Bertrand & Roy Sosa
Founders, NetSpend
Netspend was the first prepaid debit card company focused on the “underbanked” population in the United States. Launched in 1999, Netspend targets people who do not have access to credit cards or hold bank accounts. Bertrand and Roy started the company out of their one bedroom apartment in Austin, Texas with $750. They later raised almost $1.5 Billion in an IPO in 2010 and sold the company in early 2013 to Total System Services for approximately $1.4Bn.
Bertrand and Roy are also the co-founders of Mpower Labs, an investment fund focused on financial services for the underbanked. The brothers emigrated from Mexico with their mother when they were teenagers in 1986.
Bertrand and Roy speak with Jessica Harris about how they have helped to pioneer the international financial services landscape, from scratch.