Abound Raises £500 Million for Open Banking-Based Lending Business

Abound, a UK-based consumer lending service, has raised £500 million ($601 million) to fuel its open banking-based business, which combines open banking data and machine learning algorithms to build a better credit score for applicants. Abound is planning to expand its direct-to-consumer offering in the UK, and as a B2B service in Europe. The service issues loans of between £1,000 and £10,000, and has been growing on average 30% month-on-month, with over 150,000 customers to date. The new funding includes both debt and equity, with Citi and Waterfall Asset Management providing the debt portion, and K3 Ventures, GSR Ventures and Hambro Perks providing equity.