When immigrants move to a new country, activities like finding a rental unit, getting good rates on loans and more can feel impossible without a credit history that’s easy to access. The team at Nova Credit, including Misha Esipov, Nicky Goulimis and Loek Janssen, discovered that this was a struggle for immigrants trying to move for a job or to attend school. Although it was originally founded as a research project by the three Stanford University grad students, it is now a company with backing from Index Ventures and General Catalyst.

Nova Credit provides the solution that allows immigrants to share their credit history from their country of origin with financial service providers. This allows immigrants to access lenders, property managers and more. It opens the doors for access in ways that were extremely difficult or impossible before. It gives immigrants a fresh start and fewer factors working against them.

The Nova Credit team has grown their reach to cover the credit histories of most of the immigrants moving to the U.S. With the $16 million in Series A financing that the company will be receiving, they will be able to grow that reach to immigrants across the world.

Ken Chenault joined venture capital group General Catalyst this year as Chairman and Managing Director after leaving his role of CEO at American Express.

In a statement about backing Nova Credit, Chenault said,

“The company has the potential to bring millions of new consumers to the financial services industry and to create new banking and credit opportunities for people who, up until now, have been left out of the system.”

Nova Credit

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