Online lender AvantCredit secures $34M in funding

AvantCredit, a Chicago-based consumer e-lender, yesterday announced the completion of a $34 million round of equity and debt funding from August Capital and Victory Park Capital.

AvantCredit offers personal loans to the tune of $1,000 to $10,000. This is its first round of funding, including a $9 million Series A equity investment. The round was led by August Capital, with participation from asset management firm, Victory Park Capital.

In addition, Victory Park also issued a $25 million credit facility to the e-lender, taking the total funding to $34 million.

“The team at AvantCredit has developed a robust suite of risk management processes that evaluate consumer credit and make highly competitive loans to underserved borrowers,” said Brendan Carroll, co-founder and partner at Victory Park Capital, in a statement.

“As traditional banks remain hesitant to lend across consumer segments, we will see the growth of new and innovative credit solutions like AvantCredit,” he added.

AvantCredit makes use of customer attributes such as credit, social media, and user action data, to offer low interest rates to a wide range of customers.

The company, which was founded only last year, wrote its first loans this year. It has already built a loan portfolio of over $4 million, and plans to grow it to over $1 billion over the next 5 years.

With the new funding, the company hopes to further grow its consumer loan portfolio, and invest in its technology and analytics.

“This funding will allow us to enhance our internal technology and analytics capabilities so that we can improve the services and experience our customers have come to expect,” noted John Sun, co-founder and chief risk officer of AvantCredit, in a statement.

AvantCredit’s founders have proved themselves in the past. They also founded Enova International Inc., a financial services firm that employs over 1,000 folks and has over $700 million in annual revenue.

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