A summary of our key milestones at Aire over the last six months.
As we hit the year’s halfway point, it feels right to look back on what we’ve achieved at Aire this year. And 2019, it seems, has been a bit of a bumper year.
Founded in 2014, we’re now five years old. During that time, the new world reality that is leaving so many disenfranchised from the financial services system continues to grow. Self-employment, zero hour contracts, multiple part time jobs, freelancers and the ‘gig’ economy figures are on the rise year on year. The need for lenders to improve their credit processes to serve these customers remains, to us at Aire, undeniable.
Central to this problem is context. For those who don’t meet the narrow requirements of traditional credit bureaux, credit — and the opportunities it provides — can seem out of reach. We don’t think that’s fair, so we created Aire to help level the playing field. Our mission is simple: to help lenders make more informed decisions, and to ensure everyone gets the credit they’re due. Five years on, much of that quiet, diligent work is now bearing fruit and we’re scaling, steadily but with some serious momentum.
- In February, we closed our Series B round of funding. Backed by European enterprise VC Crane Venture Partners, with strategic investments from Experian Ventures and Orange Digital Ventures, this significant investment is crucial in helping us grow sustainably.
- We signed a reseller agreement with Experian, combining our own credit insight service with Experian’s bureau and decisioning services. An important partnership, we’re demonstrating the value in additional insight we can provide for Experian which in turn exposes us to a number of lenders who can benefit from our product in the future.
- The team were delighted to be selected for Tech Nation’s Future Fifty programme — a powerful network of the UK’s top fifty leading late-stage tech companies. Alongside the likes of Starling Bank and MarketInvoice, our selection onto the programme this March is an accolade we’re proud to hold.
- We’ve also launched important partnerships with global brands such as Toyota Financial Services and N Brown — brilliant, innovative companies who have placed commercial value in understanding their customers better by using improved credit insights from Aire.
- And while we continue to consolidate the UK market, we’ve got big ambitions to make credit equitable beyond just the UK. Earlier this year, we put roots down stateside.
Closer to home, we continue to invest in our people. They’re what makes our business tick and we’re passionately committed to providing a safe, stimulating and inclusive environment that allows them to work at their best, always. In the next eighteen months, we anticipate we’ll hit one hundred employees and that kind of growth requires a sustained and robust culture at our heart. Our interview process is intentionally detailed as we look behind each candidate’s skills to unearth their attitude and values before we hire. It’s our belief that the character of our employees defines us, not just the expertise they bring to the table.
Looking ahead, the next eighteen months for Aire will be characterised by growth, both as a business and as a team. We’re moving from start-up to scale-up and are on the lookout for ambitious, committed individuals to help us get there.
Interested in finding out more about the Aire way? We’ve got a number of roles open, from COO through to engineering, people, product management and credit. Get in touch and help us make credit equitable for everyone.
