Three alumni from the credit score startup Clearscore have developed a new credit card startup, Yonder, for a brand new form of credit card loyalty program.
The new credit card startup, Yonder, was led by Tim Chong, who was frustrated with the struggle of accessing a quality credit provider as an Australian in London despite a successful career and excellent credit score back home.
The Stack World and Beautystack founder Sharmadean Reid, Marshmallow founders Oliver and Alex Kent-Braham, Payhawk founder Hristo Borisov, and Matt Robinson all contributed to Yonder’s £20 million seed round, which was co-led by Northzone and LocalGlobe with participation from Seedcamp and a roster of angels.
Yonder’s experienced partners are now limited to 20, with perks such as a free supper for two at Kricket and Lina shops in London, or free tickets to Sofar Sounds events. It plans to launch more than 50 partnerships by the end of 2022, but just six to eight experiences will be available in the app at any given moment to avoid choice paralysis.
According to the startup, only Londoners will be permitted to join the Yonder club at first, but the startup plans to expand to other UK cities soon after, and then to all major European cities after that.
Currently, Yonder is in talks with the UK’s financial authorities about creating a travel insurance product, and it may eventually apply for a banking license.
Speaking on the new credit card startup, Tim Chong, the lead-founder, said the Yonder is designed with an experience-focused rewards system to help people become tourists in their own city.
He further explained that nowadays, when you look at credit cards, they don’t appear all that different from those from 60/70 years ago. They’re all doing cashback or Avios points, which originate from six-decade-old ties with American Airlines. Credit has not been updated to reflect what we want as younger customers and what meets our lifestyles and requirements.
Therefore, the app aims at a really high-quality product to address all those parts of a consumer’s financial life, with a starting point of a member relationship, rather than a banking relationship.
Yonder’s representative annual percentage rate is 59.3 percent. The total cost of borrowing is 23.94 percent, which includes all fixed expenses such as membership.
Amex’s true cost of borrowing is 24.7 percent, and the variable APR on its Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card, for example, is 60.1 percent. Yonder may have a hard time convincing clients to purchase a credit card in the first place, despite its personalized metal card and promise of content curation.
