Google Capital Leads $85M Credit Karma Funding Round

Credit Karma's ad-based free services model has attracted Google Capital as lead investor in the company's latest $85 million round of financing. Tiger Global and existing investors Ribbit Capital and Susquehanna Growth Equity also contributed to this latest round, bringing the total amount of equity financing raised by the fledgling company to $118.5 million.  

Credit Karma, a consumer finance and technology company, launched in 2008 to pursue its business plans to deliver resources and financial education to consumers for free. The services are supported by advertisers. Since launching, the company has provided 20 million U.S. consumers with access to their credit score. It also aims to reduce the friction that consumers find inherent when making financial decisions and transactions through data-driven recommendations with banks and integration with partners.

Ken Lin, co-founder and CEO of Credit Karma, said in a prepared statement that the company's vision is to change how people interact with their finances, making it easier and more transparent.

When accessing the free credit score and services, Credit Karma shows personalized offers based on the consumer's credit profile. The offers are from advertisers who share the company's vision.

The company plans to use the recent funding to invest in new, free services to help consumers manage their finances and make finding and applying for financial services products easy. Think of one company that can become the broker or search engine, directing consumers to other sources of data and services. Credit Karma also plans to hire more employee in order to meet these goals.

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