Edrizio De La Cruz Featured on NBC News for Tech Start-Up Regalii
By: Avril Langevine
Congratulations to Edrizio De La Cruz, MBA Prep ’09, on being profiled on NBCNews.com about his entrepreneurial venture, Regalii, which simplifies sending remittances internationally. Here are excerpts from the article:
“In 2013, operating from a small office in Manhattan, De La Cruz and co-founders launched their tech startup Regalii, (a play on the Spanish word regalo, which means gift) which allows immigrants to directly pay bills for their relatives abroad from their computer or mobile phone for a flat $3 transaction fee, compared with the average 9 percent fee charged by the companies which wire cash. Users can also pay with cash at partnering storefronts in 37 U.S. states.
“For immigrants, sending money to family back home is part and parcel of the promise of the American dream, De La Cruz said. That is particularly true in the Dominican Republic, where unless one is part of the upper economic class, getting a visa is as much about luck as anything else, he said.
“‘So, when you do win the golden ticket, so to speak, you feel fortunate and you feel a responsibility to perform and to give back,’ De La Cruz said. ‘I feel many immigrants are heroes, because they are caring for more than themselves, but for an entire lifeline of families left behind in Latin America.’
“In his 20s De La Cruz worked as an airline mechanic to put himself through college. Later he became an investment banker, literally ditching his mechanic overalls one day for a suit on Wall Street the next.”
Read the rest of the article here.
MLT is proud of De La Cruz’s leadership as a successful tech entrepreneur making a difference in the immigrant community.