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Updraft secures funding to tackle growth in consumer borrowing

Updraft – a lending, credit report, and financial planning app designed to tackle escalating consumer borrowing in the UK – has secured GBP16 million in a round including Quilam Capital on the debt side, and the UK Government’s Future Fund, which participated via their convertible loan note alongside a group of high-net-worths.

Updraft was founded by financial services executive Aseem Munshi, former head of cards and unsecured lending for HSBC UK. Munshi realised that consumers drift into borrowing more and more every month without noticing – and that consumers will pay over GBP10 billion in fees and interests for overdraft and credit cards this year alone.

Updraft builds a 360-degree picture of a user’s spending and borrowing and provides interventions in order to lift the consumer back into the black.

Where expensive borrowing is detected, users can get ‘Updraft Credit’ to pay off these high-interest-rate debts with a lower-cost loan.

Co-founders include David Yalland (Chief Product Officer) and Matt Millar (Chief Technology Officer). Greg Detre, the former Chief Data Scientist at Channel 4 is heading up data science for Updraft; whilst Andrés Castaño leads mobile.

More than forty thousand people joined the waitlist for the FCA approved service and 15 thousand were granted early access to beta test Updraft throughout 2020 before it hit the App Store last week.

“Over the years we’ve seen innovators making use of open banking, shed light on financial health and provide credit, however Updraft provides a truly unique offering across all of these aspects with a market leading solution to give customers the fairly priced credit they deserve, said Quilam Capital director Sarah Watts.

Updraft’s board of advisors includes Mat Braddy, brand founder of Just Eat plc, Philip George, founder of Shawbrook Bank and Sanjiv Sud, ex head Retail Bank HSBC India, and Global exec at HSBC.

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