Aire, a London based credit score provider that focuses on users without a credit history, has raised $2 million in a recent funding round. Chief among the names involved in the round included White Star Capital, existing investor and early-stage venture capital firm Sunstone Capital and Accion Venture Lab, an investment scheme that provides seed funding to startups.
Aire has a simple but helpful objective: seeking to supplement the credit history of young adults, self-employed individuals or those who have recently moved country. It achieves this by leveraging machine learning to generate a credit score based on the character and capacity of applicants. The startup announced its plans to expand to the US and Canada in January, and with its recent in-flow of finances, this target looks quite feasible.
A company statement cited on Tech City News, it said:
In coming years this will become a vital pillar for the economy and jobs become ever more mobile. The traditional financial system has struggled to understand these consumers and they are often discounted when they apply for financial products.
The good times do not stop here, however. As well as receiving generous funding, Aire said its authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to operate in the UK. has also finally been clinched.
Aneesh Varma, co-founder of this firm, added:
It’s a huge step for us and also for credit scoring. We strongly believe that lenders and their customers need a fairer and more accurate way to assess creditworthiness … As things stand, genuine hard-working people are being penalised by the way credit scores are created, that’s not good for growth, innovation or well-being.
Aire is operating and raking in the funds in an environment which has been proving extremely congenial to tech startups in recent times, what with the UK being ranked second in the world in tech exits, as well as the funding rolling in to tech-based enterprises across the country. Here’s to hoping that the climate holds!
