Despite the progress made in financial inclusion globally, there remain significant challenges in reaching the unbanked. Approximately 1.4 billion adults, close to one-quarter of all adults worldwide, remain unbanked, according to the latest data from the World Bank. Notably, about half of this figure is comprised of women in poor and rural households who are not part of the formal workforce. Furthermore, these challenges are not concentrated to any one region or geography, underlined by the fact that the countries with the highest number of unbanked adults in 2021 were Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Despite these challenges, we believe technological advances offer meaningful pathways towards widening participation in finance. In this regard, we highlight two case studies—M-Pesa in Kenya and Aadhaar in India—as illustrating how fintech innovations can improve financial inclusion by providing mobile-based money transfer and local payment services.