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Credit card startup Deserve raises $17 million to help young people build their credit in a system that makes it way too hard

By Administrator | 28 August 2018

  • Deserve is a new company that’s focused on helping young people build credit.
  • It just raised $US17 million from Sallie Mae, Accel, Pelion, Aspect Ventures, and Mission Holdings.


For many college students, there’s a Catch-22 when it comes to their finances: They can’t get a credit card or student loan because they have no credit history. But they have no credit history because they can’t get a credit card or student loan – or at least, not a good one.

This dilemma is all too familiar to Kalpesh Kapadia, CEO and founder of Silicon Valley-based startup Deserve – which today announces a $US17 million round of funding led by lending mega-giant Sallie Mae, with participation from early Facebook investor Accel as well as Pelion, Aspect Ventures, and Mission Holdings.

When Kapadia came to the US from India for college, he was turned down again and again when applying for credit cards and student loans.

“I got rejected every time,” Kapadia said. “It was mostly for credit cards and student loans, given that I didn’t have a credit card history in the country.” Read more

Zoe Bernard - Business Insider Australia - 28 Aug 2018

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