Propel

Propel, Inc. is an American civic-fintech company headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, that builds the Providers mobile application — formerly known as Fresh EBT — and a connected suite of financial-services products for low-income American households. The company was founded in 2014 by Jimmy Chen, a former Facebook product manager, with the goal of making the experience of using government safety-net programmes radically simpler and more dignified.

Providers digitises the management of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, allowing recipients to check Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) balances, see transaction histories, and access supportive content from their phones. Over time Propel has expanded the application to cover Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) tracking, banking, debit cards, savings tools, healthcare-marketplace navigation, deals from grocery and consumer-goods partners, and a marketplace where vetted brands can reach low-income shoppers. The application has been used by tens of millions of people, making it one of the most widely deployed financial tools serving low-income Americans.