Fintech start-up Koyo raises $50m in Series A round

Consumer lending start-up Koyo has raised $50 million in debt and equity in a Series A funding round as it looks to grow its “open banking-led” loans platform.

Koyo founder and CEO Thomas Olszewski

Force Over Mass led the raise with participation from Seedcamp, Frontline Ventures and Forward Partners.

The lender also secured debt funding from Atalaya Capital Management, a New York-based alternative investment advisory firm.

Launched in 2020, Koyo aims to provide loans to customers who may struggle to access credit from traditional sources by utilising open banking data in order to “gain an information advantage” over banks and other lenders to enable more accurate risk assessment. It is the first personal lender to require open banking data for all customers.

Koyo founder and CEO Thomas Olszewski says: “Koyo launched at the start of the global pandemic and has proven that innovative use of open banking data results in better risk decisioning and ultimately has enabled us to grow the business during one of the toughest economic times the UK has faced.”

The UK-based fintech will use the cash to make inroads into the UK’s “near-prime” consumer credit market, which it says comes to around 13 to 15 million people in the UK.