ZestFinance Secures $253 Million to Revolutionize Fair, Transparent Lending with Explainable AI

ZestFinance is proud to announce a major milestone in our journey toward revolutionizing the lending industry—we have successfully raised $253,000,000 in our latest funding round. This significant investment reinforces the growing belief in our mission: to make fair and transparent credit available to everyone by leveraging cutting-edge machine learning technology. Since our founding in 2009 by former Google CIO Douglas Merrill, we have continuously pushed the boundaries of innovation to create our Zest Automated Machine Learning (ZAML™) software—the only solution for explainable AI in credit—which has empowered the world’s most innovative lenders to make more profitable decisions and minimize risk. The fresh capital will be strategically deployed to fuel our expansion efforts, advance ZAML further, and scale our operations to ensure that our flagship technology is equally accessible to global financial institutions. With ZAML’s ability to process vast amounts of diverse data, we improve credit assessments, allowing lenders to identify quality borrowers more effectively, lower credit costs for consumers, and drive higher repayment rates. This investment also supports our commitment to attracting and retaining a team of exceptionally talented, diverse, and imaginative individuals, whose unique perspectives are critical to driving innovation and solving hard problems that impact people’s daily lives. As one of the fastest-growing U.S. financial technology startups, ZestFinance is acutely aware that each funding milestone not only fuels our growth but also brings us closer to our vision of a more inclusive lending environment. We are excited for the future and look forward to leveraging these funds to continue making a significant difference in the world of credit.