On Monday, Chicago fintech company OppFi announced that it received $50 million in a corporate credit facility from Atalaya Capital Management.
This new capital comes at an exciting time for the company. Last month, OppFi announced that it was taking the steps to become a publicly traded company through a SPAC merger with Joe Moglia’s FG New America Acquisition Corp. And at the same time, the company also announced that is was rebranding from OppLoans to OppFi — short for Opportunity Financial.
The back-to-back announcements represents a new chapter for the fintech company, which has been around since 2012 and ranked as one of Chicago’s fastest growing startups.
OppFi said that it plans to use the proceeds from this credit facility to refinance some of its debts, which could be related to its plans to go public. The company also said that it plans to use some of the facility as growth capital.
The company has created a tech platform that helps lenders provide loans to people who wouldn’t normally qualify for a loan. Financial institutions tend to base their lending decisions on credit scores and credit histories, which means it’s harder to get a loan if you don’t have a good score or history. But this sometimes disqualifies marginalized people who still need loans. By using its AI technology to check for other forms of creditworthiness, OppFi is able to help provide loans to people without the need for predatory lending practices.
So far, OppFi has helped issue over 1.5 million loans.
The company has been using its success in providing loans to explore other financial services too. In December, OppFi launched Salary Tap, which helps people repay loans through automatic salary deductions. The company is also working on its own credit card product, the OppFi card, which is expected to launch later this year.
The new funding will help OppFi expand these new services, and grow as a company.
“Our expanded relationship with Atalaya Capital Management not only further validates the strength of our mission-driven business model, but also illustrates our commitment to helping millions of everyday consumers gain access to simple and affordable financial products,” CEO Jared Kaplan said in a statement. “We see a great opportunity for OppFi to be the financial champion for the nearly 60 million everyday consumers as we continue to innovate our array of products, technology and capabilities in the years ahead.”
