Aussie debt collection fintech InDebted bags $41m Series C
InDebted, an Australian fintech based in New South Wales, has bagged $41 million (A$60 million) in Series C funding.
InDebted lands $41 million Series C
The raise saw participation from both existing and new investors, including current shareholders Carthona, Reinventure and Perennial, as well as new backers Airtree, Australian Retirement Trust, and the growth fund Premier Capital Partners.
Additionally, Sydney-based VC firm SecondQuarter Ventures has acquired shares from angel investors and early employees.
Founded in 2016, InDebted serves as a debt collection partner for companies like Klarna, Trustly, and Snap Finance, claiming to enhance liquidation rates and gather valuable insights.
By leveraging AI and machine learning to personalise collections journeys, InDebted is “rewriting the narrative on debt collection” says Craig Blair, co-founder and partner at Airtree. This approach aims to “deliver ethical solutions that alleviate what has traditionally been a painful customer experience”.
The recent cash injection, which values InDebted at around $240 million (A$350 million), has been earmarked to drive the company’s expansion into new markets, fuel further product development, and help deliver on its M&A strategy.
Josh Foreman, InDebted’s founder and CEO, states: “This capital will enable us to further expand our operations around the world…we’re launching in the UAE and Mexico in September, and following this we’ll be using the fresh capital to further our presence in Europe and South America.”
I worked for Indebted for a little under 6 months and have since resigned I’d like to give an honest and frank detailed account/constructive feedback of my time and I hope this will give future employees and investors a birds eye view of indebted
Having close to over 5 years experience as a debt collector with one of Australia’s biggest collection house & Insurance groups, My firm but fair consultative approach and customer service I thought would be the perfect fit for Indebted as their core values are “Transparency Breeds Trust, Act with Integrity, Be Accountable & Collaborate, Challenge & Change, just to name a few.
It soon became clear that there was a culture of bullying within the junior members of the collection team that was overlooked by senior management.
Also junior members of the collection team were not being given any formal collections training and were on the phones within days of joining the company also the indebted sass platform was not user friendly from a debt collector perspective as the platform would inadvertently breach customer privacy were text messages were being sent to 3rd parties advising of customer debts and junior collectors having no formal training were also breaching customers privacy on a daily basis.
As a result the Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura approached me to advise me that the head of collections was not running his area as expected and as I was providing limited training for all the new starters and had all the experience within collections, would I consider taking over the team ASAP. We discussed my job description and agreed upon a pay increase.
When asked what will happen with the head of collections I was advised he will be placed in my role as of Monday and will be instructed to work from the External stakeholders offices. I was not comfortable with taking over the team under those kinds of circumstances and requested we look at other options, Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura advised that himself and Founder CEO Josh Foreman have consulted with their legal guy and that this will be going ahead without delay.
On Friday night I reached out to Founder & CEO Josh Foreman when I got home to advise him that this move wasn’t cool as the current head of collections has been with the company for two years “day dot 2 and deserves better!
Founder & CEO Josh Foreman advised me that he was still thinking about how this would all go down and that he will call me tomorrow. The next day Founder & CEO Josh Foreman requested I turn up for work Monday morning as normal.
Come Monday an announcement is made to all staff that I will be running the team from here on out and it looks like a new role was created for the head of collections to step into.
I now have a week to assess all the holes in the bucket before flying overseas for a prearranged 3-week trip.
Whilst away I was informed that Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura sacked a member of the collections team but it was the circumstances around her dismissal that were alarming.
The employee was one of the more reliable staff members and was eager to learn and excited to be embarking on the new career path. Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura took her for “to what she thought was a one on one catch up coffee only to be advised her services were no longer required as her performance was not up to par, even though she never received any formal training or given the opportunity of a performance review, her entrance pass was confiscated and she was left in the street in tears whilst Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura went back up to the offices to retrieve her belongings. What’s more I think this decision was influenced in conjunction with the bullying she received from other members of the collections team.
On My return I had a meeting with Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura to go over the changes I made with the team and also confirm the job description which all looked in order, As soon as I requested a contract update to include my new role and salary increase things changed. I expressed my concerns over the recent events with the head of collections and the junior employee who was dismissed in the most appalling circumstances, I advised Founder & CEO Josh Foreman & Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura I felt a little insecure with their management style. In a nut shell Founder & CEO Josh Foreman & Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura expected me to on board new starters & train/drive the team with no salary increase.
I decided to leave Indebted as it was clear from the management style of both Founder & CEO Josh Foreman & Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura were unprofessional and contrary to their own core values of Transparency Breeds Trust & Act with Integrity.
Quite frankly if Founder CEO Josh Foreman can act like this to his head of collections manager who has given him two years of dedication & hard work then I never really stood a chance.
There is a lack of professionalism from the top down at indebted, Just before I left the company I had a conversation with Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura expressing my concerns that a junior member of staff with five months experience was managing an external stakeholders portfolio and that the client “SocietyOne Personal Loans would not received a return on their investment, Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura was not too concerned about the client “SocietyOne Personal Loans “his response was Indebted are currently re-negotiating terms and conditions and that we get paid around tasks completed as opposed to revenue being brought back into the client’s business and that the client’s payment for the privilege will cover two junior employees wages for Indebted. It was clear that Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura is a conceited individual and doesn’t care who he tramples over and a Founder CEO Josh Foreman who again clearly doesn’t follow his own core values.
Indebted has recently entered into a partnership with one of Australia’s largest collection houses Pioneer Finance who are based in Perth. A collections team will be set up collecting Pioneer debt but with a team trained and managed by indebted at their Sydney offices. I Just hope Chief Operating Officer Jag Khangura and Founder CEO Josh Foreman can take this honest and frank account of their business and apply their Company core values moving forward.