underpenetrated market.

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Technology Moat

AI at the Core — not bolted on. The infrastructure advantage that compounds.

NICO isn’t a bank with AI added on. It’s an AI system that operates as a bank — built from the ground up to learn, personalise, and improve with scale.

🧠

AI-Native KYC

Accounts open in under five minutes from any smartphone. No branch, no paperwork, no prior banking history required. Unit economics that make mass-scale customer acquisition viable — and that no legacy bank can match without a full rebuild.

📊

Behavioural Intelligence Layer

Every interaction deepens NICO's understanding of each user. Spend patterns, savings behaviours, and life events all inform product eligibility, credit underwriting, and personalisation — creating a proprietary data moat that grows with the user base.

🛡️

Institutional-Grade Security

MFA, biometric verification, and modern encryption deliver banking-grade security without friction. Designed to satisfy regulators and build trust with first-time banking customers simultaneously — the two most important audiences NICO needs to win.

💡

Compounding Personalisation

The NICO flywheel: more users → more data → better personalisation → more products adopted → more revenue → better product. The model gets more defensible with every new customer. Switching costs rise invisibly — not through lock-in, but through genuine relevance.

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Go-To-Market

Acquisition built into the product itself — not an afterthought.

🌐

Remittance-Led Acquisition

NICO sits inside the $12B annual remittance flow into the DR. Senders abroad onboard via NICO; recipients adopt to receive. Both become customers — a self-funding acquisition loop with near-zero marginal cost and compounding network effects.

📲

Mobile-First, Zero Infrastructure

No branches. No ATM fleet. No physical distribution cost. AI-powered onboarding removes every barrier to account opening — enabling rapid scale across the Caribbean and diaspora markets at a CAC fraction of any traditional competitor.

🔁

The Education Retention Flywheel

Fintech Bites create compounding retention: financially literate users adopt more products, generate more revenue, stay longer, and refer more people. Churn is structurally lower for educated users — making CAC recoup faster than any comparable neobank.

Remittance corridor acquisition velocityStructural / Organic
Mobile CAC vs traditional banking CAC~70% Lower
Education-driven product cross-sell upliftCompounding
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Competitive Landscape

NICO doesn't compete with traditional banks — it makes them irrelevant.

Capability NICO Bank Traditional Caribbean Banks Regional Neobanks
Mobile-First Onboarding (<5 min)✓  Under 5 minutes✗  Branch required✓  Partial
AI-Native Architecture (not bolt-on)✓  Core infrastructure✗  Legacy systems✗  Bolt-on only
Native Remittance Integration✓  Built-in product✗  Third-party only✗  Very limited
Embedded Financial Literacy✓  Fintech Bites✗  None✗  None
Zero Fees / No Minimum Balance✓  Always✗  Standard fees~  Varies
AI-Driven Credit Underwriting✓  Behavioural BNPL✗  Bureau-only✗  Not available
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Business Model

Multiple revenue streams. One loyal relationship.

💳
Interchange
Revenue on every NICO Card transaction — passive, high-volume, scaling directly with user spending and geographic reach.
🌐
FX & Transfers
Competitive spreads on cross-border money movement — monetising the $12B remittance corridor NICO is built to own.
🤲
Credit & BNPL
Interest and fee income from Empathetic Credit — AI-underwritten, high-margin, targeting a credit market with almost no penetration.
⭐
Premium Tiers
Subscription accounts with enhanced cards, higher limits, and priority support — growing with user ambition and financial confidence.

"The product is the delivery mechanism. The real win is when millions of Dominicans are not just banking — they're thriving."

— Thomas K. Matecki & Martin Lewicki, Co-Founders
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The Ask

Raising $5M — the seed round to reach launch and 500,000 active users.

$5M
Total Seed Raise
Pre-money valuation: $18M. Instruments available: SEIS, EIS, convertible note, and priced equity — structured to suit investor appetite. Lead investor: seeking. Closes Q4 2026.
$567K
Committed to Date
$567K already committed from angels and early strategics. Seeking a lead investor to anchor the round and drive to close. Round is open to SEIS/EIS qualifying investors.
→

Use of Funds

40% Product & Tech Development — building a robust, secure, AI-native platform. MVP completion, cross-platform mobile app, AI credit engine & remittance rails
30% Customer Acquisition & Marketing — driving hyper-growth through digital campaigns, community outreach, remittance corridor activation and partnership pipeline (Google, Visa, Mastercard, IFC)
20% Regulatory Capital Buffer & Licensing — securing NICO's independent e-money/banking licence and DR regulatory infrastructure by the end of 2026
10% Operations & Contingency — building a world-class team, ensuring operational excellence and maintaining a 24-month runway to public launch and 100,000 customers
40%
Product & Tech Development
30%
Customer Acquisition & Marketing
20%
Regulatory Capital & Licensing
10%
Operations & Contingency
↗

Key Milestones This Funding Unlocks

DR banking licence secured — Q4 2026
MVP live and onboarding first users — Q2 2026
First 500,000 active accounts — 18 months post-launch
Series A raise — targeting H1 2027 on proven user growth and GMV trajectory
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The Proof Point

One of the founders built a $2 billion company in 18 months.
He is building NICO next.

Zilch · CTO
100K → 3M+
Customers in 12 months · UK & US
Valuation Achieved
$2B+
Double unicorn · 2 IPOs · Multiple fundraises
£4M
Cloud cost savings engineered
£7M
Revenue generated in year one
20→300
Engineers hired & led
£6M
Fraud cost reductions delivered

"I don't just build technology; I engineer hyper-growth and unlock billions in value where others see only challenges."

— Thomas K. Matecki, CEO & Co-founder, NICO
Verified Track Record
✓Full banking licence secured for Castle Trust
✓Open Banking Gateway: £3M revenue growth
✓AWS/GCP cloud architect — microservices at scale
✓MBA + Physics & Sound Engineering — analytical rigour
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The Team

Led by the man who built a double unicorn — and is in the process of building the next one with Nico.

Thomas K. Matecki
Founder · CEO
The Architect of Unicorns
Thomas K. Matecki
Former CTO of Zilch — UK's BNPL double unicorn. Scaled from 100K → 3M+ customers across UK & US in just 18 months. Grew engineering from 20 to 300+ people. Spearheaded 2 IPOs and multiple fundraises to a $2B+ valuation.
Secured a full banking licence for Castle Trust. Engineered £4M cloud savings, £6M fraud cost reductions, and £7M revenue in year one at Zilch. Open Banking Gateway: £3M revenue growth.
Martin Lewicki
Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer
Martin Lewicki
An award-winning commercial strategist with over 18 years building brands that move people - from global media to fintech. At NICO, Martin architects the narrative that transforms a $12.2B underserved market into an engaged community. He leads brand voice, investor communications, content strategy and NICO's financial literacy programme - Fintech Bites - making complex finance accessible for millions across the Caribbean and diaspora.
Greg Zuzak
Chief Operations Officer
Greg Zuzak
COO with deep fintech execution experience across regulated markets. Greg drives NICO's operational engine - from vendor partnerships and compliance infrastructure to team-building and delivery cadences. He has managed multi-million pound operational budgets, built cross-border teams and delivered regulated financial products on time. At NICO he ensures the gap between vision and execution never exists.
Stuart Evers
Board Member
Stuart Evers
Senior executive at T-Mobile and board-level governance leader with 30+ years spanning telecoms, financial services and digital transformation. Stuart brings the institutional credibility, regulatory network and C-suite relationships that NICO needs to scale with confidence. On the NICO board he anchors commercial strategy, governance frameworks and the partnerships with tier-one institutions — including Google, Visa, Mastercard & IFC — that will define NICO's market entry and long-term growth.
🏦
Experience
100+ years combined in banking & fintech
🚀
Track Record
3M+ customers built at Zilch (double unicorn) in 18 months
⚖️
Exits
Castle Trust banking licence secured + multiple fintech builds
Remittance corridor
$12B
Annual DR inflows
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The Vision

The real win is
when millions are not
just banking —
they're thriving.

NICO is raising $5M at an $18M pre-money valuation to launch the Caribbean's first AI-native bank. The DR is the beachhead. 500,000 users in 18 months is the target. SEIS, EIS, convertible note and priced equity all available. The window that made Nubank is open again — here, now, in this market. It will not stay open indefinitely.

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