UK fintech ClearScore secures £30m growth capital investment from HSBC
The ClearScore Group, a London-headquartered fintech providing credit scoring and credit report services for consumers, has secured a £30 million growth capital investment from HSBC Innovation Banking UK.
ClearScore lands £30m from HSBC Innovation Banking UK
The funding will enable ClearScore to “expand the range [of] products we can offer our users and the channels through which we can reach them”, according to group CFO Brian Cole.
Cole, who joined ClearScore in October 2023, says the group has “options when it comes to choosing how to invest for the next ten years of growth”, citing HSBC Innovation Banking UK, which has backed the company since 2017, as “a key strategic partner”.
The company recorded a £4.9 million pre-tax profit in 2023, a £14.9 million year on year improvement from 2022, when the company posted a £10 million loss.
At the centre of this growth is ClearScore’s M&A strategy. The company acquired Money Dashboard in 2022, and more recently, it bought embedded credit marketplace provider Aro Finance for an undisclosed sum in January.
The deal for Aro Finance will enable ClearScore to incorporate “a significant B2B2C channel through embedded finance” to its core proposition, the company said at the time.
The new channel is set to sit alongside ClearScore’s consumer credit score app, its open banking business unit D•One, its debt consolidation loan technology Clearer, and its financial marketplace, which the company claims supports 24 million users across the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
