Fintech Lender Happy Money Hits Unicorn Status With $50 Million Raise

Pat Maio
Pat Maio has held various reporting and editorial management positions over the past 25 years, having specialized in business and government reporting. He has held reporting jobs with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Dow Jones News and other newspapers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Fintech Lender Happy Money Hits Unicorn Status With $50 Million Raise
Photo by Pickawood on Unsplash

Happy Money, a fintech platform that helps borrowers refinance high-interest rate credit card debt, has claimed unicorn status, announcing $50 million in new funding.

Tustin-based Happy Money disclosed a Series D-1 round Tuesday led by London-based venture capital firm Anthemis Group and CMFG Ventures, the venture capital arm of Madison, Wis.-based mutual insurance company CUNA Mutual Group.


Happy Money CEO Jeff Winner.Photo courtesy of Happy Money

In turn, Happy Money pegged its pre-money valuation as $1.1 billion, which would put it among the ever-growing ranks of tech unicorns. The startup has raised a total of $135 million since its founding in 2009, according to a company spokesperson, with Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings among its existing investors.

Happy Money offers financial tools like its Payoff Loan product, which help borrowers consolidate and pay off unsecured debt. The 400-person company claims to have worked with more than 205,000 borrowers and helped fund $3.7 billion in loans through 2021.

The new funding comes after Happy Money appointed tech industry veteran Jeff Winner as its permanent CEO in November. Winner—who was given the job on an interim basis in August—previously held leadership roles at Twitter and Stripe and served as chief technology officer for Marcus, the consumer banking business of investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.

Cadence

Office Hours: MyFitnessPal CEO Tricia Han on How to Reboot a Business

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

Tricia Han
Image courtesy of Tricia Han

On this episode of Office Hours, MyFitnessPal CEO Tricia Han discusses her role revitalizing the company and redefining its mission during a time of uncertainty for the company.

“I love a good reboot,” she said. “Let me just say that. That's how I came to be at the company.”

Read moreShow less

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Harbinger Taps Tesla Exec, REAL Messenger Gains Meta Director

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Harbinger Taps Tesla Exec, REAL Messenger Gains Meta Director
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

***

Read moreShow less

This Week in ‘Raises’: Bionaut Labs Grabs $43M, Embodied Lands $19.2M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

This Week in ‘Raises’: Bionaut Labs Grabs $43M, Embodied Lands $19.2M
Modified by Joshua Letona

Robotics company Bionaut Labs raised fresh funding to advance its first-in-class micro-robotic technology and remove the barriers to treat rare and debilitating diseases, while digital pathology company PictorLabs launched out of stealth and will use its funding to continue developing an AI-powered virtual staining platform and accelerate clinical research to improve patient outcomes.

***

Read moreShow less
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA
Trending