Back to Blog

SelfScore Raises $7 Million to Bring Credit to International Students

SelfScore Raises $7 Million to Bring Credit to International Students

SelfScore_homepage_August2016

Palo Alto-based SelfScore has raised $7.1 million in additional Series A funding. The round, led by Pelion Venture Partners and including existing investors, Accel Partners and Aspect Ventures, brings the data-analytics startup’s total capital to more than $15 million.

“Some of the most successful companies in this country were started and are run by international students,” SelfScore CEO and co-founder Kalpesh Kapadia said. “Our goal is to use this new round of funding to further educate current and future international students about why they should care about credit, and empower them to build it.” In addition to education, SelfScore plans to use the capital to expand its credit card portfolio and speed up new product development. As part of the investment, Blake Modersitzki, managing partner at Pelion, will join SelfScore’s board of directors.

SelfScore_stage_FF2014b

SelfScore CEO and co-founder Kalpesh Kapadia demonstrated his technology at FinovateFall 2014.

SelfScore has leveraged its expertise in data analytics and machine learning to create a proprietary algorithm that provides insights into consumer behavior, including creditworthiness. From its inception as a “scoring as a service” supplement to FICO scores, the consumer analytics company launched its dedicated MasterCard credit card geared specifically for international students this spring, and has since seen 3x growth in the number of signups month-over-month. Pointing out that the SelfScore has managed its growth “with very little capital deployed,” Modersitzki added, “SelfScore’s unique data analytics and machine-learning approach is a game-changer for unleashing financial freedom with today’s generation of international students.”

Founded in 2014, SelfScore demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2014. The company was profiled by Tech in Asia and CardRates.com in June, and hired a new CMO, Venkat Bala, in April. Bala was formerly VP, head of early-stage consumer cards at Wells Fargo.