Company Overview

VIVA Finance powers a mobile-first lending platform that offers loans underwritten primarily based on employment information, rather than credit history. VIVA’s mission is to build an inclusive financial system by expanding access to affordable credit.

Industry

Financial Services

The Goal

VIVA Finance started working with Develative in 2022, at that time, VIVA Finance was looking to expand their engineering capabilities without adding headcount on-site, they wanted to build a hybrid team that combined senior, intern and junior level engineers onsite combined with external consultants that were able to provide value from day one.

The main goal was to add engineering capacity without the need of baby-sitting or micromanaging engineers, for that the main requirement they had were:

• Experience working remotely in high growth, fast-paced startups.

• Prior experience with financial services startups

• Comfortable working remotely, with good working setup and disciplined with team meeting and ceremonies

• Team player, engineers that were more than ticket-executors.

Develative’s Role

Working alongside VIVA Finance’s engineering leadership was very smooth, chatting directly with the VP of Engineering and C-level executives helped grasp the ideal profile quickly: Engineers who are able to execute, propose, ideate and plan new initiatives.

After two weeks of sending qualified candidates, we were able to build a team of three engineers.

We now do monthly check-ins to ensure team performance is on point and candidates are evaluated yearly often with promotions.

The Results

VIVA Finance growth has been remarkable, the company leadership has been world class in attacking an underserved market which allowed them to gain market share quickly.

In 2025, the company was able to secure 220M in order to expand their footprint and change the lives of millions of Americans who are often overlooked by big, traditional financial institutions.

In the end of 2025, they closed a partnership with Paychex, the second largest Professional Employer Organization (PEO) in the United States by number of worksite employees, trailing only ADP.