Petal raises $35m to improve access to credit

The new investment will be split between Petal and Prism Data

Lendtech Petal has raised $35m in funding and spun off its B2B-focused data infrastructure and analytics subsidiary, Prism Data. 

Petal was created to help more people access and build credit, by using personal banking history to evaluate credit worthiness—rather than relying on traditional credit scores and reports—using its proprietary CashScore technology.  

It later established Prism Data to give other financial providers the same infrastructure and intelligence.   

Valar Ventures led this investment, joined by Story Ventures, Core Innovation Capital and RiverPark Ventures, among others. 

The funding also includes strategic investments from Synchrony and Samsung Next. The new investment will be split between Petal and Prism Data.   

Founded in 2016, Petal has now raised $300m in equity capital and more than $450m in debt financing. 

Petal generated more than $80m in revenue last year, putting the company on a path to reach profitability in 2024. 

Jason Rosen, chief executive officer and co-founder of both Petal and Prism Data, said: “Not every new experiment works. But for breakthrough technologies that have proven effective, like the cash flow underwriting we’ve developed at Petal and Prism Data, the time has come to expand to the mainstream.”  

Trish Mosconi, executive vice president and chief strategy corporate development officer at Synchrony, commented: “The Prism Data platform is innovative in providing differentiated consumer insights, enabling financial institutions to make more data-driven decisions.” 

Erin Allard, Prism’s general manager, added: “Prism Data was founded on the belief that open banking, and access to consumer-permissioned bank account transactional data, will change the way consumer finance works—in credit, payments, financial advising and more. 

“With open banking’s arrival in the US, that is becoming a reality. And as an independent company, Prism is well-positioned to partner with financial providers and give them the tools and infrastructure they need to create next-generation products and capabilities.” 

Image: Petal  

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.