EXCLUSIVE – Petal, the card designed to serve the credit invisible, has raised $13 million in funding that it will use to double its employees as the young startup tries to meet the demand of its growing user-base.
The Series A funding round was led by Peter Thiel’s VC firm, Valar Ventures.
“It’s been a whirlwind since we unveiled the card in September,” Petal CEO and co-founder Jason Gross told Bank Innovation. “Since then we’ve had thousands of people applying to work for us and over 40,000 people on the wait list for the product.”
So logically, this new round of funding will be used to meet the company’s production demand, he said. Petal will seek to double its staff, particularly to meet the customer service needs that arise from scaling the Petal card.
“It’s also great that Peter Thiel’s venture fund has led the round,” he said. “They have deep experience with companies like PayPal, Stash and TransferWise, so its exciting to bring them on as partners to help build the brand, our team and market at scale.”
Petal’s card was launched in September and is aimed at serving the credit-ignored demographic. The card, powered by Visa, uses cash flow underwriting to determine a customer’s credit line.
The card starts with a credit line of $500 and stops at $10,000.
The average Petal customer falls between the $2,000 and $3,000, credit limit. The card has no fees of any kind – overdraft, late or annual. The APR on the card ranges between 14.99% to 24.99%.
“We are taking a similar technology approach to SME companies like Kabbage, OnDeck and applying that to the consumer side,” Gross said.
As of last January, Petal had six people on staff: now the office has grown to a team of 25. Gross hopes to double that number this year with the new funding.
Petal has previously raised $3.6 million in seed funding. Other investors from today’s round includes Third Prime Capital, RiverPark Ventures, and The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund as well as Petal’s existing investors like Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Afore Capital, Rosecliff Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, New Ground Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Ride Ventures, Story Ventures, and The Gramercy Fund.
Learn more about digital lenders and fintech startups at Bank Innovation 2018 in San Francisco on March 5-6. Request your invitation here.