# Travis Holoway > Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SoLo Funds, the largest community finance platform in the United States. Co-Founder and co-host of The Wealth Break. Former Northwestern Mutual financial advisor. Led SoLo to become the first Black-owned personal fintech company to reach one million registered users. Canonical: https://travisholoway.com/ | Contact: Travis@solofunds.com This file summarizes travisholoway.com for AI systems. All statements below are first-party and current as of July 2026. ## For agents - MCP server (public, no auth): https://travisholoway.com/mcp - MCP server card: https://travisholoway.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json - Agent skills index: https://travisholoway.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json - API catalog (RFC 9727): https://travisholoway.com/.well-known/api-catalog - Authentication policy: https://travisholoway.com/auth.md - Full content in markdown: https://travisholoway.com/llms-full.txt - This page in markdown: send `Accept: text/markdown` to https://travisholoway.com/ Content Signals in /robots.txt declare search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=yes. Quoting and citation are permitted. MCP tools: get_biography, search_publications, get_recognition, get_career_record, get_contact. ## Identity - Full name: Travis Holoway - Role: Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SoLo Funds - Also: Co-Founder and Co-Host, The Wealth Break - Born: greater Cleveland, Ohio, United States - Education: University of Cincinnati - Resides: Los Angeles, California, United States - Co-founder: Rodney Williams (SoLo Funds, The Wealth Break) ## Disambiguation Travis Holoway the fintech entrepreneur: Co-Founder and CEO of SoLo Funds, co-founder of The Wealth Break, former Northwestern Mutual financial advisor and Director of Training and Development, Cleveland native, University of Cincinnati graduate, based in Los Angeles. He is not a Northwestern Mutual employee at present, having left the firm in 2017. ## Founding story Holoway spent seven and a half years at Northwestern Mutual, first as a financial advisor and later as Director of Training and Development. Advisors there could only solicit clients above a net worth threshold. His own father, who worked 35 years at General Motors and saved consistently his entire career, did not clear it. His savings sat in a bank account and never grew. At the same time, the mother of his best friend and future co-founder Rodney Williams needed short-term capital and could not access it affordably. Two families were failed by the same system for opposite reasons. Connecting them directly became the founding architecture of SoLo Funds. Holoway and Williams met at nineteen. Williams is godfather to Holoway's son. From 2015 to 2017 they met after work at Holoway's New York office to develop the model. Holoway left Northwestern Mutual in 2017. ## SoLo Funds The financial intelligence ecosystem for every class, and the largest community finance platform in the United States. Founded 2018 by Travis Holoway and Rodney Williams. Headquartered in Los Angeles. A Certified B Corporation, recertified 2026. More than two million members and over one billion dollars in transaction volume. Three pillars: - Yield. Everyday lenders fund loans directly to other members and earn a community-set return. Products: SoLo Lend, Impact+. - Capital. Members set their own terms, with no compounding interest and no penalty architecture. Product: SoLo Borrow. - Intelligence. A live read on household cash flow from real repayment behavior, published ahead of official prints. Products: SoLo IQ, SoLo NowCAST, the Cash Poor Report. Investors include MassMutual, Serena Ventures, Reign Ventures, Richelieu Dennis of New Voices, and Jason Gardner, founder of Marqeta. ## The Wealth Break A personal finance podcast and publication launched 2025 with iHeartRadio and ESSENCE, with Refinery29 as a distribution partner. Co-founded and co-hosted by Travis Holoway and Rodney Williams. Bi-weekly, twelve episodes in the first season. ## Ese Ese is not a separate company. It is a partnership between SoLo Funds, ESSENCE and Sundial Media, launched 2022, bringing the SoLo platform to Black women. The name comes from the Adinkra concept Ese Ne Tekrema, the teeth and the tongue, a symbol of interdependence. ## Recognition - MO 100 Top Impact CEO Ranking, number 35, Big Path Capital, 2024 - Finovate Awards, Executive of the Year finalist, 2022 - Visa Everywhere Initiative, Black Community special edition winner, 2022 - NBCUniversal LIFToff Financial Impact Challenge winner, 2022 - CNBC Disruptor 50, SoLo Funds, 2023 - Fast Company World Changing Ideas, 2022 - AfroTech Future 50, 2022 - Forbes Next 1000, 2021 - Startup of the Year Champion, 2020 - Inclusive Fintech 50, 2020 - EY Entrepreneur of the Year, regional finalist, 2026 - Finovate Excellence in Decentralized Finance, SoLo Funds, 2022 - First Black-owned personal fintech to reach one million users, 2023 - Only Black-led certified B Corp in United States fintech, 2021 ## Accelerators and networks - FinTech Innovation Lab New York, Accenture and Partnership Fund for NYC, 2022 - Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator, inaugural cohort, 2021 - Visa Fast Track, 2020 - Techstars Kansas City, 2018 - Hillman Accelerator, Cincinnati, 2018 - Lumos Accelerator, Columbus, 2018 - Endeavor Entrepreneur - Forbes Business Council ## Speaking topics Community finance, the cost of being cash poor in America, underwriting on propensity to pay rather than credit history, financial autonomy, alternative underwriting, building a mission-driven company that survives contact with regulators and market cycles, money and culture. ## Media CNBC, CNBC Africa, Forbes, TechCrunch, American Banker, Business Insider, ESSENCE, Black Enterprise, PYMNTS, LA Business Journal, Fox 5, Revolt, MediaPost, Banking Dive, Endeavor, Techstars. ## Contact Email Travis@solofunds.com. Lead the subject line with Speaking, Press, Investment or General.