Credit Karma is an American multinationalpersonal finance company, founded on March 8, 2007, by Kenneth Lin, Ryan Graciano and Nichole Mustard. It is best known as a free credit and financial management platform, but its features also include free tax preparation, monitoring of unclaimed property databases and a tool to identify and dispute credit report errors. All of Credit Karma’s services are free to consumers. Revenue from targeted advertisements for financial products offsets the costs of its free products and services. Credit Karma earns revenue from lenders, who pay the company when Credit Karma successfully recommends customers to the lenders. On February 24, 2020, Intuit announced that it planned to acquire Credit Karma for $7.1 billion.
Products and services
Credit Karma provides free credit scores and credit reports from national credit bureausTransUnion and Equifax, alongside daily credit monitoring from TransUnion. Credit Karma also provides tax filling, loans, credit card, ID Theft Protection, credit tools, such as a Credit Score Simulator, which simulates the effect of potential financial actions on a user's credit score; and tailored financial recommendations based on each individual user's credit profile. Credit Karma Tax, its free tax filing service, was announced in December 2016. Credit Karma Tax does not participate in the Free File Alliance, and so is not bound by its requirements to restrict eligibility for free filing. The company's primary competitors in this area are TaxAct, TurboTax and H&R Block. On May 9, 2017, Credit Karma launched Unclaimed Money in seven states. The product aims to help users find unclaimed money, such as unclaimed refunds and insurance payouts.
Acquisitions and expansion
On December 30, 2015, Credit Karma acquired mobile notifications app developer Snowball for an undisclosed amount. On December 7, 2016, Credit Karma acquired AFJC Corporation, owner of OnePriceTaxes.com, to accelerate its entry into the tax preparation market. Related to the launch of tax preparation services, the company also increased its workforce and opened offices in Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2016, Credit Karma acquired money reclamation service Claimdog. On March 14, 2018, Credit Karma acquired personal finance company Penny for an undisclosed amount. On August 16, 2018, Credit Karma acquired mortgage platform Approved for an undisclosed amount.
Founder and investors
, who previously founded Multilytics Marketing and worked with E-Loan and Upromise, launched Credit Karma in 2007, with the website going live in February 2008. Early investors include Chris Larson, CEO of Prosper, and Mark Lefanowicz, former president of E-Loan. In November 2009, Credit Karma closed a $2.5 million Series A funding round led by QED Investors with participation from SV Angel, Felicis Ventures and Founders Fund. In 2013, Credit Karma secured $30 million in Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital and Susquehanna Growth Equity. In March 2014, Credit Karma raised $85 million in Series C financing, led by CapitalG with participation from Tiger Global Management and existing investors. The company followed that with $75 million in follow on funding in September 2014 from CapitalG, Tiger Global Management and Susquehanna Growth Equity. As of 2015, Credit Karma has raised $368.5 million in financing, at a valuation of $3.5 billion.
