- Aura — a mission-driven fintech company that offers affordable loans to hard-working families recently closed $28.7 million in debt financing
Aura — a mission-driven financial technology company that offers affordable loans to hard-working families — recently announced it closed $28.7 million in residual debt financing from Angel Island Capital to help the company grow and keep pace with the demand for its loans.
The company also announced it recently achieved several other milestones including approximately $500 million in loans provided to more than 400,000 borrowers at over 1,200 partner locations across California, Texas, Illinois and Arizona since being founded in 2014. Aura utilizes technology that goes beyond the credit score for determining the borrowers’ ability to repay and enables local businesses to administer credit applications.
“Aura will use this expansion loan to scale and expand into new markets,” said Aura CEO James Gutierrez. “Aura has received more than 1 million applications for our loans, and this number grows every day. By partnering with AIC, we can keep up with the demand and help fulfill our mission of providing affordable loans to millions of families in America.”
There are millions of working families in America who lack access to safe and affordable loans and are vulnerable to predatory lenders. And by partnering with financial institutions like AIC, Aura is able to provide this underserved population with affordable loans that have helped save them hundreds of millions of dollars in additional fees and interest by avoiding predatory options. Around two-thirds of Aura’s borrowers have grown their credit score by an average of 285 points from their first to the second loan.
Aura loans are set up by its innovative social bonds program — which enables banks and other financial institutions to invest in loans to low-income individuals while generating compelling returns. In total, Aura has raised more than $431 million in social bonds across 16 bond issuances.
“Aura has created a unique model to target a niche lending market through their innovative approach and data-driven platform. By leveraging proprietary analytics, Aura provides loans at scale with a high degree of confidence to borrowers with limited or no credit histories,” added Dev Gopalan — the CEO of Angel Island Capital. “We’re pleased to partner with Aura to support their growth as they provide fair and accessible loans to even more families.”
Aura launched in 2012 by Gutierrez, Kevin Kang, and Randal Wong. All three of these founders helped create and scale Oportun, a CDFI and one of Time Magazine’s “Top 50 Most Genius Companies” in 2018. And Oportun recently filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO.
