Backed by Jay-Zs Marcy Venture Partners and Pendulum, the free credit-building and financial literacy app rebrands itself as Altro; secures funding to democratize credit building for all through alt forms of payment history like Netflix, Spotify, and Hulu subscriptions
The new funding will be used to build the companys financial literacy catalog/educational offerings and reach new users looking to build or repair credit
San Francisco, Calif. – WEBWIRE – Thursday, May 12, 2022
Altro (formerly known as Perch), the no-cost platform that helps people build credit through nontraditional payments, today announced $18 million in Series A funding led by Pendulum, with participation from Jay-Zs Marcy Ventures, as well as Citi Ventures, Black Capital Fund, and Concrete Rose Fund, and individual investors such as Dick Parsons (Equity Alliance, RNR) and Deborah Quazzo (GSV Ventures), among others. The new funds will build its growing credit and financial literacy program and bring education and financial power to those widely excluded from traditional finance systems. The company is also announcing its rebrand to Altro which means other, translated from Italian effective immediately.
Approximately 63 million Americans are unbanked or underbanked, leaving them with little access to mainstream banking services such as credit cards or loans. For younger generations, in particular, this creates a paradoxical problem: in order to get a credit card or apply for a loan, one first needs to build credit. Altro, which allows users to build credit through recurring payment forms like digital subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, Hulu and more), is offering an alternative so that anyone can build and improve credit from existing spending habits.
With all the other available data to demonstrate a persons fiscal responsibility, theres no excuse to continue to rely on outdated methods like credit cards and loan payments, which are predatory and exclusionary at best, said Altro co-founder and CEO Michael Broughton. Perch has proven the demand for more accessible forms of credit building, and now as Altro, were creating a movement, bringing financial empowerment to all”
Altro users can see an increase in their credit scores in less time than traditional means of building credit for the same results. In addition to boosting credit scores, Altro is focused on educating users through its vast catalog of educational audio clips. The 350+ snippets cover topics like cryptocurrency, investing, and trading, which not only allow users to become more financially savvy, but also positively impact users scores the more they engage.
Contemporary fintech has traditionally been designed by and for individuals with strong financial health, a thinking that leaves many behind. Created by a team who experienced this problem firsthand, Altro has developed a financial empowerment platform that unlocks economic opportunity for those that the credit building system hasnt been built for, said Rish Sinha, Managing Director at Pendulum.
The app, which launched as Perch in 2020, shot to the top 10 in the App Store amid a surge in sign-ups amassing a 200,000 person waitlist validating the need for a modernized, accessible approach to credit building. The Series A funding round brings Altros total funding to $21 million.
Participating subscriptions services include but are not limited to:
Netflix, Youtube Premium, Dollar Shave Club, Adobe Creative Cloud, Nintendo Online, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Chegg, Crunchyroll, Audible, Sun Basket, Hulu, Spotify, Home Chef, Xbox Live, HelloFresh, Barkbox, Amazon Prime, CBS All Access, LinkedIn Premium, Coursera, PlayStation Live, HBO Max, Disney Plus, Blue Apron, Curology, FabFitFun, ESPN Plus, LeetCode, Birchbox, Ipsy and Billie
To learn more about Altros approach to democratizing credit building, visit altro.com. Download on the iOS App Store and pre-register on the Google Play Store.
About Altro (formerly Perch):
Altro combats the frustrating process of credit building by leveraging nontraditional data such as other recurring expenses to help establish or enhance ones credit score. Backed by Marcy Ventures, Pendulum, Citi Ventures, Black Capital Fund, Concrete Rose Fund, along with other global investors, Altro has something for anyone working on their financial goals from saving money to learning the finer points of financial literacy available all for free. Altro was founded in 2019 as Perch and is based in San Francisco. To learn more about how Altro is removing the barriers to credit building, visit altro.io.
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