Method raises $16m to help consumers manage liabilities

Launched in 2022, Method now has 45 customers, including banks, credit unions, and personal finance management apps, that serve 100k end-users connect $2B in consumer debt, and process $50M in debt and bill payments

Method, an embedded banking provider that automates consumer debt payments and balance transfers, has announced a $16m series A funding round. 

The investment will be used to grow its team and further develop its technology that allows its customers to retrieve and pay all of a user’s liabilities using just their phone number. 

The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and joined by Truist Ventures, SV Angel and Abstract Ventures. 

The round included other seed investors Y Combinator, Ardent and Cameron Ventures. To date, Method had raised $18.5m in venture capital.  

Launched in 2022, Method now has 45 customers, including banks, credit unions and personal finance management apps, that serve 100k end-users connect $2B in consumer debt, and process $50M in debt and bill payments. 

Commenting on the round, Anish Acharya, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said: “Method has made a genuine technological breakthrough with its debt repayment API. The vision of automating a consumer’s balance sheet will now become a reality.”  

Christina Bechhold Russ, head of strategic initiatives for Truist Ventures, added: “Truist aims to create more delightful digital interaction between our bank and clients, and Method’s APIs have promise to inject much needed transparency into debt management for borrowers and lenders.” 

Jose Bethancourt, co-founder and chief executive officer at Method, explained in an online statement that in 2019 the co-founders discovered a “systemic data and payment access problem across all types of liabilities” affecting millions of lower-income and under-online-banked consumers. 

So, in 2021, Method set out to reduce this access issue by providing consumers with more competitive and affordable credit, as well as empowering them to better manage their liabilities in one place. 

Method wanted to achieve the consumer credit access that was envisioned in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act—that sought to protect consumers and taxpayers in the US after the 2007-2008 financial crisis by ensuring those in the financial system play by the rules. 

Bethancourt said: “As a result, we built a suite of consumer-permissioned debt repayment tools that more easily empower consumers to see and service their liabilities across a broad spectrum of debts.  

“Our technology solutions enable consumers to retrieve and share real-time data on all debt accounts, even for individuals that are not online-banked.” 

Image: Method  

Josh Poyser Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.