Aviva, a startup that uses natural language processing to convert conversations into structured data and offer microcredit, obtained a US$50 million line of credit from Community Investment Management (CIM).
CIM is an institutional impact investment manager that provides strategic financing to demonstrate and scale responsible credit innovation for underserved communities. This is Aviva’s first credit facility with an international institutional funder and its third funding transaction this year.
Aviva and its “phygital” credit evaluation model
Artificial intelligence applied to credit is Aviva’s proposal to serve the 58% of Mexicans who work in the informal sector. The “phygital” approach combines AI applications with kiosks that require limited investment, offering credits from MXN $2,000 to MXN $20,000.
At Aviva kiosks, a seven-minute video call replaces paper credit applications. During this call, the proprietary origination model uses natural language processing, computer vision, and machine learning to assess people’s ability to pay.
Founder and co-CEO Filiberto Castro said: “We are very proud to work with CIM, who share our commitment to delivering world-class solutions to underserved communities. This investment will not only support microentrepreneurs. “It will also inject liquidity into cities that have been ignored time and time again by other players.”
Expansion in small cities ignored by traditional banking
Unlike 100% digital fintech and traditional banking, which are concentrated in large cities, Aviva has boosted penetration in small cities with less than 500,000 inhabitants.
In the three years since its launch, Aviva has expanded to more than 100 cities in ten states of the Republic. This model serves people who often lack formal documentation and transaction history, and are unable to obtain credit from traditional financial institutions.
Elena Amato, Managing Director at CIM, commented: «Aviva is the gateway for many people who are today ignored by fintechs and banks. “Its innovative conversational assessment model effectively removes many of the barriers that have left millions of people out of access to capital.”
Funding diversification prior to Series A
With the incorporation of CIM, Aviva diversifies its funding sources and consolidates its path towards scalability, in anticipation of its Series A round.
To date, the startup has managed to obtain more than US$16 million in capital. In August 2025, it announced a convertible debt investment for US$1.5 million by IDB Lab, the innovation and venture capital arm of the Inter-American Development Bank.
The new resources will enable Aviva to offer financial services to an additional half a million people who are currently ignored by traditional financial services providers.
