Fintech startup Woveo, which was originally founded in P.E.I. and is now headquartered in Calgary, has raised a $2.3 million seed round.

Woveo is a platform that lets users pool their money and take turns borrowing from the collective fund without paying interest in a process called rotational savings. The round’s investors included BKR Capital, which specializes in backing Black entrepreneurs, as well as Relay Ventures and the philanthropic Northpine Foundation, which exists to support underrepresented founders.

The company’s target market is immigrants and other people from underserved communities, who may struggle to access credit via conventional means. Chief executive Jonah Chininga initially struggled to build up his own credit rating when he moved to Prince Edward Island from Zimbabwe to attend university in 2014. So three years ago, he and co-founders James Muhato and Sergio Fernandez launched Woveo, originally called MICC.

More than 18,000 people are signed up to the platform, and while Chininga has since moved the business to Alberta, he continues to have ties to the Atlantic Canadian startup community, including speaking at the Tribe Leaders Summit for industry group Tribe Network in October.

Building on a $1.5 million pre-seed round last year, the company has now raised a total of $3.8 million.

A change earlier this year in the maximum interest rate the government of Canada allows lenders to charge from 47 percent to 35 percent also creates new opportunities for Woveo, the statement added, since changes in the maximum allowed interest impact who creditors are willing to lend to.