The company, which offered 28% of its outstanding shares to the public, debuted on the Nasdaq under the ticker “OPRT.”
Oportun’s focus is the 100 million American borrowers with no credit or limited credit history, as well as those it says have been “mis-scored” by traditional methods that do not accurately reflect creditworthiness. The company brought in nearly $500 million in revenue last year, up from $360 million in 2017.
The San Carlos, California-based company uses traditional credit bureau scores as well as alternative data, like a borrower’s mobile phone and utility payment history, to assess creditworthiness, much in the same way that startups like, which provides micro loans to the unbanked, and Kabbage, which provides small business loans, do.
According to a PitchBook analysis, none of the top ten most valuable fintech companies, including Stripe, Coinbase, Robinhood, and TransferWise, all of which are at least ten times Oportun’s size, are close to a public offering.