According to the latest startup news, a private equity firm, Silver Lake bought a “significant” minority stake in Credit Karma. Credit Karma is a fintech startup founded by Kenneth Lin.
Initially, the company offered services such as providing credit scores, reports and monitoring to Americans who, in exchange, view personalized offers from advertisers based on their credit profiles.
However, after almost 10 years in the business, Credit Karma offers a plethora of personal finance services such as online tax filing, data collection and analysis to more than 80 million North Americans. So far they have originated more than $40 billion in credit products including credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, automotive financing and student loan financing.
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Credit Karma, the personal finance website received a half-billion-dollar secondary investment from Silver Lake Partners, bringing its valuation to a 23% bump in its valuation making it roughly worth $4 billion. In spite of $500 million worth stake being owned by Silver Lake, Kenneth Lin still remains the largest stakeholder and continues his role as the CEO of the company. However, as part of the deal, Silver Lake’s Mike Bingle is joining the company’s board of directors.
Following this purchase, Kenneth Lin said that they sought a partner who could support their growth trajectory and provide existing investors with an opportunity to lock in some rewards for their support and hard work towards the company.
Currently, Credit Karma is increasingly trying to create a suite of tools that will help expand beyond the simple credit score notifier. The main aim of the company is to not just be a website that provides credit report but to also become a financial assistant for all their customers.
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