Borrowell passes one million members, raises $20 million in new capital
Today, RFI alumni company Borrowell, Canada’s leading credit education company, announced that it had reached significantly more than a million users, making it Canada’s largest consumer fintech company by that measure. Since its founding five years ago, Borrowell has helped Canadians make great decisions about credit and empowered them to improve their financial well-being. It was the first company in Canada to offer free credit monitoring, a service that has found huge resonance.
“Consumers want to know where they stand with their finances,” said Andrew Graham, Borrowell’s co-founder and CEO. “We help them do that, with our free tools, product recommendations and credit scores and reports. With financial services getting increasingly complex and changes like open banking on the horizon, we are exceptionally well-positioned to be at the heart of how consumers make financial decisions.”
In addition to this membership milestone, Borrowell also confirmed that it has received $20 million in Series B funding. This significant investment includes funding from new and existing investors and consists of equity and venture debt. Investors participating in the round include White Star Capital, Portag3 Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Argo Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, as well as Gaingels, an LGBT affinity investment group – marking the firm’s first investment in a Canadian company.
“In a few short years, Borrowell has established itself as an important part of Canada’s financial services ecosystem,” said Jean-Francois Marcoux, White Star Capital’s managing partner. “The company has earned the trust of over a million consumers and works with virtually all of Canada’s banks and financial institutions. It has an industry-leading product and widely-respected management team.”
Big data and machine learning have worked to propel the company forward. Borrowell has invested heavily in machine learning to help better serve its customers by, for example, recommending the best product for its customers based on their specific credit profile, financial goals and other attributes. Borrowell is a financial marketplace with over 50 financial partners available on its platform, including credit cards, mortgages, loans, investing, insurance, and banking.
This focus on machine learning and AI helped the company build new tools and resources for its member base, with the release of an app in May available for both iOS and Android. The app makes access to information that helps improve financial health even easier. Via the app, members can get real-time access to their credit score and financial product recommendations that will help them improve their credit scores.
Importantly, they also get access to Molly, the Borrowell Credit Coach – Canada’s first AI-powered credit coaching tool. Molly considers the many unique factors that contribute to credit scores, and provides helpful, personalized tips to improve members’ financial well-being.
Borrowell is recognized as a leader in diversity and inclusion. Unusual for a tech startup, 50% of the employees identify as women and women make up 50% of Borrowell’s senior leadership team. Borrowell was named a “Best Place to Work” in Canada, as well as a Best Place to Work for Women, Mental Wellness, Millennials, and in Financial Services and Insurance.
About Borrowell
Borrowell helps people make great decisions about credit. With its free credit score and report monitoring, automated credit coaching tools and AI-driven financial product recommendations, Borrowell empowers consumers to improve their financial well-being and be the hero of their credit. Borrowell is one of Canada’s largest financial technology companies, with more than one million members. Borrowell has received significant recognition, including being named to the Fintech 100, a list of the top 100 fintech companies globally; Fintech of the Year (2018) by the Digital Finance Institute; and a finalist for “International Innovator of the Year” by LendIt.