Petal
“Can cash-flow underwriting replace FICO scores as the basis for extending credit cards to the 100M+ Americans with thin or no credit files?”
Founded2016
HQNew York, NY, USA
Total raised$270M+
Latest roundSeries D, January 2022
Valuation$800M post-money (2022)
IndustryFintech / Consumer banking
The story
Founded in 2016 as CreditBridge, the company quickly pivoted to become Petal, a consumer credit card platform targeting underserved consumers lacking traditional credit history. Petal differentiated through cash-flow underwriting via open banking data rather than FICO scores, issuing Visa cards through sponsor bank WebBank. After a $140M Series D in 2022 approaching unicorn status, Petal was acquired by Empower Finance in 2024 to combine alternative underwriting capabilities and accelerate credit access for underserved U.S. consumers.
Product timeline
2016
Founded as CreditBridge in New York, focused on cash-flow-based credit underwriting for underserved consumers.· pivot
2018
Launched Petal 1 and Petal 2 Visa credit cards issued via WebBank, targeting consumers with no credit history.· card
2019
Raised $30M Series B led by Valar Ventures to expand credit card offerings.· banking
2022
Raised $140M Series D at $800M valuation; parent entity rebranded to Tilt Card, Inc.· banking
2024
Empower Finance signed a definitive agreement to acquire Petal, entering the U.S. credit card category.· acquisition
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Petal
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Petal’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
WebBank (sponsor bank, in-house issuing program)
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
4 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.