About Us
What we do: Chipi provides a technology workflow for approvals, digital wallet service, and payments that allows a project sponsor to self-fund construction subcontractors.
Chipi is a fintech start-up within the construction industry focused on the financial challenges of small businesses
Developers and GC’s enforce payment processes that are perpetuating institutional and systemic barriers to entry for small businesses while they are simultaneously looking for solutions that increase their workforce, particularly among underestimated groups. Even the businesses that punch through these hurdles have their production capacity gated by poor financial access. A tragic comedy.
Small businesses are the building blocks of the construction industry. For most smaller subcontractors, their only source of financing is their suppliers or their credit cards. This type of credit is very expensive, gates growth, and perpetuates systemic disparities. Businesses from underrepresented groups (UBE) have a particularly difficult time with access and opportunity.
This lack of financing combined with poor capitalization and poor profit margins means liquidity scarcity is a constant challenge. Even larger subcontractors feel the pressure of structurally negative cash flow combined with limited bank financing.
Chipi’s mission is to clear the path of obstacles for builders so that they can focus on what they’re best at – building. Our vision is to help increase the standards of living for small construction companies and their communities.
Karim Tahawi
CEO
Karim has deep experience in finance, technology, and construction. He spent years analyzing and managing risk in various financial contexts so when he inadvertently ended up operating a small construction company, he realized that construction is fundamentally an exercise in risk identification and management and that lessons learned and solutions created in a financial context could be applied.
Kobi Eshun
CTO
Kobi brings broad systems architecture experience including medical imaging systems for Adac (Philips); and video conferencing systems for Logitech. Prior to co-founding ChipiWorks, Kobi created Snibb.it, a radically different approach to securely approving transactions. Kobi has five US Patents granted or pending.