Challenger credit reference agency Infact has raised £4 million in seed funding after securing FCA authorisation.
The London startup is looking to establish the first real-time credit bureau for the digital financial services market.
The funding was led by AlbionVC, with participation from 13books Capital, Outward VC, Form Ventures, and Portfolio Ventures. Infact is also backed by leading angel investors in the credit referencing, lending, and FinTech space.
Infact says the investment will be used to accelerate the building of its richer bureau database and help challenger lenders and banks ‘reset the scales’ when it comes to credit.
Legacy bureaus struggle to keep pace with the rapid evolution of consumer credit preferences as individuals increasingly turn to lower-value, high-velocity, transactional products. This inability to adapt to changing market dynamics hinders the sustainable growth of cutting-edge financial offerings and limits the potential benefits that these products could bring consumers.
To solve this problem, Infact has built a platform that accurately represents modern credit products and consumers in a way existing bureaus cannot. The platform offers a simple and intuitive API for lenders to report and receive consumer credit risk insights in real-time.
This enables lenders’ credit risk teams to improve lending performance and increase profitable lending, while also enabling consumers to build and rehabilitate their credit profiles faster and more safely.
The company is led by Will Mason and Andy Milligan, previously from Runpath, which was acquired by Experian. They have built a founding team with diverse credit experience from companies such as NatWest, TSB, Castlight, Experian, Credit Kudos, Metro Bank, Ratesetter, Laybuy and Visa.
“Legacy bureaus have done a bad job innovating in their core business and have instead chosen to innovate around the edges,” said CEO Mason. “We are excited to build a challenger bureau that supports today’s lenders by treating their consumers as people with rich and varied financial lives.
“We are excited to enter the next phase of growth and invest in maturing the credit bureau platform and building out the product suite.”
In the months since being authorised as a credit reference agency Infact has seen early success with several leading UK lenders engaging to help populate the bureau and with the successful launch of its first product, Affordability Engine.
Jay Wilson, partner at AlbionVC, said: “From the very first meeting with Will and Andy, it was clear that they have an unparalleled level of know-how. Infact is led by two visionary founders with a clear mission, deep domain expertise, and technical knowledge.
“We are thrilled to continue supporting them on their journey to become a category leading credit referencing agency globally.”