Participated · Series B · Aug 2019

Credijusto is a Mexico City-based, tech-enabled lender offering a multi-product platform focused on SME credit. Its product mix includes term loans, credit lines and planned expansion into equipment lease financing, with a credit card slated for launch later this year. The company says it has launched multiple financial products since its 2015 founding and has originated over USD $120m in term loans and leases. The transaction with Credit Suisse provides additional funding diversification and capacity to increase lending across Mexico. Credijusto is led by Co-CEOs David Poritz and Allan Apoj and currently employs about 300 people. Its stated mission is to expand credit access for small and medium-sized enterprises in Mexico. Credijusto offers asset-backed loans and equipment leases to SMEs using software design, data science and advanced decision-making and product structuring. Led by CEO David Poritz, the company has launched multiple financial products in four years of operation and has originated over $90 million in term loans and leases. Credijusto currently employs 200 people. The company intends to use new funding to expand growth and to launch new products, including digital advisory services and a credit card for SMEs. Less than five months before this round it closed a credit facility of up to $100 million with Goldman Sachs. Credijusto is a Mexico City–based digital lending platform focused on providing credit to small and medium-size businesses (SMEs). The company secured a $100 million credit facility from Goldman Sachs to expand its SME loan business across Mexico. Credijusto has originated approximately $70 million in credit since it was founded in 2015. In 2018 the firm raised a Series A led by Kazek Ventures and QED Investors. The company framed the opportunity by noting that SMEs make up 99 percent of Mexican businesses and 74 percent of employment while receiving only about 15 percent of loans. Co-CEO David Poritz said the facility is a significant milestone that will help transform how Mexican SMEs access capital.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2019

Borrowell is a Toronto-based credit education company that offers free credit scores, educational content, weekly credit monitoring, personalized credit coaching and AI-powered financial product recommendations. The company raised $25M in a funding round that brings its total equity financing to $55M. Proceeds will be used to acquire Refresh Financial, a provider of credit to underserved Canadians, and to support future growth. The acquisition of Refresh Financial doubles Borrowell's revenue and employee base. Borrowell is led by co-founder and CEO Andrew Graham. The company combines consumer credit tools with digital product recommendations to expand its reach in underserved markets. Borrowell offers free credit score and report monitoring, automated credit coaching tools, and AI-driven financial product recommendations. Its AI credit coaching tool, Molly, gives users actions and insights to help improve their credit score and aggregates score, report and personalized recommendations in one place. The company recently released its AI-powered free credit monitoring app to the public after a soft launch; Molly’s beta recorded more than 36,000 downloads. Borrowell generates revenue through a loan service and referral fees when customers use its recommended products. It has partnered with 50 financial services, including major Canadian banks like CIBC, and reports more than one million users, calling itself Canada’s largest consumer fintech by user reach. Following the recent raise, the company plans to continue investing heavily in AI and machine learning. Based in Toronto, Borrowell offers free credit score monitoring, personal loans and tailored product recommendations to help Canadians make better credit decisions. The company has more than 300,000 account holders, with thousands signing up each week. Borrowell plans to use its new funding to expand credit education and scale lending, including ‘one click’ loans to prime consumers. It is making significant investments in data science and artificial intelligence to better predict needs and build financial tools. The business has expanded distribution through partnerships (including with CIBC) and focuses on improving consumer financial well‑being. The new capital will support growth of both its free information services and its loan offerings. Borrowell operates a wholly online platform that offers fast, fixed‑interest personal loans to Canadians as an alternative to high‑interest credit card debt. The company emphasizes a simple, online application that instantly provides personalized loan options to consumers with good credit. Since launching in March 2015, Borrowell has processed over $500 million in loan applications from thousands of Canadians. Borrowell positions itself as technology‑driven marketplace lender and is partnering with strategic investors to accelerate growth and adoption in the Canadian market. The company has attracted capital from financial and technology investors to expand its lending platform and market traction.

Led · Equity · Jan 2019

yallacompare operates an online platform that enables consumers to compare and buy insurance policies and apply for bank accounts, credit cards, loans and cars across nine markets in the MENA region. Led by CEO Jon Richards, the company launched the region’s first insurance comparison platform in 2016 and has since built a dominant position in digital insurance sales in the UAE, accounting for more than 75% of online insurance transactions. It currently employs over 120 people and expects to issue more than $50M of policies in 2019. yallacompare recently partnered with Smart Dubai to bring insurance aggregation to the Dubai Now app. The company plans to use new funding to grow its workforce by up to 50% and to expand insurance aggregation into additional regional markets. compareit4me is a Dubai, UAE–based finance comparison startup that operates finance comparison websites across seven Middle East countries. It runs compareit4me.com in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait and operates as amwalak.com in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon. The sites help users find and compare financial products including personal loans, credit cards and bank accounts. The company is led by CEO Jon Richards and COO Samer Chehab. In September 2015 compareit4me raised $3M in venture capital funding. The company plans to use the funds to continue expansion, launching in at least three more countries in 2015.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2018

Upfort provides a combined cyber security and insurance platform that streamlines cyber insurance underwriting and risk management for insurers, brokers, and their clients. Its proprietary technology and intelligent automation include AI-powered email protection, network defense, security training, and ongoing monitoring tuned to prevent incidents that cause widespread financial damage. The platform integrates risk assessment, mitigation, and insurance policies to simplify a historically cumbersome and costly underwriting process. An 18-month study of a leading cyber insurance program found that policyholders who fully implemented Upfort Shield were significantly less likely to file a claim, with an 80% reduction in claim likelihood. The company transitioned from Paladin Cyber to Upfort to reflect expanded capabilities as a one-stop shop for cyber security and insurance. Upfort says the new investment will enable it to build on these efforts and continue its mission of accelerating global cyber resilience. Paladin Cyber offers a suite of proprietary tools and resources for small and mid-sized businesses and government entities to assess and manage cyber exposures. Its product set includes training simulations to identify phishing scams, software to protect against malicious code and hacking, and services such as phishing inbox protection, cross-site-scripting protection, public WiFi protection, a browser content filter, and a password manager. The company also provides qualified resources for cyber education and incident response and ties its software solutions to commercial cyber insurance terms with competitive premiums. Paladin made its comprehensive commercial cyber insurance policy available on an admitted basis in Arizona, with Oregon, Colorado and Nevada to follow later in the year; the policy is underwritten by National Specialty Insurance Company and administered by Boost Insurance and offers limits from $50,000 to $1 million across a range of first- and third-party coverages. Founded in 2017 and led by CEO Han Wang, Paladin plans to use new funding for continued national insurance expansion and further investment in its proprietary security platform. The company raised $3.6M in its latest financing, bringing total funding to $4.5M.