Draft:Borrowell
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial technology, personal finance, software |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | Andrew Graham Eva Wong |
| Headquarters | , |
| Services | Credit scores, credit reports, credit monitoring |
| Website | borrowell.com |
Borrowell is a Canadian fintech company founded in 2014 by Andrew Graham and Eva Wong, aimed at improving consumer access to credit, initially through free credit checks. Headquartered in Toronto, Borrowell became the first company in Canada to offer free credit scores in partnership with Equifax, later expanding to include credit monitoring, and personalized financial product recommendations.[1]
Additionally, Borrowell operates Rent Advantage, which allows users to report rent payments to help build credit. As of 2024, Borrowell serves over 3 million Canadians and is one of the largest financial technology companies in the country.
History
[edit]Borrowell was founded in 2014 in Toronto by Andrew Graham and Eva Wong with the aim of making borrowing more accessible and transparent for Canadians.[2] Graham had previously served as an executive at PC Financial,[3] while Wong had a background in management consulting.[4] Their initial offering was a marketplace lending platform funded by a $5.4 million seed round led by Equitable Bank and Oakwest, enabling instant approvals for unsecured loans.[3] It also capitalized on a growing consumer lending market, which at the time was undergoing major change.[5]
In 2016, Borrowell partnered with Equifax to become the first Canadian company to provide free credit scores and reports.[6] They later expanded its service offering into credit monitoring and personalized financial product recommendations,[7] but free credit checks was the major innovation in its service offering for the first couple of years.[8] A year later, it was announced that Borrowell would be raising via round of funding, its Series A.[9] The funding round was for $12 million in total and was backed by venture capital firms such as White Star Capital.[10] This was excluding the $45 million that it had secured in credit facilities with Concentra in the same month.[11]
By 2018, they had launched free credit monitoring,[12] laying the groundwork for a fast-growing fintech focused on financial inclusion.[13] Borrowell's Series B funding round came in 2019, raising $20 million from both new and existing investors.[14][15] Around the same time, Borrowell announced that it had reached the milestone of having 1 million Canadians using its services. It also partnered with Harvard University as part of a study into privacy notices.[16]
In 2021, the fintech firm raised another $25 million in an additional round of funding in order to acquire Kelowna-based Refresh Financial.[17] Borrowell launched its Rent Advantage program in 2022,[18] allowing Canadians to report current and future rent payments directly to Equifax Canada for a monthly fee without requiring any landlord involvement.[19]
In 2024, Graham spoke about Borrowell's mission to simplify borrowing for Canadians, while highlighting the regulatory barriers facing innovation for this sector in Canada.[20] His comments demonstrated the company's advocacy for a more progressive regulatory environment for fintech in Canada.[21] Discussions such as this had been constant in the Canadian-media for years, with many other examples of Borrowell's leadership calling for regulation changes, including a move to open banking.[22] In June 2024, they introduced a one‑time service which enabled users to report up to 24 months of past rent payments to Equifax, with a money‑back guarantee if at least 12 months are reported and no credit score increase is seen.[23]
References
[edit]- ^ "Finances are top of mind for many Canadians". Bloomberg.
- ^ Ting, Mark (August 4, 2019). "Are credit monitoring systems worth the cost". CBC News.
- ^ a b Critchley, Barry (December 3, 2014). "Borrowell set to become second member of Canadian marketplace lender's club". Financial Post.
- ^ "Eva Wong's profile at Smith School". Smith School of Business.
- ^ "Marketplace Lending Around the Globe". American Banker. July 16, 2015.
- ^ "How's your credit? Fintech lender makes it easier to find out". The Globe & Mail. June 20, 2016.
- ^ Berman, David (October 23, 2016). "Canada's biggest banks moving to analytics for credit assessments". The Globe & Mail.
- ^ "Start-up company lets Canadians check credit score for free". Canadian Broadcasting Company. August 18, 2016.
- ^ Bradshaw, James (July 21, 2017). "Fintech startup Borrowell backed by established players in Series A funding round". The Globe & Mail.
- ^ O'Hear, Steve (June 3, 2018). "White Star Capital raises new $180M fund to help startups go international". TechCrunch.
- ^ Ligaya, Armina (July 21, 2017). "Online lender Borrowell raises $12 million in latest funding round". Financial Post.
- ^ White, Shelley (August 26, 2018). "Borrowell COO Eva Wong on why she's thankful for all of her 'scary experiences'". The Globe & Mail.
- ^ Cowley, Jenny. "Why 4 websites give you 4 different credit scores — and none is the number most lenders actually see". Canadian Broadcasting Company.
- ^ Falconer, Kirk (June 17, 2019). "Fintech Platform Borrowell Lands 20 million in second round of funding". Venture Capital Journal.
- ^ O'Hara, Clare (June 17, 2019). "Online loan provider Borrowell raises $20-million in second round of funding". The Globe & Mail.
- ^ "The Bulletproof Glass Effect: Unintended Consequences of Privacy Notices" (PDF). Harvard Business School.
- ^ "VC Daily: Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy Ventures Looks for Co-Investors". Wall Street Journal. February 23, 2021.
- ^ Alini, Erica (August 3, 2023). "There has never been so much pressure on young adults to have a good credit score". The Globe & Mail.
- ^ Yu, Andrea (September 26, 2022). "'Anyone Can Be an Entrepreneur': Borrowell's Co-Founder Eva Wong On How She Made It". Canadian Business.
- ^ "How Fintechs Are Tackling Financial Inclusion in Canada". NCFA Canada. November 4, 2024.
- ^ "He helped make credit scores free for Canadians. Now he wants to make borrowing easier too". Toronto Star. October 25, 2024.
- ^ Hannay, Chris. "As the U.S. prepares to introduce open banking, Canada's plan stalls". The Globe & Mail.
- ^ Farooqui, Salmaan (May 21, 2024). "Canada lags other Western countries in implementing open banking". The Globe & Mail.