Stilt raises $7.5 million in seed funding for its immigrant-focused financial services

Also announces it has raised close to $100 million in debt capital

Stilt, a company that provides various financial services for immigrants, has closed on a $7.5 million seed round. In addition to that, the company has raised close to $100 million in debt capital. This money will be used to provide loans to customers.

The seed round was raised by Hillsven Capital, Streamlined Ventures, Gokul Rajaram, Bragiel Brothers, Eyal Shinar (Fundbox CEO), Guy Goldstein (Next Insurance CEO), Charles Choi of SK Networks; and Dalton Caldwell and Kevin Hale (Y Combinator partners).

The $100 million in debt capital was raised by Smart Lenders Asset Management, FourthGreen Capital, and others.

Stilt is an alum of the 2016 batch of Y-Combinator startups. The company focuses on serving immigrants and the underserved by providing loans, and more recently, pre-approved bank accounts.

Loans are not provided in the traditional way - through credit reports - but, instead, by looking at various other factors of the applicant including visa status, data sets from universities, data from employers and job positions, and the individual's credit history.

The company was founded by Rohit Mittal and Priyank Singh, both immigrants that felt their own share of pressure when looking to secure financial loans in the US.

Mittal tells TechCrunch, “There are very few services in the U.S. that allow non-U.S. citizens to open accounts without a Social Security number, so our focus is not only giving them the best cross-border digital banking service, but one that is also very tightly integrated into a credit platform. Anyone opening a bank account with us is eligible for a whole bunch of credit products."

If you'd like to learn more about the company and its story, considering reading the Vator interview with Mittal here.