Building the Credit Bureau of the Future: Reflections on Our Series D
At Nova Credit, our mission is to create a better financial system—one where every consumer has fair access to the financial products they need, and every business can grow responsibly using comprehensive financial data.
Today, I'm thrilled to announce that Nova Credit has raised $35 million in Series D funding, led by Socium Ventures with participation from existing investors Canapi Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Y Combinator, NAVentures, National Bank of Canada’s corporate venture capital arm, Harmonic Growth Partners, Radiate Capital, and Gaingels. This capital arrives at a pivotal moment—cash flow underwriting has reached an inflection point, and we're accelerating our build of the technology that makes it plug and play.
Why Now
Our legacy credit bureau system is desperately in need of an upgrade, leaving nearly 100 million Americans with limited or no access to credit.
Traditional credit bureau data alone provides an incomplete picture of financial health. And that picture is only getting more difficult to understand. New entrants face a Catch-22: they need to have been approved for credit to build history, and only once they’ve built history can they get approved for credit. On top of that gap, BNPL remains largely absent, credit builder trades are being artificially inflated then deliberately reversed, and the proliferation of soft inquiries obscures credit-seeking behavior. And compounding these issues, bureaus still have very limited visibility into ability-to-pay and assets.
This isn’t a theoretical problem–it’s one we’ve been solving. Nova Credit has already helped millions of Americans improve their access to credit–over $100 billion in credit access across cards, loans, leases and more. With reliable infrastructure, analytics, and compliance in place, Nova Credit has played a pivotal role in unleashing the alternative credit data revolution.
What We've Built
Over the last nine years, the Nova Credit team has worked tirelessly to build the foundation for the credit bureau system of the future. A bureau system that cuts through the Catch-22 blocking millions of Americans from realizing their potential. One that's increasingly adopted and trusted by the world's largest banks.
For those who haven’t studied the credit bureau industry, it is one of the most well-protected industries out there, surrounded by moats of all shapes and sizes–data asset moats, to arduous sale cycle moats, to nuanced regulatory moats, and the infamous credit seasoning moat. Finding a wedge in this industry is not for the faint of heart, and after nearly a decade of building, we've established the foundation from which to scale.
Our platform now powers decisions with Chase, PayPal, SoFi, HSBC, Yardi, AppFolio, and 7,000 more businesses around the world. What wins is our multi-source network—reliable connectivity and intelligent routing through a growing system of consumer data infrastructure.
But infrastructure alone isn't enough. We've built bureau-grade analytics—normalization, attributes, scores, and adverse action codes—backed by nearly a decade of operating as a Consumer Reporting Agency for some of the most regulated institutions.
This connectivity, analytics, and compliance are the foundation for the credit bureau of the future. A system that doesn’t rely on third parties collecting and disseminating consumer data without consent, but rather puts the consumer at the center.
What Comes Next
This Series D enables us to accelerate our development of new products, our ability to serve new use cases, and our entry into new verticals. With the core infrastructure, analytics, and compliance in place, we couldn’t be more excited to bring the benefits of the Nova Credit Platform to more businesses and consumers around the world.
I'm grateful to our team, partners, and investors—especially Andrew Davis and the Socium team—for believing that this isn't just about building better data products, it's about reimagining an entire credit infrastructure.
We’ve come a long way, but we're nowhere near done. If you're passionate about creating a more fair financial system where every consumer can put their best foot forward, we’re hiring and want to hear from you.
Here's to building the future of credit.
Misha
Interested in learning more? Connect with our team at connect@novacredit.com or visit www.novacredit.com.