Ikea owner invests in UK open banking fintech DirectID
UK credit risk platform DirectID has received €9m (£7.9m) in equity funding from Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group which owns Swedish retailer Ikea.
DirectID specialises in credit risk, risk analytics and predictive modelling, using open banking. It produces advanced data to optimise credit and risk decisions in a growing number of countries.
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“We’re proud to join Ingka Investments’ portfolio of market-leading firms,” DirectID founder and chief executive James Varga (pictured) said.
“We are excited to be shaping a new global standard in credit scoring that enhances people’s lives by enabling access to products they need in an affordable way. Our coverage, advanced insights and predictive models provide a unique opportunity to achieve this by creating the world’s first real-time, inclusive, credit score based on open finance data.”
DirectID will use the new funding to launch advanced predictive models for credit and risk, built from open banking data.
It will also be used to expand the firm’s credit risk offering into new markets and develop models for each stage of the credit life cycle, from originations through portfolio management to collections.
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“We are pleased to have made this investment in DirectID and are confident of their continued growth in the open banking market,” Ingka Investments managing director Peter van der Poel said.
“They have developed an innovative solution with the potential to complement and disrupt the traditional credit and risk market and help drive financial inclusion for more people. Open banking-enabled credit and risk insights is an area we believe can add value to Ingka’s financial services proposition in the future.”
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