Led · Debt Financing · Dec 2021

Oportun closed a $150 million credit facility secured by credit card receivables arising under its Oportun Visa Credit Card. The receivables are generated from the Oportun® Visa® Credit Card issued by WebBank. WebBank is the lender under the new facility. The facility carries a two-year revolving term. The new facility replaces the company’s existing retention facility. The transaction was announced on December 20, 2021. Oportun (formerly Progreso Financiero) provides responsible, lower-cost loans to thin-file or no-file Hispanic customers using advanced data analytics to assess creditworthiness and drive back-office efficiency. The company operates bilingual service channels and more than 130 locations across California, Illinois and Texas. Since founding it has loaned over $1.3 billion to more than 485,000 customers and emphasizes lower fees and interest rates than many alternatives. Oportun’s technology underpins its underwriting and enables scaling of operations while aiming to build customers’ credit. The firm is transitioning its public name to Oportun over the year and plans to continue leveraging analytics and technology to address unmet needs and grow the business. Progreso Financiero provides small consumer loans to Hispanic borrowers and leverages a technology platform for automated risk scoring and to augment back-office productivity. The company serves a segment of roughly 23 million U.S. Hispanics who lack sufficient credit histories to obtain loans. Since 2006 it has provided over 700,000 loans to more than 370,000 customers through a network of more than 110 locations. The majority of its customers earn median incomes below $29,000; the average loan disbursed in 2014 was approximately $1,650 with a term of 14 months. Leadership is headed by CEO Raul Vazquez, and the company has used external funding to invest in staff, locations, marketing and its technology platform to support growth. Progreso Financiero offers unsecured, small-dollar loans to Hispanics who lack credit history by using a proprietary risk-scoring system that emphasizes a client’s true capacity to afford a loan. The company operates a significant retail footprint across California and Texas and engages customers in their neighborhoods and in their language. Progreso employs a no-rollover loan structure and reports to credit bureaus; it has made more than 350,000 loans totaling $400 million in capital through over 70 locations. Since its founding in 2005, Progreso says it has helped improve credit scores for more than 87% of its loan customers. The firm positions itself as a for-profit institution that leverages community relationships and a holistic underwriting model to broaden access to responsible financial products. Management plans to use new investment to accelerate growth and scale operations to expand delivery of its products to underserved Hispanic families. Progreso Financiero provides unsecured, small-dollar loans to underserved Hispanic customers using a proprietary risk‑scoring system to serve clients who lack traditional credit histories. The company engages customers in their communities and in Spanish, emphasizing relationship‑based lending and what it calls the moral collateral of its clients. Typical borrowers begin with no credit history and, after three successful small loans averaging about $1,000 for ten months, can build to a credit score of roughly 660. Since its founding in 2005, Progreso has made more than 195,000 microloans and extended approximately $210 million in capital to Hispanic families. The firm reports it has improved credit scores for over 87% of its loan customers and has expanded operations across California and Texas. Progreso aims to continue growing its loan portfolio and broaden access to mainstream financial products for unbanked and underbanked Hispanic households.

Participated · Debt Financing · Jul 2021

Jasper Card issues credit cards (via WebBank on the Mastercard network) and operates an algorithm-driven underwriting platform that scores customers on predicted future credit behavior using income, employment, and other signals. The company expanded from CreditStacks (rebranded in 2020) to serve a broader set of U.S. consumers and claims more than 15,000 cards issued, used over 1.3 million times and generating over $90M in spend. Its program has been growing roughly 20% month-over-month. Jasper employs more than 50 people across a development center in Israel and a New York City headquarters. The company runs a referral-driven cashback program that rewards users and plans to grow its AI technology to further develop underwriting and introduce a new line of financial services.