LoanStar Technologies, the rapidly growing Swarthmore fintech, has raised nearly $28 million to accelerate sales and expand headcount.
The Series A was led by Connecticut-based Sageview Capital, with participation from Ben Franklin Technology Partners' Go PA Fund. The $27.85 million infusion brings LoanStar Technologies' total funding to roughly $33 million since its founding in 2016.
LoanStar Technologies' software creates lending products for credit unions and community-based financial institutions that they can package and offer to customers. It has about 250 different financing products with over 60 customers. Products are embedded onto existing platforms for partners like TruMark Financial Credit Union, Twin Star Credit Union and Westerra Credit Union.
CEO Andy Turner said LoanStar Technologies' goal is to give credit unions and community-based financial institutions the ability to "extend the same mindset and services" as at a retail bank branch. The products give more people access to traditional banking offerings and lending plans, especially in "underbanked" and underrepresented areas, Turner said.
The company has grown at about a 100% year-over-year clip since its inception, according to Turner. His team posted nearly $10 million in revenue in 2023 and he said it is already tracking to more than double that number in 2024. With the influx of cash, Turner said he wants to scale sales operations, increase technology footprint and continue to improve customer relationships.
All of that will likely require manpower. The company doubled its headcount in the past year to 50 and Turner expects to add 23 new hires over the course of the next year as revenue tracks to double once again. Turner said a team-based hybrid working environment would allow LoanStar Technologies to keep its current space on South Chester Road in Swarthmore rather than outgrow it as headcount increases, though he said most of those hires would ideally be local.
Turner said that adding to LoanStar Technologies' suite of products allows it to adapt to and withstand changing trends and economic factors. For example, business took off during the pandemic because the company had a product catering to home improvement loans, which skyrocketed during the pandemic.
"Where many fintech players are the lenders themselves and then sell the loans to the financial institutions, we have gone 180 degrees in the opposite direction," Turner said. "We think banks and credit unions understand what they're doing, just at times they struggle to distribute to the customers they want to get to. So that's the problem we help them to solve."
In each of the last two years, LoanStar Technologies landed on the Inc. 5000 national list and the Philadelphia Business Journal's Soaring 76 fastest-growing companies lists. It was also a Philadelphia Business Journal Fire Award honoree in 2023.
"We see an opportunity to be tip of the spear on true embedded finance in a white label capacity," Turner said about his long-term goals for the company.
The fundraising, which was opened by LoanStar Technologies in April, comes as startups continue to battle a challenging fundraising market. In quarter four of 2023, there were just five fundraising rounds above $30 million in the Philadelphia area, according to PitchBook data.
