Qlarifi, a fintech startup transforming credit reporting for Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), has announced the completion of its pre-seed funding round.
The investment round, backed by a combination of HoneyComb Asset Management, Carthona Capital and a selection of angel investors “including Australian rugby legend John Eales, raised $1.8m USD to accelerate the company’s mission of bringing repayment transparency to the BNPL industry.”
This milestone marks a step forward in Qlarifi’s journey “to provide BNPLs with consumer credit data in real time.”
Qlarifi’s platform aggregates BNPL consumer credit data, “creating a complete picture of customers’ borrowing and repayment history across different providers.”
The funding will be used to build out real time data infrastructure using modern technology and “drive customer acquisition across key markets.”
According to the announcement, there are nearly “415,000 daily BNPL applications in the UK, dwarfing credit cards, the second most prominent form of lending, which sits at just 68,000 per day, and the market is only growing.”
BNPL holds a 5% market share in e-commerce transactions, which “is growing dramatically each year.”
Alex Naughton, CEO and Co-Founder of Qlarifi said:
“Our reason for building Qlarifi was to create transparency and a fit-for-purpose solution to a problem that’s been frustrating us for too long. We’re proud that the industry has responded so positively. They’ve been crying out for the real time information Qlarifi provides. This funding round reflects the confidence our investors have in our mission, and enables us to take the next leap in our growth journey.
John Eales, businessman and former Australian rugby captain:
“Qlarifi is tackling transparency in a booming industry that is demanding their solution. The response Alex, Loic and the team have already received will be important for both businesses and consumers in the ecosystem. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to invest in their journey.”
Qlarifi’s co-founders, Alex Naughton and Loic Berthou, “bring a wealth of industry experience and technological expertise.”
Their solution means that it isn’t just providers who “will benefit, but also consumers who will be able to increasingly rely upon BNPL as a responsible lending product.”
Built on the ethos of transparency, Qlarifi’s platform has “garnered attention for its impactful solution.”
Berthou added:
“We saw an opportunity to enable lenders to make better informed underwriting decisions by utilising the rich and growing dataset of transactions, and to help consumers build a positive credit history through the responsible use of BNPL. To us it was clear – we’re glad that our investors agreed.”
Qlarifi is described as the real time BNPL consumer credit database.
It provides insightful underwriting data for BNPL lenders “via consumers’ transaction history.”
With richer data, lenders can make more informed “underwriting decisions – helping both BNPL providers and consumers.”