FinTech News
Clerkie Raises $33 Million in Oversubscribed Series A
A FinTech that looks to create a better debt repayment system for creditors and borrowers has closed a new round of investment funding. This week, Clerkie announced that it had raised $33 million. The oversubscribed Series A was led by Left Lane Capital, while Wellington Management Company, Flourish Ventures, Citi Ventures, CMFG Ventures, and Vestigo Ventures also participated alongside individuals such as Nubank founder David Velez and Intuit founder Tom Proulx.
To date, the company has now raised a total of $41 million, including a $6 million seed round in 2020. With the funds Clerkie says it will continue to grow its engineering team as well as scale its debt workout solutions and add more partners.
San Fransisco-based Clerkie bills itself as the leading AI-powered financial automation platform. The company’s platform utilizes multiple data points to “identify and help potentially delinquent borrowers avoid default.” According to its site, Clerkie offers loan consumers smart payment arrangements in order to help them keep current on their payments. As the company notes, this is a win-win for lenders and borrowers as the former is better able to recoup their funds while the latter can avoid entering collections and hurting their credit long-term.
Commenting on the idea behind Clerkie, the company’s CEO and co-founder Guy Assad stated, “The consumer debt market is fundamentally broken for consumers and the creditors that serve them, as evidenced by the predatory collections practices and the crushing amount of debt burdening American families. Today, tens of millions of Americans are struggling with their debts and are falling into delinquency. It’s a lose-lose situation for the borrowers and for the banks who are racking up billions in losses.” Assad added, “Our goal is to support struggling American families by giving them better tools to responsibly fulfill their debt obligations and ease their debt burden.”
Meanwhile, Left Lane Capital Managing Partner Dan Ahrens said of the firm’s investment, “We could not be more excited to partner with Clerkie. As consumer debt delinquency rises, we believe technology that makes the lending system more efficient and effective for all parties will be critical. The Clerkie team’s deep subject matter expertise and commitment to making this process as constructive and beneficial as possible to the consumer stood out. We believe in that mission and look forward to being part of the journey.”
Looking at the concept of Clerkie, it’s easy to see why investors would be interested in the concept. This is especially true as the United States continues to brace for a possible recession that could lead to more missed payments and refinance requests on the part of consumers. For that reason, the company seems well-positioned to not only grow but potentially also make a difference in the lives of borrowers. Assuming this is truly the goal of Clerkie, it’s hard not to want to root for its success.
