July 26, 2022

TomoCredit Raises $122M To Help “Credit-Invisible” Immigrants And Students

San Francisco-based fintech company, TomoCredit, has raised $122 million in funding and debt financing.

The funding round was led by Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund and included Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund, MasterCard, and debt from Silicon Valley Bank. The funding will help the platform expand its credit product offerings to help support immigrants with no credit history in the US.

TomoCredit, co-founded in 2018 by Kristy Kim and Dmitry Kashlev, is a fintech platform dedicated to providing the next generation with a credit card designed to help millennials boost their credit score.

The fintech startup was born to solve the problem the founders experienced as immigrants struggling to get a credit card in the US. The company’s algorithm has managed to identify prosperous high potential borrowers without a credit score, enabling them to take out a credit card without a credit score or deposit required.

“As a first-generation South Korean immigrant, I wanted to help immigrant communities reach their American Dream faster with TomoCredit,” said Kristy Kim, founder and CEO of TomoCredit.

“It has been wonderful to partner with minority-focused funds who truly understand Tomo’s mission. We want to take full advantage of the newest consumer trends of avoiding high APR products. TomoCredit charges 0% APR with no fees. In recent months, many people with 15-25% higher APR cards are ditching those products and flocking over to TomoCredit.”

According to the outlet, the company has helped over 40 million credit-invisible immigrants and international students with no credit history. In addition, the company claims to have received 2.5 million applications over time.

Kumba Kpakima

Kumba Kpakima is a reporter at POCIT. A documentary about the knife crime epidemic in the UK got her a nomination for the UK's #30toWatch Young Journalists of the Year.