Amber Financial Raises Substantial Seed Round to Help Immigrants Land Loans
Amber Financial Services has raised a sizeable seed round to help an estimated 250,000 new immigrants that come to Canada each year without a credit history. The Vancouver-based fintech startup raised $5 million (CAD) from unnamed private investors.
“Fintechs have acted as a disruptive technology shaking up the banking system by providing quick and easy loan services,” said Cindy Chen, CEO of Amber. “Now Amber is shaking up the traditional Fintech model by providing those same loan services to people that existing Fintechs can’t seem to qualify.”
Amber says that, to date, it has not had a single loan default.
“When my husband and I first moved to Canada, we needed a loan,” recalls Chen. “We did not bring enough money, had no credit score in Canada, could not pay for basic living expenses, and couldn’t get a bank loan although we had assets in China.”
Chen’s experience became the impetus behind Amber.
Since incorporating in 2015, Amber Financial has grown into an operation of 18-full time employees. Since Amber’s inception, the company has helped hundreds of immigrants to Canada process over $25 million in loans. Chen’s goal is to reach a total of $100 million by the end of the 2016.
