Borrowell has raised $57 million as it looks to expand its free credit and loan offerings to more customers.
The company raised $12 million in equity funding and $45 million in new credit facilities. The equity round was led by Portag3 Ventures, Equitable Bank, and White Star Capital, with participation by FirstOntario Credit Union and other new and existing investors. This round brings the company’s total equity financing to $16.7 million.
The credit facilities are being provided by Concentra and FirstOntario Credit Union to fund one-click loans to its prime consumers. In the past, Borrowell has partnered with institutions like CIBC to provide one-click loans to its customers.
Borrowell says it currently has 300,000 Canadians using the platform.
“In just over two years since our launch, we’ve experienced tremendous growth, centred around our mission of helping consumers make great decisions about credit,” said Andrew Graham, co-founder and CEO of Borrowell. “Over three hundred thousand Canadians have used Borrowell to learn their credit score or check their rate on a loan. This doesn’t include the many more we’ve served through our partnership with CIBC.”
While Borrowell launched as a lending company for consumers, free credit scores — which it started providing in June 2016 — and financial recommendations have become a bigger focus. Since early June, CIBC has also turned to Borrowell to provide free credit scores to its own customers.
“Building on our expertise as a funder of alternative consumer assets, we’ve tapped into the growth and innovation happening in the FinTech industry,” said Ryan Graham, executive vice president of Wholesale Banking with Concentra. “This investment helps drive Concentra’s business strategy with credit unions, and strengthens our consumer lending portfolio, enabling Concentra to deliver a wider range of investment options.”
Like many companies these days, Borrowell says it is making significant investments in data science and AI. The goal is to better predict and build financial tools and products to help consumers with financial decisions.
“FinTech companies like Borrowell are essential to improving the well-being of Canadians. With its groundbreaking technology, Borrowell is providing customers with access to products and services that otherwise would not be available to them,” said Adam Felesky, president of Portag3 Ventures.