Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Melio Launches BNPL Tool for SMBs

Melio Launches BNPL Tool for SMBs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Melio is launching Pay Over Time, a buy now, pay later tool for small businesses.
  • Pay Over Time enables businesses to pay invoices in a single installment, or over the course of three, six, or 12 months.
  • The suppliers receive the payments on time and in full and do not need to sign up or register.

Small business payments and receivables company Melio unveiled its newest tool for small businesses (SMBs) this week. The New York-based company is launching Pay Over Time, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution for SMB clients.

Powered by Credit Key, Pay Over Time allows Melio’s small business customers to pay invoices in monthly installments, while their suppliers get paid in full and on time. Businesses can select to repay in a single installment (net 30) or over the course of three, six, or 12 months. Melio then debits the repayments each month from the business’ preferred bank account.

“We’re proud to be providing more flexibility to small businesses that need to pay bills and invoices with strict terms, enabling our customers to better align their spend and income,” said Melio Co-founder and CEO Matan Bar.

As a result of the more flexible payments structure, Melio’s business customers are able to free up to $50,000 in cash flow when they need it. The installments come with no impact to vendors and doesn’t require them to sign up or register.

Melio was founded in 2018 to provide accounts payable and receivable as a service through banks, software providers, and marketplaces. The company’s tools allow businesses to choose how they pay and get paid, and help them stay on top of paying their bills and invoices.

“Melio is continuing to scale rapidly and offer new products to meet the evolving needs of small business owners,” said Melio co-founder and CTO Ilan Atias. “This product will be a gamechanger for small businesses because of the ease of use – with Pay Over Time small businesses have a tool embedded into their pay flow to quickly access financing.”

Photo by Sora Shimazaki

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Ramp Launches Ramp Plus to Help Companies Scale

Ramp Launches Ramp Plus to Help Companies Scale
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Ramp is launching Ramp Plus, a new suite of procurement tools.
  • Ramp Plus will help finance teams with procurement-related tasks, including approval workflows, global expense capabilities, payment card controls, and more.
  • The new tools will be available starting in September.

Business finance automation platform Ramp is getting a lift today. The New York-based company has launched Ramp Plus, a new procurement solution to help businesses scale. “With Ramp Plus,” the company explained in an announcement, “we are helping growing companies with their most complex financial operations.”

Today’s launch positions Ramp as a more unified platform to help finance teams with procurement-related tasks. Some of the new capabilities include:

  • Procure-to-pay solution that helps businesses with spend requests, approval workflows, and purchase order tracking.
  • Global expenses and payments capabilities that enable global spending with support for multiple entities, multiple currencies, tax reporting, and debiting for select currencies. 
  • A workflow builder that helps businesses automate complex processes with rules-based workflows.
  • Enhanced controls and policy enforcement that include payment card auto-locks, transaction review mandates, and flags for out-of-policy expenses.

Ramp Plus can be easily integrated within an organization’s existing tech stack.

Shopify is one of Ramp Plus’ early partners. The ecommerce company is leveraging Ramp’s new technology to help manage business expenses and issue payment cards for its 10,000+ employees.

Ramp Plus will be available starting in September, and Ramp is automatically upgrading all of its existing SMBs and mid-market business customers to Ramp Plus for one year for free. Other existing Ramp customers that sign up for Ramp Plus before September 19 can receive complimentary access to the new service for free for a year.

Ramp was founded in 2019 and serves 15,000 companies that range in size from startups to enterprises with its suite of payment cards, expense management tools, accounts payable offerings, working capital, and more. The company has raised $1.4 billion in funding, including its most recent $200 million Series C round. Eric Glyman is co-founder and CEO.

Photo by Dietmar Janssen

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Tradeshift Forms Joint Venture with HSBC, Raises $70 Million

Tradeshift Forms Joint Venture with HSBC, Raises $70 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Funding, Tradeshift
  • Tradeshift is partnering with HSBC to develop embedded finance solutions.
  • As part of the partnership, HSBC is contributing $35 million to Tradeshift’s $70 million funding round announced today.
  • There is limited information about the details of the new joint venture between the two parties, but the announcement said more information will be unveiled ahead of the planned launch slated for early 2024.

Supply chain procurements and payments company Tradeshift is teaming up with HSBC to launch a new business. The jointly-owned business endeavor will focus on developing embedded finance solutions and financial services applications. 

As part of the partnership, HSBC is investing $35 million in Tradeshift as part of a round that is expected to close at around $70 million. Existing investors AYTK Limited, LUN Partners Group, Fuel Venture Capital, Doha Venture Capital LLC, Notion Capital, IDC Ventures and The Private Shares Fund contributed to the round.

The round will add to the more than $1.1 billion in funding Tradeshift has amassed since it was founded in 2009.

Details about the new joint venture between Tradeshift and HSBC are sparse. The announcement states that the two will “deploy a range of digital solutions across Tradeshift and other platforms” that will include embedded finance tools for trade, e-commerce, and marketplaces. The new business will enable Tradeshift to globally scale its business commerce network that currently sits at one million users.

Tradeshift expects that the HSBC brand will “bring instant credibility and broad appeal” to the new financial solutions. HSBC currently facilitates more than $800 billion in trade each year. 

“The world’s biggest trade bank and the world’s largest trade network are joining forces,” said Tradeshift CEO and Co-founder Christian Lanng. “Our deepening partnership with HSBC delivers a strong foundation from which to scale and accelerate our vision of a trade network that creates economic opportunity for businesses everywhere.”

The two will announce more details about the joint venture ahead of its launch, which is expected in early 2024.

“We are very excited to partner with Tradeshift to help businesses and their suppliers trade more smoothly using world-class technology and solutions that the joint venture will deliver,” said HSBC CEO of Global Commercial Banking Barry O’Byrne.

Photo by Yusuf Miah

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Bluevine Integrates Accounts Payable Tool into Small Business Banking Platform

Bluevine Integrates Accounts Payable Tool into Small Business Banking Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, BlueVine, Daily news
  • Bluevine launched an accounts payable solution this week.
  • The new offering will be available within Bluevine’s small business banking suite.
  • The accounts payable tool will offer businesses tools such as bill capture and storage, approval workflows, payment scheduling, and automatic accounting reconciliation.

Small business banking innovator Bluevine is enhancing its platform this week by launching a new accounts payable (AP) offering within its small business banking suite.

Including the new AP tool will help business owners manage payments within their Bluevine Business Checking accounts. Tools such as bill capture and storage, approval workflows, payment scheduling, automatic accounting reconciliation, and user provisioning and management will help businesses automate their AP processes.

“As small businesses scale, often they face more complexity in managing their operations,” said Bluevine SVP, GM of Banking Charles Amadon. “Our accounts payable solution is purpose-built to strike a balance between providing a robust set of AP automation tools, with the ease-of-use that our customers have come to expect from Bluevine.”

The AP feature builds out Bluevine’s current small business banking platform, which the company launched in 2019 to help small businesses manage their finances, deposit checks, transfer funds, and pay invoices. Bluevine has unveiled a series of enhancements to its business banking platform in recent years, including the launch of billpay in 2022, and international payments capabilities earlier this year.

“Every decision we make has the SMB at the heart of it, starting with the essential question – will this help them grow and run their business easier? Based on customer feedback we knew AP automation was something they wanted and needed. Putting all that power right into their checking account dashboard is an exciting step forward, and further differentiates Bluevine Business Checking with even more added value,” added Amadon.

Bluevine launched in 2013 to serve as an alternative lending provider for small businesses. Since then, the California-based company’s tools have reached 500,000 entrepreneurs. Bluevine has raised just shy of $770 million from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North, Citi Ventures, ION Crossover Partners, SVB Capital, Nationwide Insurance, and M12. Eyal Lifshitz is CEO.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

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SuperFi Raises $1 Million for Debt Prevention Platform

SuperFi Raises $1 Million for Debt Prevention Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • SuperFi received $1 million in pre-seed funding for its debt management and repayment platform.
  • The round saw contributions from Ascension, Fair By Design, Force Over Mass, and includes a grant from the Greater London Authority.
  • SuperFi’s debt management app will be publicly available in late 2023.

Personalized debt support platform SuperFi has landed $1 million in pre-seed funding for its platform that helps users understand, manage, and pay off their debt. The round brings the company’s total funding to $1.2 million.

The investment was led by Ascension and its impact fund, Fair By Design, and saw contributions from Force Over Mass and others. Also included in the investment amount is a grant from the Greater London Authority. SuperFi received the grant funds as part of the Mayor of London’s Challenge LDN scheme to combat poverty.

U.K.-based SuperFi was founded in 2021 with a goal to support the 18 million British adults struggling to pay their monthly bills during the cost of living crisis. To accomplish this, the company shows users an overview of their debts, analyzes their financial and personal circumstances, and offers them access to debt prevention tools and services.

“We believe that debt management should be proactive, not reactive. Our goal is to help millions of people struggling to pay their bills and credit commitments better manage their debt before it becomes a crisis,” said SuperFi Cofounder Tom Barltrop. “In doing so, we believe we can help British people during the cost of living crisis – saving businesses and society billions associated with problem debt.”

Today’s funding will help SuperFi test its platform with Councils and Housing Associations across London before the company rolls the product out to a wider U.K. audience. The investment will also be used to form partnerships with London boroughs.

SuperFi plans to make its app publicly available in late 2023.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya

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Upgrade Acquires Uplift for $100 Million

Upgrade Acquires Uplift for $100 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Upgrade is acquiring travel-focused BNPL company Uplift for $100 million.
  • The company will use the purchase to build on its existing BNPL offerings.
  • Uplift had raised $700 million and was reportedly valued at $195 million during its 2019 Series C round.

Alternative credit provider and digital bank Upgrade made its first acquisition today. The seven year old fintech announced it has purchased buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Uplift for $100 million.

Uplift was founded in 2014 to serve as a BNPL option for U.S. and Canadian consumers at the point-of-sale when booking travel experiences at 300 major travel brands ranging from airlines to cruise companies to resorts. By selecting Uplift at the point-of-sale when booking their travel online, the company’s 3.3 million users can spread the cost of their purchase across multiple months and repay in fixed installments.

Upgrade offers personal loans and digital banking tools including credit cards, checking accounts, and savings accounts. While it doesn’t offer any BNPL tools, the company says its credit cards “combine the flexibility of a credit card with the predictability of a personal loan.”

Upgrade will use today’s acquisition to build its presence in the BNPL space. The company states that travel financing fits within its strategy of making credit available at the point of sale to finance “meaningful expenses.” Upgrade currently focuses on helping its users finance practical expenses such as buying a car or making home improvements, and –with Uplift’s expertise– will be able to enter the travel vertical, as well.

As Upgrade Cofounder and CEO Renaud Laplanche explained, “The Uplift team has established the company as the leading BNPL provider in the travel industry, and we look forward to combining forces to make travel more accessible and affordable for millions of consumers, and over time implement similar solutions in adjacent parts of our customers’ lives.”

Prior to today’s acquisition, Uplift had raised $700 million in combined debt and equity and was reportedly valued at $195 million during its 2019 Series C round.

Headquartered in California with an operations center in Arizona and a technology center in Canada, Upgrade is partnered with Cross River Bank and Blue Ridge Bank for credit lines and banking services, NYDIG for Bitcoin rewards, and Sutton Bank for card issuance. The company has delivered $24 billion in credit via its cards and loans since 2017.

Photo by Pixabay

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6 Benchmarks TCH Reached Before FedNow Even Launched

6 Benchmarks TCH Reached Before FedNow Even Launched
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

By now you’ve likely heard that the U.S. Federal Reserve launched its FedNow instant payments solution. Using the new tool, banks and credit unions can enable their customers to instantly transfer money at any time of day, any day of the year.

The release comes 10 years after the Fed first started talking about creating a real-time payments (RTP) solution in 2013, and five years after it began developing an RTP offering. The Fed’s instant payments solution also comes after a handful of competing companies in the private sector– including Orum, Visa Direct, and The Clearing House (TCH)— had already launched.

The latter of these– TCH– just released an update that details some of the metrics it has reached in the instant payments realm after launching its RTP network in November of 2017. Here is what the company has achieved in six years:

Increased transaction number

The number of transactions on the RTP network in Q2 2023 totaled 58 million, up from 41 million transactions during that same period last year.

Increased transaction volume

The value of transactions during Q2 2023 reached $29 billion, up from $18 billion in the same quarter last year.

Gained financial institution customers

More than 350 financial institutions are providing real-time payments on the RTP network to their customers and members.

Gained business adoption

150,000 businesses are sending payments over the RTP network. This is a 50% increase since December 2022.

Reached end consumers

3+ million consumers each month are sending account-to-account payments and Zelle payments that leverage the RTP network

Reached demand deposit accounts

The RTP network currently reaches 65% of U.S. demand deposit accounts.

These milestones signify three things. First, they are a reminder to always question claims of “industry firsts.” The launch of FedNow is buzz-worthy because it is a government-led initiative, not because its the first player in the U.S. to enable real-time payments.

Second, TCH’s milestones indicate that consumers are not only conceptually ready for the change, they are open to trusting the process behind the change. “As more banks and credit unions join the RTP network, their customers and members are experiencing the benefits of real-time payments,” said TCH Senior Vice President of RTP Product Management Rusiru Gunasena. “Surpassing 500 million RTP payments signifies the accelerating growth and demand on the RTP network.”

The last thing TCH’s stats demonstrate is that there is still room for a lot of growth in this area. FedNow may not have been the first player to enter the market with an RTP solution, but that’s not to say it won’t be successful. There are currently 57 banks and credit unions planning to participate in FedNow, and Forbes estimates that number will increase to 200 by the end of the year and will reach 500 by the end of next year.

Photo by Hasan Albari

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Shopify Launches Business Credit Card Powered by Stripe

Shopify Launches Business Credit Card Powered by Stripe
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Shopify is launching a business credit card.
  • The launch is among 100+ updates the company is making today as part of its summer release.
  • The new Visa-branded credit card is powered by partnerships with Stripe, which is powering the infrastructure behind the card, and Celtic Bank, which serves as the bank partner.

Shopify released 100 updates today. Out of the updates, the most interesting was the launch of a Visa credit card aimed at U.S. businesses. The card is fueled by partnerships with Stripe, which powers the infrastructure, and Celtic Bank, which serves as the issuing bank.

The card does not charge fees or interest– it is a pay-in-full card that offers business owners up to 56 days to pay for their purchases. After that point, Shopify will automatically debit any outstanding balances from the user’s designated account.

The new credit card offers businesses up to 3% cashback on eligible purchases, which include business expenses in the company’s monthly top spend category— marketing, fulfillment, or wholesale. For all other purchases, cardholders receive 1% cashback. Businesses can receive up to $100,000 in cashback, which is earned as a statement credit.

Eligibility for the credit card is based on a business’ sales performance, not an individual’s credit score. This allows the cardholder’s credit limit to increase as their business scales up.

Shopify has been offering businesses access to working capital with its commercial lending platform, Shopify Capital, since 2016. Underwriting for the loans works in the same way that the company’s credit card underwriting works. The credit offers are based on a business’ sales. In fact, the company uses more than 70 data points about a business applicant to underwrite the loan. Since launch, Shopify has distributed more than $4.5 billion in loans to its business users.

Other financial tools that Shopify offers its business users include Shopify Balance, which is a business financial management tool, and Shopify Bill Pay, a tool to help merchants manage and pay vendors.

Canada-based Shopify has been bringing ecommerce websites and tools to retailers since 2004. In the years since, millions of businesses in 175 countries have used the company’s technology to make over $700 billion in sales. Tobias Lütke is CEO.

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American Express Introduces Commercial Partner Program

American Express Introduces Commercial Partner Program
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, American Express, Daily news
  • Credit card giant American Express launched its Sync Commercial Partner Program this week.
  • The program offers a suite of APIs that fintechs can embed into their existing B2B apps and services, including spend management, procurement, and other B2B software solutions.
  • As a result, businesses can access Amex tools and services within the fintech apps they already use.

American Express unveiled its Sync Commercial Partner Program today. The new program includes a suite of APIs that fintechs can embed into their own B2B apps, reaching business customers on the platforms they already use.

Using the Sync Commercial Partner Program, fintechs and software providers can embed Amex virtual cards into their own spend management, procurement, and other software solutions aimed at U.S. businesses. The Sync Commercial Partner Program is scalable to suit a range of fintechs’ needs; it offers robust developer tools, and comes with a dedicated Amex support contact. In a future iteration, Amex will enable fintechs to integrate virtual cards that can be added to several mobile wallets.

The card company said that it will add more B2B payment and data capabilities in the coming months.

“American Express Sync will put more B2B capabilities in the hands of fintechs and ultimately enable their customers to get more value from the platforms they use to run their businesses,” said American Express Vice President on the Global Commercial Services team Todd Manning. “Today’s announcement means that our broad base of American Express U.S. Business and Corporate customers will have more ways to pay their suppliers digitally.”

The use of embedded B2B payments has been expanding over the past few years. In 2021, the transaction value reached $700 billion in the U.S. By 2026, the value is expected to nearly quadruple to $2.6 trillion.

At launch, the Sync Commercial Partner Program has six early adopters– Centime, Eved, HQ, Melio, and PayEm. “Together, American Express and PayEm are providing customers with an intuitive way to manage payments, expenses, and cash flow by leveraging on-demand virtual Cards,” said PayEm CEO and Cofounder Itamar Jobani. “Our customers can now generate unique virtual Card numbers for specific employee requests or vendor transactions, giving them greater control, enhanced security, and streamlined reconciliation.”

Amex’s launch of its Sync Commercial Partner Program is the company’s latest move to boost its digital finance offerings. Last month, Amex partnered with Plaid to allow its customers to connect with Plaid’s 8,000+ connected apps without having to share their password with the third-party provider. And last spring, the card company launched American Express Global Pay, a cross-border payments tool for U.S. small businesses.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AXP, American Express has a market capitalization of $124 billion. Stephen Squeri is CEO.

Photo by CardMapr.nl on Unsplash

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Linqto Rebrands, Now Allows Investors to Buy and Sell Holdings

Linqto Rebrands, Now Allows Investors to Buy and Sell Holdings
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Linqto
  • Linqto has revamped its brand identity and has rolled out new capabilities to enable investors to buy and sell their holdings in real time.
  • The new feature comes after a recent bill passed by the House Financial Services Committee revamped the list of accredited investor certifications.
  • This marks the company’s second rebrand, after it first pivoted in 2020 to serve individual investors.

Investment platform Linqto has rolled out a two-fold announcement today. Not only has the California-based company has revamped its brand, but it has also added new capabilities to enable investors to buy and sell their holdings.

At its core, Linqto helps accredited users invest in unicorns before they go public. The platform opens up a ground floor opportunity, with the minimum investment starting at $5,000. The expanded capabilities launched today transforms Linqto into a more holistic platform, allowing users to control and manage their assets in real-time.

“The first generation of Linqto’s platform made private equity investing simple and accessible for accredited investors, and we are now entering a new phase which also makes these investments liquid,” said Linqto Chief Product Officer Patty Brewer. “The expanded platform allows accredited investors to cost-effectively build and manage their own diversified portfolio of private equity investments. Linqto is demystifying the private markets by providing endless opportunities to achieve financial goals.”

Today’s announcement comes after a recent bill passed by the House Financial Services Committee revamped the list of accredited investor certifications. The update further democratizes access to the private market.

“Now we’re doubling down on our core mission of helping accredited investors identify the private companies and industries they’re most interested in and providing real-time liquidity as a bonus,” said Linqto CEO Bill Sarris.

The rebrand marks the second change in the company’s brand identity since it was founded in 2010 as a digital banking technology company that provided software-as-a-service to fintechs. In 2020, two years after Linqto acquired investment trading platform PrimaryMarkets for $33 million, the company pivoted to serve as a direct-to-consumer investment platform.

Since then, Linqto has amassed 150,000 members across 110 countries and has facilitated $220 million in investments across almost 50+ portfolio companies.

Photo by Leif Bergerson

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PayNearMe Natively Integrates with Block’s Cash App

PayNearMe Natively Integrates with Block’s Cash App
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, PayNearMe
  • PayNearMe has integrated Cash App Pay into its app.
  • The move allows PayNearMe’s end users to pay their bills using their Cash App accounts.
  • The native integration helps users make payments within the app without having to manually re-enter their card or bank details.

Cash payments platform PayNearMe announced it is adding more payment options today by natively integrating with Cash App Pay. The California-based company is leveraging Block-owned Cash App Pay’s technology to allow its users to pay their bills using their Cash App accounts.

“We are excited to be early to market with Cash App Pay, a payment type that is growing in popularity,” said PayNearMe Chief Product Officer John Minor. “By offering Cash App Pay, we’re enabling our clients to provide their customers with more payment options and greater convenience.”

By natively integrating Cash App Pay, PayNearMe’s end users can make payments within the app without having to manually re-enter their card or bank details. The seamless user experience keeps users’ sensitive information secure while enabling them to complete transactions in a few taps. Payments made using Cash App Pay are saved alongside all of the user’s other transactions in a single ledger.

Cash App was founded in 2013 as a peer-to-peer-payment platform. The company has since become a more robust, banking-like platform that enables users to hold funds, spend their money using a QR code or cash, invest, manage their Bitcoin, and file their taxes. It has built up its user base to 53 million monthly active users.

PayNearMe focuses on serving un-and-underbanked populations with its cash-based billpay tools. The company partners with more than 40,000 retail stores, including 7-Eleven, Walmart, and Family Dollar, to allow businesses to offer their users cash payment options.

PayNearMe launched a product called MoneyLine in 2021. MoneyLine allows gaming and sports betting operators to offer a payment gateway, hold deposits, make payouts, and more. Including a fresh $45 million round earlier this year, PayNearMe has raised $118 million in funding since it was founded in 2009.

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Earnest and Nova Credit Partner to Offer Student Loans for International Students

Earnest and Nova Credit Partner to Offer Student Loans for International Students
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Earnest and Nova Credit are partnering to launch International Private Student Loans.
  • Earnest is tapping Nova Credit’s Credit Passport to leverage consumer-permissioned, cross-border credit data.
  • The solution is currently available to international students from India, Mexico, Canada, and South Korea.

Student loan refinancing site Earnest has teamed up with Nova Credit to launch International Private Student Loans. The new tool enables select international students to access flexible loan options, competitive interest rates, and personalized repayment terms tailored to their needs.

Offered by Earnest, International Private Student Loans will leverage Nova Credit’s Credit Passport solution that taps into consumer-permissioned, cross-border credit data. With Credit Passport, borrowers can share their credit information from their home country when they apply for a loan. Nova Credit will share the borrower’s credit history with Earnest and offer a relevant score corresponding to that history.

“We believe that access to credit should be borderless, and financial barriers should never hinder someone’s pursuit of education or opportunity,” said Nova Credit CEO Misha Esipov. “The U.S. is home to nearly one million international students who not only fill our universities with the brightest minds from around the globe but also bring those lessons to accelerate our economy for generations. By partnering with Earnest, we can provide more students the financial access they need to arrive and thrive.”

International borrowers that are eligible will have access to Earnest’s loans without needing a cosigner on the loan. Currently, the International Private Student Loans product is available to international students from India, Mexico, Canada, and South Korea pursuing a Master in Business Administration, Master of Laws/Juris Doctorate, or Master of Science in Engineering program at select schools. The loans can be used for tuition, housing, living expenses, and other education-related costs.

Nova Credit was founded in 2016 with an aim to extend credit to an entirely new set of potential borrowers– immigrants. In addition to the company’s Credit Passport solution, Nova Credit offers Cash Atlas, a tool that analyzes bank transaction data to provide lenders with a Fair Credit Reporting Act consumer report and generates a borrower risk profile to assess their affordability and ability to pay.

Nova Credit also offers a direct-to-consumer tool that provides new-to-country borrowers access to a marketplace where they can browse and apply for credit cards, phone plans, and loans using their foreign credit history.

San Francisco-based Earnest was founded in 2013 and offers student loans, personal loans, student loan refinancing, and marketplaces for tuition insurance, student credit cards, and home equity lines of credit.

Today’s news isn’t the only development in the international student lending space this month. Last week, global payments platform Flywire announced it had teamed up with Tencent’s fintech arm, Tencent Financial Technology, to help Chinese students pay for education abroad.

Photo by Vasily Koloda on Unsplash

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