TransUnion Boosts Entrepreneurial Innovation with New Startup Credit Kit

CHICAGO, April 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Access to relevant data can make or break a startup company, especially in the ultra-competitive financial services industry. To meet the needs of startups and their investors, TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) today launched the Startup Credit Kit at LendIt Fintech USA 2018, giving new companies faster access to cutting-edge alternative and trended credit and fraud prevention data.

“The Startup Credit Kit allows new financial services innovators to access vast amounts of data and tools quickly,” said Steve Chaouki, executive vice president and head of TransUnion’s financial services business unit. “New companies can use the Startup Credit Kit to move from concept to market-ready solutions much faster than ever before.”

With TransUnion’s Startup Credit Kit, new businesses can more quickly gain access to depersonalized consumer credit data to better explore the market for untapped opportunities. It also helps new businesses determine the viability of their products by analyzing real-world depersonalized consumer credit data. This allows startups to focus their resources on high-potential market segments and product opportunities while allowing them to prove their concept to raise funding in the early stages of the startup lifecycle. 

Startups associated with investors collaborating with TransUnion can gain access to the Startup Credit Kit.  “Data is the lifeblood of innovation in financial services, and many startups will benefit from access to this data,” said Sheel Mohnot, partner, 500 Startups. “The Startup Credit Kit is a game-changer that will benefit startups in a wide spectrum of industries.”

Startups connected with participating university and non-profit programs can also benefit from this opportunity. “Early stage access to quality data is critically important to enabling startup innovation. It is really exciting to see this program help startups open up new markets and create new data-driven business models,” said E.J. Reedy, director of strategic initiatives and FinTech at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago.

Many of the top FinTechs of today began as startups less than a decade ago. FinTechs now comprise 36% of the personal loan market share as of Q3 2017, up from 15% at the end of 2014 and just 0.8% at the conclusion of 2010.

“New startups need to hit their developmental milestones quickly in order to avoid burning precious capital, raise additional financing, and remain relevant,” said John Wirth, vice president of FinTech strategy and market development at TransUnion. “The Startup Credit Kit makes it easier for entrepreneurs to jumpstart their businesses by gaining quick access to the data assets fueling much of today’s innovation.”

Solutions Available to Startups

Startups will have access to many award-winning solutions powered by TransUnion data. Each of the below solutions offers different benefits that can help a startup at various product lifecycles. These include:

• CreditVision®: Startups can gain a more complete view of consumers and their credit histories through depersonalized trended credit data. Where traditional credit variables offer a glimpse of the consumer at a snapshot in time, trended data assets leverage up to 30 months of historical information. For example, while traditional credit variables may tell you a consumer has $10,000 in credit card debt, using trended data would indicate whether they have built up or paid down that balance over time, giving a more accurate risk profile.

• CreditVision® Link(SM): The first score to combine trended credit bureau data and alternative data provides a clearer picture of a consumer’s risk. CreditVision Link also allow lenders to score over 60 million more people versus traditional models, and are proven to accurately score more than 90% of applicants typically returned as no-hit or thin-file.

• Fraud Prevention Exchange: Startups can better recognize fraudulent identities and behavior with access to information from other lenders, combined with available data from TransUnion’s entire network of customers.

• IDVision(SM) Alerts: More than 65 real-time notifications are provided about high risk, suspicious identities and other potentially fraudulent activities.
   
• PeerIQ Credit Insights™: This benefit allows startups to quickly check market trends and performance via an analytical suite of risk management, performance measurement and valuation capabilities for each consumer credit asset class, going back to the year 2000.

“Receiving fraud alerts and recognizing fraudulent behavior through TransUnion’s network can help startups navigate their way through their early, more fragile stage of development,” said Wirth. “While established portfolios can endure some fraud losses, most new businesses cannot.”

The ABC’s of the Startup Credit Kit

The Startup Credit Kit will include two packages – the Planning Package and the Launch Package.  The Planning Package involves depersonalized solutions for early stage planning and development. The Launch Package includes personalized solutions for new startups going live. 

The TransUnion Startup Credit Kit is only available to new startups via their investor, university, and non-profit affiliation. “We encourage startups to check with their partners—investors, universities, and non-profits— to see if they are already participating in the program and to ask them for a referral to TransUnion,” said Wirth.

Investors, universities, and non-profits not yet participating in the program, but who would like their portfolio companies to gain access to these solutions, are encouraged to contact TransUnion at startup_creditkit@transunion.com for more information.

About TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)
Information is a powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories, trends and insights behind each data point, using historical information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and identity. Today, TransUnion has a global presence in more than 30 countries and a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through the power of information, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and safer communities worldwide.

We call this Information for Good.  http://www.transunion.com/business