Avant is an online consumer finance platform that uses data and machine-learning algorithms to streamline credit options for consumers. The company has rebranded from being AvantCredit to Avant, which it feels reflects its expansion and the new financial products and services on its site.
Avant has acquired ReadyForZero.com, an online and mobile planning tool that has successfully helped consumers pay down $220 million in debt. According to the company the product has been proven to reduce net-credit losses at top US banks and has helped consumers with subprime credit raise their FICO score by as much as 40 points.
Avant is also aiming to enhance customer experience by integrating consumer finance management tools into the site. This will include a free credit score monitoring tool on an online customer dashboard as well as a personal finance tool for debt management from ReadyForZero.com.
Rod Ebrahimi, ReadyForZero Co-Founder, commented:
“We are thrilled to forge ahead in this partnership with Avant and bring our services to a wider audience. Our tech-driven approach helps consumers take control of their financial destiny so they can borrow and manage debt responsibly.”
Avant secured $1 billion of funding last year and was the most funded company in Chicago in 2014. More than 150,000 loans have been issued through the Avant website. The company offers a unique and highly customized approach to streamlined credit options. The company’s investors include Tiger Global Management, Peter Thiel, KKR, DFJ Growth and RRE Ventures. The company predicts that personal loans issued through the platform will exceed $1 billion by the end of year.
Avant's chief executive, Al Goldstein, has spoken about the inspiration behind the platform. He said that his two co-founders were former interns of his, who attempted to get a loan at a physical bank branch.
"And the experience was so terrible. I thought, it doesn't need to be, and we had the ability to work something new."
He says his company's current models use nearly 500 individual variables to predict the propensity of an individual consumer to default.
He added:
"The key is to aggregate as much data as possible the better our predictive modelling capability is, the cheaper price we can offer to an individual customer."
Avant is also expanding its operations and is opening an office in Los Angeles in April and expects to add 50 employees by the end of the year. The company also operates in the UK.
CEO Al Goldstein explains that Avant is a leader of technological advances within the consumer finance industry and is growing beyond its original offering, online consumer loans.
“We are committed to creating innovative and practical financial products and services to empower the everyday consumer. We are excited to bring a new level of personalized service to our customers and to enrich our mission of lowering the costs and barriers of borrowing.”
