Fintech Company Self Financial Raises $40 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Dec 23, 2020
  • Self Financial — a leading fintech company that enables consumers to build credit and savings — announced it closed a $40 million round of Series D funding led by Meritech Capital

Self Financial — a leading fintech company that enables consumers to build credit and savings — announced it closed a $40 million round of Series D funding led by Meritech Capital with participation from existing investors including Altos Ventures, Conductive Ventures, and Silverton Partners. This funding round brings the company’s total to $77 million. 

This year, Self Financial saw its active customer base increase 250% and the employee count increased from 50 to 115. The Series D funding round will continue fueling Self Financial’s ability to reach and best serve its customers. And it enables them to build credit and build savings even amidst the economic challenges of the pandemic.

Self is known for providing tools for its customers geared toward building positive behaviors like on-time payment history and responsibly using credit and long-term success, working in partnership with its issuing banks. And with the Self Credit Builder Account, consumers simultaneously tackle both credit and savings without requiring a hard credit inquiry or credit history. The Self Visa Credit Card is a unique secured credit card that doesn’t require a credit check and provides existing Self customers the ability to build security deposits in installments rather than a large upfront deposit.

CEO James Garvey co-founded Self in 2015 after a time where he thought he set up his credit cards for automatic payments, yet he did not. After he realized his mistake, a few months later his credit score had already fallen from 750 to 594. 

This experience gave him a deeper appreciation of the challenges millions of Americans face in building and maintaining credit and so he decided to use his background as a technologist and entrepreneur to develop a better solution to help people overcome those obstacles.

KEY QUOTES:

“Self is addressing a systemic problem of financial inequality in the right way. It has built the technology while maintaining low operating costs to be able to offer accessible products and building lasting relationships with its customers. Meritech invested in Self because it has a proven and powerful business model, but we believe in the company because it empowers people to steadfastly achieve their goals and dreams.” 

— Max Motschwiller, general partner at Meritech

“Despite increased adversity, this year we’ve seen demand for our products increase as people look to get control of their finances where possible. Fortunately, we also see our customers keeping their commitment to themselves by sticking to their plans. The latest infusion of capital from Meritech and our other investors means that Self can continue its mission to support our customers on their journey to build credit and savings and be financially healthy.” 

— Self Financial CEO James Garvey