A financial technology company that was co-founded by a Waterloo Engineering alumnus completed an initial public offering (IPO) this week that valued it at $326 million.
Propel Holdings Inc., which was launched by Noah Buchman and three others in 2011, raised $61 million and is now listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Noah Buchman earned an MBET degree from Waterloo Engineering.
Buchman earned a master of business, entrepreneurship and technology (MBET) degree from Waterloo in 2009.
Based in Toronto, Propel uses an online platform powered by artificial intelligence to provide loans to clients in the United States with low credit ratings.
In a prospectus for the IPO, the company said it processed an average of 20,000 applications per business day in the six months ending in June, with 88 per cent of them receiving fully automated credit decisions. Operating in 28 states, Propel has advanced over US $500 million to almost 500,000 customers
In addition to being a co-founder and executive vice-president of Propel, Buchman is president of CreditFresh, one of its two public-facing brands.