Petal, a credit card and financial technology company, has raised $35m in funding and spun off its B2B-focussed data infrastructure and analytics subsidiary, Prism Data.
Valar Ventures led this new investment, joined by Story Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, and RiverPark Ventures, among others. The funding includes strategic investments from Synchrony and Samsung Next. This new investment will be split between Petal and Prism Data.
Petal describes itself as a new kind of credit card company, built to help people financially succeed. The company claims to have pioneered cash flow underwriting as an alternative to traditional credit scores, in a bid to make credit more accessible.
The company offers a simple, modern digital experience that encourages members to build credit, avoid debt, and spend responsibly. The company is based in New York, NY, and Richmond, VA. Petal credit cards are issued by WebBank.
After years of developing, refining and advancing its proprietary CashScore technology in-market, Petal established Prism Data to give other financial providers the same infrastructure and intelligence to improve underwriting decisions and expand access to credit.
Cash flow underwriting measure creditworthiness based on banking history, such as consumer earning, saving and spending trends. According to Petal, this providers a more effective measure of creditworthiness for the millions of consumers without accurate credit scores.
The spin off results in two independent FinTech companies that are leveraging cash flow underwriting and consumer-authorised financial information (also known as open banking data) to provider products that expand consumer access to financial services.
Jason Rosen, the CEO and co-founder of both Petal and Prism Data, said, “The first wave of fintech was about inventing new approaches. We’ve seen this explosion in activity with companies testing out new models, technologies, and financial products.
“Not every new experiment works. But for breakthrough technologies that have proven effective, like the cash flow underwriting we’ve developed at Petal and Prism Data, the time has come to expand to the mainstream. This has profound implications for financial inclusion, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with forward-thinking industry leaders like Synchrony and Samsung to drive true innovation at scale.”
Petal last raised $140m in its Series D funding round in January 2022.
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