London-based credit technology firm Abound, founded in 2020, has reached profitability just three years after its launch. The company currently has a team of 65 employees and plans to double in size to 130 by the end of the year.
Abound’s AI technology utilizes Open Banking Data to analyze customers’ financial situations and determine what they can afford to repay each month. This personalized approach is a departure from traditional credit checks, which rely on statistical averages and often result in errors for individual cases. As a result, Abound boasts 75% fewer defaults than industry standards and has issued £300 million in loans since its inception. The company offers loans ranging from £1,000 to £20,000, with repayment terms of up to 8 years and a 24.8% APR.
Abound is a subsidiary of Fintern Ltd, which also owns Render – the technology that powers Abound’s smart loans. Render is available as a B2B product for businesses seeking to improve their own credit assessments or enter the lending market for the first time. Last year, Abound secured over £500 million in funding with the goal of reaching £1 billion on its balance sheet by 2025.
Gerald Chappell, CEO and co-founder of Abound, expressed pride in the company’s success, stating, “We originally built Abound to showcase the capabilities of our Render technology. We are thrilled to have not only demonstrated its effectiveness but to have also achieved profitability and established ourselves as a significant player in the London fintech sector.”