Qlarifi, a fintech start-up transforming credit reporting for Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), has announced the successful completion of its pre-seed funding round. The round, backed by a combination of HoneyComb Asset Management, Carthona Capital and a selection of angel investors including Australian rugby legend John Eales, raised £1.4 million [$2.8m AUD/$1.8m USD] to accelerate the company’s mission of bringing repayment transparency to the BNPL industry.

This milestone marks a significant step forward in Qlarifi’s journey to provide BNPLs with  consumer credit data in real time. Qlarifi’s platform aggregates BNPL consumer credit data, creating a complete picture of customers' borrowing and repayment history across different providers. The funding will be used to build out the best in class real time data infrastructure using modern technology and drive customer acquisition across key markets. 

There are nearly 415,000 daily BNPL applications in the UK, dwarfing credit cards, the second most prominent form of lending, which sits at just 68,000 per day, and the market is only growing. BNPL holds a 5% market share in e-commerce transactions, which is growing dramatically each year.

“Our reason for building Qlarifi was to create transparency and a fit-for-purpose solution to a problem that’s been frustrating us for too long. We’re proud that the industry has responded so positively. They’ve been crying out for the real time information Qlarifi provides” said Alex Naughton, CEO and Co-Founder of Qlarifi. “This funding round reflects the confidence our investors have in our mission, and enables us to take the next leap in our growth journey. 

“We’re delighted to invest in Qlarifi as they work to transform the rapidly growing BNPL market,” said Dean Dorrell, Partner at Carthona Capital. “With BNPL becoming an even more dominant force, their focus on delivering next generation technology is perfectly timed to meet the industry’s evolving needs.”

“Qlarifi is tackling transparency in a booming industry that is demanding their solution. The response Alex, Loic and the team have already received will be important for both businesses and consumers in the ecosystem”, said John Eales, businessman and former Australian rugby captain. “It’s exciting to have the opportunity to invest in their journey.”

Qlarifi’s co-founders, Alex Naughton and Loic Berthou, bring a wealth of industry experience and technological expertise. Their solution means that it isn’t just providers who will benefit, but also consumers who will be able to increasingly rely upon BNPL as a responsible lending product. Built on the ethos of transparency, Qlarifi’s platform has already garnered attention for its impactful solution.

“We saw an opportunity to enable lenders to make better informed underwriting decisions by utilising the rich and growing dataset of transactions, and to help consumers build a positive credit history through the responsible use of BNPL. To us it was clear - we’re glad that our investors agreed”, said Berthou.