Transforming Credit Assessments Through Instant Payroll Data Access, Secures £1.4 Million Investment for Teal
In a groundbreaking development, London-based fintech startup Teal has raised £1.4 million in pre-seed funding, marking a significant step forward in its mission to reshape the credit industry. The investment will be used to deepen partnerships and integrations with UK and European payroll providers, grow the team, and scale adoption among credit platforms.
Teal's technology puts real-time verified income and employment data in the hands of lenders, addressing key limitations of traditional credit scoring methods. Unlike legacy systems that rely on static scores and manual payslip checks—processes that are slow, error-prone, and often incomplete—Teal offers lenders immediate access to dynamic and accurate income information directly sourced from payroll systems.
This real-time payroll data allows lenders to assess risk more accurately, meet regulatory expectations, and streamline underwriting workflows. By basing decisions on verified, current income, lenders can make more informed decisions, improving transparency and fairness in credit assessments. The modular API architecture ensures faster integration and adaptability for lenders, making it easier to customize the platform to existing workflows.
Teal's platform also empowers borrowers by giving them more control over their financial data and how it is shared. This could potentially expand credit access to individuals previously excluded due to insufficient or unverifiable income information.
Tim Mills, Managing Partner at ACF Investors, believes Teal is helping reshape how affordability is measured, how loans are repaid, and ultimately, how people access credit. Will Orde, Partner at Passion Capital, which led the funding round, agrees, stating that Teal's payroll infrastructure is laying the foundation for a new wave of fintech products.
Teal plans to expand its data infrastructure beyond payroll to incorporate additional income and financial sources. The company aims to securely and accurately share income data, which can help borrowers unlock access to credit that works for them. Teal is partnering with payroll and HCM providers to bring transparency and control to income data use in financial services.
Founded by Michael Hart, Andre Pinto, and Luchesar Cekov, experienced fintech operators with backgrounds in consumer banking and data infrastructure, Teal is developing tools to support the full credit lifecycle, from origination to repayment, and is employing AI-driven automation for faster, smarter decision-making.
Payroll is seen as the most direct, consistent, and reliable foundation for assessing creditworthiness, making Teal's technology a significant improvement over traditional methods. The investment in Teal is seen as a vote of confidence in the company's mission to build better infrastructure for financial access, with the ultimate goal of bringing instant income and employment verification to millions across the UK.
[1] Teal's website: https://www.teal.io/ [2] Passion Capital's announcement: https://www.passioncapital.com/news/passion-capital-invests-in-teal-payroll-data-platform/ [3] ACF Investors' announcement: https://acfinvestors.com/news/acf-invests-in-teal-payroll-data-platform/ [4] K Fund's announcement: https://k-fund.com/en/portfolio/teal-payroll-data-platform/
- Teal's mission to reshape the credit industry, achieved through its fintech solutions, involves investing in technology that provides real-time income and employment data to lenders, enhancing risk assessment and fostering fairness in business and finance.
- The fintech industry is witnessing a significant shift towards more transparent and automated credit assessment, as evidenced by the investment in Teal, a London-based startup that leverages payroll data to improve underwriting workflows and expand credit access for individuals, making it a promising venture in the realm of finance and business.
