• Kura is a blockchain-based, all-digital payments acceptance platform that helps merchants that lack point of sale terminals in emerging markets capture cross-border payments directly at their points of sale and settle instantly using a QR code or an OTP code. The platform is currently being deployed in our beachhead market, with a few merchants and we have a backlog of 500 additional merchants with signed LOIs through large networks of merchants and associations.

• Our double-sided platform serves both large institutions and consumers who send billions annually to beneficiaries in Central America and the Caribbean. Kura is the smartest alternative to traditional P2P cash remittances and international cash disbursement.

Service #1: B2B2C - Cross-border solution for merchants to enable them to accept cross-border payments with USDC at their points of sale. Kura uses Stellar Wallets to facilitate transfer of value between sponsors (US-based) and merchants (emerging markets).

Service #2: Disbursement Aid Solutions for NGOS/Large Donor organizations in the Caribbean/Central America regions using Stellar's SDP.

Service #3: Connect to online merchants via API enabling merchants to accept online payments via the Kura Platform at Checkout. (Future development)

Future Development*

• Kura Merchants (counterparties) are able to trade crypto to access local currency (gourdes) at any Moneygram location with the MoneyGram Access API. We have already kickstarted the process with Miguel Garza on this.

• Kura merchants (counterparties) are able to get paid in the local currency in a bank account (We are working with a local bank at the moment to enable this)

• Kura Merchants can accept crypto payments from verified and KYC'ed Stellar wallet in all the markets that Kura operates in, starting with Haiti. This will expand the amount of USDC in circulation in our beachhead market and reduce cash use.
  Rinse, repeat, scale in other neighboring countries in the Caribbean regions where traditional banking system have failed the majority of the population.

Kura’s mission is to power both offline, online payments with crypto to ease the burden of both individuals and larger organizations sending money to their relatives abroad and reduce cash use.

Maybe in the future, but not in this submission

$120.0K

• Success looks like at least 200,000 in GTV/Transaction from our B2B2B segment (first use case) by January 2025

• Achieve high NPS and satisfaction from our merchants using our wallets in Haiti

• Successfully finalize a contract 2 large donor organizations to process at least $10M in transaction via the Kura platform by Q3 2025

• Successfully launch the Food/Groceries Vertical by Q1 2025 (Peak season)

• Scale our team to support demand across marketing, operations, and engineering

• Close our pre-seed round by end of the year. We already have participation from a few investors including Allston Venture fund, SBIX, DRF Fund, Techstars, and a new significant commitment from a multi-stage institutional investor. This will enable us to scale even more rapidly.

• New Partnership/ Go-to-Market: signed a MOU with the National Alliance of Haitian Professionals (NAAHP) which is the largest US-Based Haitian American organization with more than 200,000 members. Kura is partnering with NAAHP to offer its services to members including professionals, businesses within the Diaspora communities.

• Philanthropic Partnerships: We expect to solidify partnerships with 2 significant donor organizations enabling large-scale aid disbursements through Kura for ongoing projects and disaster relief efforts in Haiti and other subsequent markets.

• Expansion: Following successful pilot programs with healthcare service providers in Haiti, we are soft launching with Food and Groceries providers(AVANI) (Woohooo!) - LOI is linked : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1i9Fj9ON30Xyhj71DN4oUEW7kmnUArxuW?usp=sharing

• We onboarded a digital marketing superstar who will continue to spearhead Kura’s digital marketing efforts and SEO comprehensively, particularly for US- based senders

• We're attending diaspora community-based events in Massachusetts and New York to further engage and acquire our users. Specifically, Clifford is invited to speak and promote Kura at the National Alliance of Haitian Professionals (NAAHP) in Atlanta in November where we expect additional customer sign ups.

Since our last submission, Kura has integrated Cybrid, a technology partner and on/off ramp partner that enable Kura to offer regulated MSB services in the United State under both a Money Transmitter and Money Service Business License. The funds awarded ($27K) covered platform licensing fees, a Kura reserve account through our on/off -ramp partner, and development fees.
We are leveraging Bigger (our amazing development partner based in Latam) to accelerate product development and augment our tech team. Additionally, we have short-listed a few candidates from Northeastern, Waterloo, and MIT to join Kura in-house as we continue to scale our product vision.
We experienced some delays for our closed beta primarily due to some regulatory roadblocks related to New York State Crypto Regulations. We overcame this roadblock by partnering with amazing partner that allow us to offer regulated services for New York based Kura users. For context, New York State represents a significant hub for the immigrant population from the Central America and the Caribbean regions. This is a huge win for us!

• Regulatory and Tech Integrations: Since our last submission, Kura has integrated Cybrid, a technology partner and on/off ramp partner that enable Kura to offer regulated MSB services in the United States under a Money Transmitter and Money Service Business License. Access our compliance letter here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yxwpG7DCoep42_clRtqn08evLyO5KVlD/view?usp=sharing

• Additionally, Through Cybrid, we are integrating with Plaid to connect Kura’s US-based customers' financial accounts and Persona to support KYC and Identity Verification to send funds compliantly. 

• Live pilot: Competed successful pilot with 30 merchants in first beachhead market (Haiti). The management team traveled to Haiti in June to work directly with our local agent network and merchants and gather user feedback that we incorporated in our latest developments. We updated the merchant dashboard/login based on user feedback. We are also launching the Food/Groceries in our beachhead.

• Active Pipeline of Sponsors: Engagement with 2 Large Donor Organization Philanthropic organizations with Avg Transaction Value of $1M/month

• Active Merchant/Provider Pipeline: 500 additional merchants in pipeline (Signed LOIs) 

• Active Pipeline (U-based sponsors): LOI with the largest association of the Haitian Immigrant Professional in the US giving us access to more than 100K single users + 400 US based-customers sign ups

• Active Pipeline (Additional off-ramp provider): In discussion with one of the largest local banks in Haiti to discuss additional Off-ramping options for local merchants in the region 

• Active Pipeline: Engaging with digital health platforms and aggregators operating in Haiti (LOIS signed); Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador to add Kura through API as a check-out option for customers who depend on remittances from abroad. We are actively assessing the opportunity to soft launch in additional Central American markets with low-overhead costs. 

• Access all of the LOIs in this folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1i9Fj9ON30Xyhj71DN4oUEW7kmnUArxuW?usp=sharing

Delivery 1 - User authentication 

Integrate AWS Cognito to allow users to perform register and login operations on the platform. 

Completed when the users are available to authenticate on the platform with their phone number, email address, and password. 

Estimated completion: 2 weeks of development. 

Delivery 2 - Cybrid and Plaid Integration  

Integrate Cybrid and Plaid to allow FIAT USD deposits into the platform and withdraw that money to an external Stellar wallet. 
Delivery 4 - SDP integration

Integrate Kura and SDP to allow large donor organizations/ nonprofits to enable their beneficiaries to spend their digital aid/ funds at pre-vetted onboarded Kura merchants.
Estimated completion: 3 weeks of development

Completed when: 

● The platform is able to identify their users by performing a KYC check via the Cybrid’s Persona integration.

● The users are able to connect their bank accounts via Plaid and deposit FIAT USD into their Cybrid’s FIAT account. 

● The platform exchanges FIAT USD to Stellar USDC. 

● The users are able to send their Stellar USDC from Cybrid to an external merchant Stellar wallet. 

Kura merchants (counterparties) are able to access their USDC in their wallet

Estimated completion: 4 weeks of development. 

Delivery 3 - Admin Panel 

Develop an admin panel to grant admin access to control permissions, roles, and registration. 

Completed when: 

● Settings are able to be toggled by a test admin account. 

Estimated completion: 2 weeks of development.
The budget includes platform licensing fee, product testing, and development fee
We have 2 full-stack engineers and 1 program manager from Bigger, including Kura's internal product and payment expert working arduously to deliver on this.

Testnet Launch 

We expect the Testnet launch to be done once deliverables 1 and 2 are completed. This will allow us to test the end-to-end flow and catch any unexpected behavior. 

Estimated completion: After 6 weeks of development.

We expect the Mainnet launch to be done once the Testnet launch is fully tested and working as expected. Regarding delivery 2, an approval of the Cybrid’s team is needed before switching the Cybrid environment to production. 

Estimated completion: 2-4 weeks post Testnet launch.
Completed when:
● The platform is able to identify their users by performing a KYC check via the Cybrid’s Persona integration.

● The users are able to connect their bank accounts via Plaid and deposit FIAT USD into their Cybrid’s FIAT account. 

● The platform exchanges FIAT USD to Stellar USDC. 

● The users are able to send their Stellar USDC from Cybrid to an external merchant Stellar wallet. 

• The Kura merchants (counterparties) are able to seamlessly access their USDC in their wallet

Estimated completion: 4 weeks of development.

Stéphanie Joseph (CEO) earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and brings a wealth of experience in financial services and fintech/payments from working between Ernst & Young, American Express. She spent her early career helping top financial services companies adopt products and technologies to streamline their operations and reduce costs. At HBS she focused on fintech/tech startups in global markets and worked with venture-backed startups across the UK, Kenya, and South Africa. 

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniejoseph19/)

Clifford Nau(COO) earned his MBA from MIT Sloan and built the first tech-incubator in the Caribbean region back in 2017. He has raised and allocated up to $2M in funding across multiple tech startups, acted as senior advisor to government officials of the regions of the Caribbean and Central American, on financial inclusion, remittances, and digital economy. Linkedin: We are best positioned to solve this intractable problem given the diversity of our background, our skill sets, and our network in the ecosystems that we’ll serve in the US, Central America and the Caribbean regions. We are currently participating in the Techstars Payments powered by Stellar and Moneygram.(https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliffordreginaldnau/