A Brief History of MiraLend
MiraLend began in 2016 with two co-founders, Brad and Mira, and the belief that everyone should have access to a fair loan. The initial idea was to revamp the outdated credit scoring model and develop a new, innovative way to assess a borrower’s trustworthiness. Brad, being a McCombs Professor, pitched this idea to a group of UT students which launched the first team of MiraLend comprised of 8 students from different majors and backgrounds. Using information from Facebook, the then team began developing a business around this idea of a “community engagement score.”
Some progress was made, however, the students quickly realized that creating a new credit scoring model was incredibly difficult and their efforts were put to a sudden stop when Facebook’s data was no longer available to the public. The team disbanded and Brad and Mira had to regroup and moved forward launching the second iteration of MiraLend with a team of 20 fresh new faces now focused on 3 objectives: the Community Engagement Score, Peer-to-Peer Lending, and Financial Literacy.
This team worked feverishly over the summer of 2018, participating in Austin Tech Incubator’s Student Entrepreneur Accelerator and Launch. Halfway through the summer, the focus shifted primarily to this idea of microlending through a peer-to-peer lending platform.
Working with a group of students means the environment is ever-changing; we’ve had members leave to begin their career as investment bankers and financial advisors, some left to travel the world, and others to focus on completing their degree.
Though the challenges have been many, with the help of Impact Hub’s Affordability Accelerator, we stay motivated and hard at work to produce results for our community we know and love. Our current team continues to push forward, with the goal of one day being able to provide a viable financial service to those who need it most.
