Nova Credit, a credit bureau and data analytics company, has raised $45 million in a Series C funding round. The round was led by Canapi Ventures and participated by existing investors General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, and Avid Ventures, as well as new investors Geodesic Capital, Harmonic Capital, Radiate Capital, and Socium Ventures (Cox Enterprises).
Nova Credit plans to use the funding to expand its product suite and enhance the application of open finance in credit decision-making. The company specializes in utilizing open finance to empower its partners to make credit decisions with greater confidence and accuracy.
What is Open Finance?
Open finance is a new financial system that is based on open data sharing. It allows consumers to share their financial data with third-party providers, such as Nova Credit, in order to access new products and services.
How Does Nova Credit Use Open Finance?
Nova Credit uses open finance to access consumers’ credit data from other countries. This data is then used to create a credit report that can be used by lenders to make credit decisions.
Nova Credit is a cross-border credit bureau that allows newcomers to apply for U.S. credit cards, phone plans, and loans using their foreign credit history. It does this by partnering with lenders and foreign credit bureaus to access and verify consumers’ credit data from other countries. This data is then used to generate a credit report that can be used by lenders in the U.S. to make credit decisions.
Nova Credit was founded in 2016 by Misha Esipov and Joseph Green, two immigrants who wanted to make it easier for newcomers to the U.S. to build credit. The company is headquartered in New York City and has over 100 employees.
Nova Credit’s services are used by a variety of lenders, including American Express, HSBC, MPOWER, Yardi, Intellirent, First Advantage, and Verizon. The company has also partnered with a number of financial technology companies, such as Plaid and Stripe.
Nova Credit has received numerous awards and accolades for its work, including being named one of the “50 Most Innovative Companies in the World” by Fast Company in 2022.
Benefits of Nova Credit’s Open Finance Credit Products
Nova Credit’s open finance credit products offer a number of benefits, including:
- Improved access to credit: Nova Credit’s credit reports can help consumers who have limited or no credit history to access credit.
- More accurate credit decisions: Nova Credit’s credit reports can help lenders to make more accurate credit decisions, which can lead to lower interest rates and better terms for consumers.
- Reduced fraud: Nova Credit’s credit reports can help lenders to identify and prevent fraud.
Nova Credit’s Series C funding round is a sign of the growing interest in open finance credit products. These products have the potential to improve access to credit, reduce fraud, and make credit decisions more accurate.
