Milwaukee-based fintech company Upwardli announced this week the close of a $2 million seed round. Upwardli is a credit building product that was designed to serve the millions of U.S. adults who have challenges accessing quality financial services due to a lack of credit or bad credit. The seed round was led by Omaha, Nebraska-based Dundee Venture Capital. Green Bay-based Tundra Angels also participated in the seed round, according to a LinkedIn post from manager Matthew Kee.
Aaron Gregory and Danielle Hill, co-founders of Upwardli, first became aware of how the lack of a credit score disproportionately affects immigrants and younger people while they were employees at Remitly, a Seattle-based international money transfer company that serves a primarily immigrant customer base.
“The lack of established credit created barriers to accessing needed financial services,” said Gregory, chief executive officer of Upwardli. “For credit-based products, it’s a total mess. Our credit system creates a chicken-and-egg problem that exacerbates these barriers and penalizes those just starting their financial life.”
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