Abound is doubling down on its ambitions in the space with a big fundraise to fuel its own open banking-based business. The startup has raised money that it will be using to help finance loans, to bring more customers on to its platform, and to invest in its technology, which combines open banking data and machine learning algorithms to build what Abound believes is a better “credit score” for applicants.
Abound’s new funding includes both debt and equity: with U.S. bank Citi plus clients of Waterfall Asset Management providing the debt portion; and K3 Ventures, GSR Ventures and Hambro Perks providing equity.
As is typical with lending startups, the vast majority of the $601 million here is debt, which will be used for lending; the smaller equity part will be used for investing into the business itself.
Its service based around loans of between £1,000 and £10,000, with repayment options extending up five years, with interest rates the company guarantees are lower than those offered by banks has been growing on average 30% month-on-month; it has issued loans to more than 150,000 customers to date, and it says it is on track to loan out £1 billion by 2025.
Abound’s business expansion as it seeks to utilize open banking in a more informed way to help the consumer.