The Credit Trap That Sparked a Revolution: From Credit-Invisible to Credit Innovator: How a Founder Turned a “Computer Says No” Moment into Abound.
This article was originally published in FinanceX Magazine Issue #15 (August 2025) as part of their summer edition exploring inclusive fintech innovations across the UK market. We’re grateful for the opportunity to share Abound’s inspiring journey from personal frustration to profitable scale with the European fintech community.
When Dr Michelle He arrived in the UK, she carried a solid job, a PhD in AI, and years of experience at EY, yet she couldn’t secure a basic loan. She was “credit invisible.” That moment stuck with her. It wasn’t her finances that were the problem; it was the system itself.
From that experience, Abound was born: a fintech that finally sees the person behind the score.
Table of Contents
- Two Ex-Consultants Who Decided to Stop Advising and Start Building
- Render: The Platform That Reads Your Bank Statements Like a Human Would
- From Zero to £900 Million in Loans (and Actually Making Money)
- Meet Zara: Part-Time Tutor, Single Mum, Finally Approved
- Open Banking Finally Found Its Killer App (Hint: It’s Not Payments)
- The Future Where Your Life Story Matters More Than Your Credit Score
- Your Fintech Story Deserves More Than a Traditional Case Study
Two Ex-Consultants Who Decided to Stop Advising and Start Building
Michelle He isn’t just another fintech founder. She’s lived through the broken system she’s now fixing. A former EY director in lending analytics, she understands both the technology and the human side of credit. Her co-founder, Gerald Chappell, brings McKinsey-honed strategy as the former Global Head of Digital Lending. Together, they’re not chasing glamour but pursuing fairness.
They launched Abound in 2020 to redefine how credit decisions are made, particularly for those overlooked by conventional credit scoring.
Render: The Platform That Reads Your Bank Statements Like a Human Would
Traditional credit scores reduce people to numbers. Abound’s proprietary platform, Render, goes deeper. Using Open Banking, Render analyses real-time transaction data: income patterns, spending habits, essentials versus discretionary expenses, to assess what each person can truly afford.
The results speak for themself: approximately 70-75% fewer defaults compared to industry averages. To Abound, a borrower isn’t a risk category. They’re a story that deserves fair, reasonably priced credit.
From Zero to £900 Million in Loans (and Actually Making Money)
Fast forward from a spark of an idea to figures that command attention. By 2024, Abound achieved profitability, just three years after launch. The company has issued over £900 million in loans, and in the 12 months to February 2025, net profit rose to £7.5m (from £0.3m) on revenue of £66.8m (+151%).
Investors aren’t just watching; they’re backing this vision. Support comes from Citi, GSR Ventures, Waterfall Asset Management, and Sir Tom Hunter. In March 2025, Deutsche Bank committed a £250 million credit facility, pushing lending capacity to £1.6 billion. Render’s success demonstrates that treating people as individuals, not statistics, doesn’t just work. It scales brilliantly.
Meet Zara: Part-Time Tutor, Single Mum, Finally Approved
Consider Zara, a part-time tutor and single parent whose income fluctuates monthly. She’s responsible, consistently pays rent and bills, yet traditional banks view her with suspicion. Enter Abound. Zara connects her bank account, and Render sees beyond the irregular income: consistent earnings, prudent spending, clear priorities. Within hours, she’s approved for a loan that helps manage childcare costs and consolidate debt, without crushing interest rates.
It’s more than finance; it’s validation that someone recognised the real Zara, not just a credit profile.
Open Banking Finally Found Its Killer App (Hint: It’s Not Payments)
Growth-at-any-cost is fading, and Abound represents something refreshing: profitable, scalable, and inclusive. While Open Banking payments still trail cards in the UK, lending use-cases like Render show how cash-flow data can deliver tangible value. Abound demonstrates what works: practical, humane use of data. With Render already licensing to lenders across Europe, Abound isn’t merely building a business. It’s building a better financial system.
When financial services feel increasingly impersonal, their approach reminds us that fairness and efficiency can coexist.
The Future Where Your Life Story Matters More Than Your Credit Score
From Michelle’s personal struggle to a business supporting thousands of stories like Zara’s, Abound embodies a shift in fintech, from hype to humanity. The next time someone arrives with patchy credit but a full life, systems like Render will offer more than rejection. They’ll offer opportunity.
In that sense, Abound isn’t just lending money. It’s restoring dignity to credit, one person at a time.
Your Fintech Story Deserves More Than a Traditional Case Study
At Contentifai, we specialise in telling the human stories behind financial innovation. Just as Abound saw beyond Michelle’s credit score to recognise her true potential, we see beyond product features to uncover the transformative narratives that make fintech meaningful. Our human+AI content approach helps financial services companies articulate not just what they do, but why it matters to real people facing real challenges.
Ready to tell your story of financial transformation? Let’s turn your vision into content that connects.
Reading
UK AI-led fintech Abound announces new funding round to increase access to fair credit – Abound, 2025
Profits soar at fintech Abound as borrowers turn to AI loans – The Times, 2024
AI fintech Abound, co-led by diverse female founder, lands £250m to modernise UK lending – Tech Funding News, 2025
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