Credit Karma

Credit Karma is a consumer personal finance platform that gives members free credit scores and reports from TransUnion and Equifax, daily credit monitoring, and tools such as a credit score simulator. It makes money from lenders and card issuers, which pay when a member it recommends is approved for a credit card, loan or other product, so the service is free to consumers. Kenneth Lin, who had previously founded Multilytics Marketing and worked with E-Loan and Upromise, started the company in 2007 with co-founders Ryan Graciano and Nichole Mustard, and the website went live in February 2008. It operates in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Originally based in San Francisco, it moved its headquarters to Oakland in December 2020.

Early angel investors included Prosper chief executive Chris Larson and former E-Loan president Mark Lefanowicz. In November 2009 the company closed a $2.5 million Series A led by QED Investors, with SV Angel, Felicis Ventures and Founders Fund participating. Ribbit Capital and Susquehanna Growth Equity led a $30 million Series B by 2013. In March 2014 CapitalG led an $85 million Series C with Tiger Global Management and existing investors, and in September 2014 CapitalG, Tiger Global and Susquehanna Growth Equity added $75 million in follow-on funding. By 2015 the company had raised $368.5 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion. 500 Global also lists Credit Karma in its portfolio. Along the way Credit Karma bought Snowball, Claimdog, OnePriceTaxes.com, Penny and Approved, and entered the United Kingdom by acquiring Noddle from TransUnion in 2019.

Intuit announced on February 24, 2020 that it would acquire Credit Karma for approximately $7.1 billion in cash and stock. At announcement Credit Karma had more than 100 million members and nearly $1 billion of unaudited revenue in calendar 2019, up 20% from the prior year. The deal drew a Department of Justice antitrust review, and Credit Karma agreed to divest its free tax filing product, Credit Karma Tax, which Square bought for $50 million for its Cash App unit. Intuit completed the acquisition on December 3, 2020, when Credit Karma reported more than 110 million members. Credit Karma continues as an Intuit brand, and Intuit folded its Mint budgeting app into Credit Karma in January 2024.

Credit Karma illustrates a fintech outcome built on a free consumer product monetized through lead generation rather than lending risk. QED Investors entered at a $2.5 million Series A in 2009, and Ribbit Capital came in at the Series B, roughly seven years before a sale at about twice the 2015 private valuation. The exit came through a strategic acquirer rather than an IPO, about thirteen years after founding, and the antitrust remedy shows how a sale to a direct adjacent incumbent can carry product divestitures.