Petal raises $300 million debt round

Petal, the NY-based credit card startup “built to help people financially succeed,” announced that it has closed an uncommitted facility to borrow up to $300 million in debt capital from global investment bank Jefferies.

Founded in 2016 with ~$46 million in VC funding, Petal helps people build credit by providing access to a no-fee credit card with cash back, high limits and low rates that people can qualify for even if they’ve never used credit before. The Petal card program does this by using “novel and proprietary” underwriting technology that analyzes thousands of objective financial data points that aren’t typically considered in a credit approval decision, like how much an individual makes, saves and spends over time, and the bills they pay each month. In addition, Petal offers a “radically simple” user interface and mobile app to manage money, track spending, and build credit.

The startup has attracted around 50,000 customers with 65% of those falling within the millennial and Gen Z generations.

“Our expanded facility with Jefferies provides an excellent foundation for serving our current and future customers for many quarters to come. It’s a massive vote of confidence in Petal’s mission to create a fundamentally better credit product experience that better serves the needs of modern customers.” – Andrew Endicott, Petal’s CFO and cofounder.