Consumer fintech company Bright Money said on Wednesday that it had closed a $62 million funding round. The funding includes $12 million in equity led by Alpha Wave, Hummingbird, and PeakXV and $50 million in debt from Encina Lender Finance. In the US and Canada, Encina Lender Finance offers lending solutions to consumer and commercial speciality financing companies.
Bright Money is a consumer fintech startup that uses data science to help Americans get out of debt. It was founded in 2019 by a team from McKinsey’s Banking Practice (Petko Plachkov and Avi Patchava) and InMobi Data Scientists (Avi Patchava, Varun Modi, Avinash Ramakath, Jay Merwade, and Amit Bendale). It’s a mobile app which includes all the products and tools someone needs to manage and minimize debt.
Bright Money products include credit score building, automated debt paydown plans, financial planning, budget planning tools, and refinance loans. It works with credit cards, student loans, and car loans.
“At Bright Money, we have seen a 6x growth in the last year and now reach hundreds of thousands of users. We believe data is a positive force that can have transformative effects if used effectively. Our team is passionate about the application of Data Sciences and AI to solve real-world problems for the everyday consumer who is managing high debt,” stated Avi Patchava, Co-founder and co-CEO of Bright Money.
“At Bright Money, we are a team of Data Scientists, Engineers, Product Builders, and Service professionals who want to build the world’s best technology to help people get out of debt and build their credit,” said Petko Plachkov, Co-founder & Co-CEO, of Bright Money. “The funding will be deployed towards building robust teams across product development, technology, analytics, and support functions like compliance and customer service,” he added.