附近上门

, a fintech company that helps users build credit, launched publicly on Wednesday and announced $42.5 million in total funding.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

The company most recently closed a $30 million Series B round led by led the Series A, and of the , CEO , and former CFO are also among the investors in the company.

The company, which targets Millennial and Gen Z users, is looking to help people who have low credit scores or no credit scores establish and build credit through its online store, according to CEO .

Chen spent 17 years working in consumer finance, where she saw 鈥渉ow a low or no credit score could keep people, and make them prone to predatory lending and make them fall into that spiral that they couldn鈥檛 get out of.鈥�

Kikoff鈥檚 flagship product is a $500 credit to buy educational content from Kikoff鈥檚 online store. The educational content includes programming on financial health, personal improvement, and a variety of e-books. Users can鈥檛 pay upfront, but instead use the $500 credit and pay the balance of the credit line over time, like a revolving credit line.

Kikoff doesn鈥檛 charge interest or fees, and it reports payment activity to the credit bureaus, which helps users build credit. The company launched a beta version of the product in late December 2020 and launched its apps in April 2021.聽

With the new funding, Kikoff plans to increase its team of less than 24 people to more than 50 people by the end of the year. The company is planning on hiring for engineering, product, and operations roles.聽

Credit is the first step for Kikoff, but the company wants to expand to other parts of a consumer鈥檚 financial journey, Chen said. The next step is helping users manage cash flow before Kikoff moves on to help users with bigger financial goals like refinancing a student loan or getting a mortgage.

鈥淎 credit score is kind of like a GPA,鈥� Chen said. 鈥淚f you’re a college student of course a GPA helps. But a GPA is only helpful if you鈥檙e going to apply to grad school or apply for a job.鈥�

partner wanted to invest in the company in part because he鈥檇 personally experienced issues stemming from not having a credit score. It took Kareem two years after he graduated from college to get a credit card. He knew how that affected his ability to access other financial products.聽

鈥淚 do feel that credit is that gatekeeper,鈥� Kareem said. 鈥淚f you fall into a situation where you don鈥檛 have credit..your ability to get access to the U.S. financial system is basically hindered.鈥�

Illustration: Dom Guzman