Credit scoring for the financially excluded: Why we invested in Noggin HQ

We are really excited to announce that we’ve invested in Noggin HQ’s seed round, led by Blackfinch Ventures, alongside Oxford Capital and notable angels. When we first invested in Eva and Laura through our Autumn 2021 programme, they applied to us having lived this problem with “a mission to create a fair credit scoring system.” And we’re thrilled to see how much progress they have made towards that goal through hard work and an innovative approach to the problem.

Based out of Newcastle, Noggin HQ has developed a way to use people’s financial transaction data to provide a better credit score, helping lenders to identify the creditworthy customers that traditional systems miss, allowing those people to access better value financial products.  

NogginHQ was recently authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a Credit Reference Agency. Their success in obtaining this license (amongst only a handful of companies to become a Credit Reference Agency in the UK in the last ten years) proves how serious they are in building credit infrastructure responsibly.

The UK credit market has changed and while consumers earn, spend and borrow in more complex ways than ever before, much of the credit referencing infrastructure still reflects an older economy and is dominated by a small number of major players. With FCA authorisation in place, NogginHQ are now looking to convert their pipeline and pilot customers into paid long term contracts.

And with new capital into Noggin HQ’s oversubscribed seed round, we’re excited to see how they'll make an even greater leap towards building a fairer credit scoring system.

You can follow Noggin HQ’s journey and stay updated on their progress here.