Koyo has closed a Series A funding round led by Force Over Mass with participation from existing investors Forward Partners, Frontline Ventures and Seedcamp.
New investors in Koyo include Force Over Mass, Matt Robinson (founder of GoCardless, founder of Nested) and experienced angel investors from the banking and lending sectors.
Koyo was built on the idea that access to affordable credit is something people take for granted but many do not have access to. The Company’s vision is to become a world leader in using alternative data to offer competitively priced financial products.
Koyo services a range of customers using transactional bank data to gain an information advantage relative to incumbents. Many segments of the market, such as thin file customers (short or no credit history) or near prime customers, have very few options when it comes to affordable credit. The near-prime market alone equates to c13-15m people in the UK.
Koyo has changed this pattern, helping thousands of UK-based customers access more affordable credit. With a unique product Koyo can provide customers with competitive rates when they may struggle to find offers elsewhere. MoneySuperMarket, CompareTheMarket, Experian and other large household UK brands now list Koyo on their comparison panels. Hundreds of customers have left positive reviews of the Koyo service on TrustPilot (https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/koyoloans.com).
Koyo launched its consumer loans business in January 2020 at the start of the pandemic in the UK. The pandemic created a challenging lending environment for the consumer credit industry. However, during this time Koyo had a unique opportunity to widen its target market from those who were historically ‘thin-file’, to the larger ‘near-prime’ UK risk segment.
Thomas Olszewski, Koyo’s founder, said, “Koyo launched at the start of the global pandemic and has proven that innovative use of open banking data results in better risk decisioning and ultimately has enabled us to grow the business during one of the toughest economic times the UK has faced. I’m proud to have continued to give many people in the UK access to competitively priced credit, during a time where most traditional lenders were quick to scale back their lending.”
Thomas also quoted, “UK FinTechs have demonstrated that it’s possible to build global champions right here in London. Our incredibly strong growth over the past 18 months has put us alongside some of the fastest growing companies in the world I am excited to see what the coming years have in store for us.”
Filip Coen, Force Over Mass partner, said, “We invest in companies that combine transformational technology with strong business models, and Koyo indexed strongly in both of those departments. Koyo has built a first-class foundation over the last 18 months of operation, and we’re excited to be part of its future”.