The credit-assessment stack built for lenders in emerging markets.
Kita handles the documents and assessments behind underwriting, so lenders can serve the next billion borrowers. Founded at Stanford in 2025. Backed by Y Combinator. Live with enterprise lenders across four regions.
Founded: 2025 · Stanford
Live in: PH · ID · MX · ZA
Backed by: Y Combinator
Region count: PH · ID · MX · ZA · US
Our mission
Make every borrower visible.
Billions of people across emerging markets are locked out of credit, not because they aren't creditworthy, but because their financial lives exist on paper, in photos, and in formats technology was never built to understand.
Kita builds the document and assessment layer underneath lender underwriting. The result: credit assessments that finally match reality. Your underwriter still decides.
From the Filipino Tagalog
kita/ ki·ta /
verb · pronoun
- to be seen; to come into view.
"Kita ko na siya." — I see him now. - we; the two of us, together.
"Kita na lang." — Just you and me.
The Kita engine
From application to recommendation.
One platform that takes borrower applications (documents, dialogue, and data) and returns a decision-ready credit assessment.
01 · Intake
Application collection
The AI Credit Officer completes and verifies applicant profiles, ensuring document sets are consistent, omission-free, and have no red flags.
02 · Extract
Document analysis
AI reads documents the way your best analyst would, understanding layout, tables, handwriting, and context across 50+ document types.
03 · Verify
Fraud & validation
Every document is checked for tampering, inconsistencies, and anomalies. Cross-document verification catches what single-doc checks miss.
04 · Analyze
Underwriting analysis
Structured data, risk signals, fraud scores, and verification feed directly into your credit policy and existing systems.
05 · Recommend
Credit assessment
A draft credit assessment for your team to sign or override. Every claim cited to a source line. The lender always decides.
Meet the founders.
Carmel Limcaoco
Co-founder · CEO
Stanford Symbolic Systems & Music, MS Computer Science. Shipped features at Apple in computational audio and music for iOS. Research at the Stanford HCI Group. UN awardee at 16, launched the first Product Fellowship in the Philippines.
linkedin.com/in/carmellimcaoco/
Rhea Malhotra
Co-founder · CTO
Stanford BS & MS in Computer Science, incoming PhD in CV & Robotics. Firestone Medal recipient, the sole highest honor of the Stanford CS Department. Started research at 13, worked at Pfizer on the COVID-19 vaccine, and has authored 7 internationally recognized papers.
linkedin.com/in/rhea-malhotra-198744142/
Backing Investors
Backed by the best.
Y Combinator W26 alongside angel investors with deep experience in fintech, AI, and emerging markets. We're building for the long term, not the next funding cycle.
Our values
What drives us.
01 — Mission-driven
We exist to expand financial access.
Every feature we build, every market we enter, serves lenders who serve underbanked communities, from Manila to Mexico City to Jakarta.
02 — Global by design
Silicon Valley engineering, ground-truth markets.
Product team in San Francisco, customers in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Indonesia. Built where the talent is, deployed where the need is.
03 — Enterprise ready
Move fast. Cut zero corners.
YC-backed. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 in active engagement. Engagement letters available on request via support@usekita.com.
Ready to see Kita in action?
Book a demo or email hello@usekita.com