‘Financial Freedom’ App Updraft Raises $131M

“Financial freedom” app Updraft has reportedly raised 108 million pounds sterling (about $131 million).

The London-based financial app will use the new capital from this Series A funding round to grow its team, expand its customer base and invest in new features and products, Tech Funding News reported Monday (Dec. 19).

“We are thrilled to close this latest round of funding, where our debt and equity partners have demonstrated their believe in Updraft’s team and our mission, particularly in the current macroeconomic environment,” Updraft CEO and founder Aseem Munshi said in the report. “It is a testament to what Updraft is trying to do; provide real solutions to customers to help them find their financial freedom.”

Since its founding in 2017, Updraft has used opening banking technology to build a full picture of users’ spending and employed machine learning (ML) to help its members make positive changes. More recently, the firm added buy now, pay later (BNPL) products as well, according to the report.

The latest funding round follows an earlier one in which Updraft raised 72 million pounds sterling (about $87 million) in a debt and equity round. NatWest led the previous round and is leading the debt portion of the latest one, while LC Nueva, Auluk Investments and Faber Capital are leading the equity portion, the report said.

“Supplementing succinct user and lending growth strategies with the use of best-in-class risk models that outperform bureau-based credit risk models, we are confident with Updraft’s growth momentum,” NatWest Director of Financial Institutions Rob Lamont said in the report. “They are, thus far, on track against all key measures where growth in new users, new lending, balance sheet, revenue, write-offs and overall net margin are all to plan.”

Updraft did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

Updraft builds a picture of the consumer using their credit reference data, which combines information from multiple bank accounts, and the real time data open banking provides on cost and credit card interest. This enables it to determine the true cost of payments and to have “overall visibility” on a user’s patterns, Munshi told PYMNTS in an interview posted in November 2021.

The firm then advises users on how to pay off debt faster by increasing their minimum monthly requirement, for example, and how to improve on their credit scores by keeping their debt at an acceptable credit utilization rate, Munshi said at the time.

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