Dallas family and friends lending startup Zirtue now allows companies to use its platform

Dallas-based lending startup Zirtue has raised an additional $2 million and is rolling out a new feature today that allows companies to utilize Zirtue’s platform as a payment option for customers behind on bill payments.

Zirtue was founded in 2018 as a way for users to get low-interest loans through friends and family members. The company’s newest feature allows corporate partners to have customers with past due accounts request loans from friends or family members who can then pay the bill directly.

It’s been piloting the feature in stealth since early 2021 with several Fortune 500 clients. Those clients include AT&T, UT Southwestern and Reliant Energy, according to the company’s site.

“Creditors know and understand that a lot of their customers are doing this offline anyway,” co-founder and CEO Dennis Cail said. “So what we’ve done is mitigated the risk — cut out the middle man, or lack thereof — and really put that transparency in the process.”

Cail sees the new corporate payments service as a win-win for borrowers and businesses.

The startup’s corporate partnerships will benefit companies looking to minimize debts and will benefit borrowers by providing a financially inclusive experience free of fees for people who are behind on payments.

The startup’s early partners underscore its mission to drive social impact by providing an innovative financial safety net for critical expenses in people’s lives like internet access, cellphone plans, power and health care.

The company recently raised $2 million in funding from early-stage venture capital firm Mercury Fund in Houston, Cail told The Dallas Morning News.

The company positions itself as the first relationship-based lending app, designed to eliminate the awkwardness of asking friends and family to loan money in times of duress. Every year, friends and family members loan $184 billion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank.

Since Zirtue doesn’t charge fees, it makes money through its partnerships with businesses. Businesses that implement Zirtue for payments pay a fee to the startup for successful transactions.

The company’s platform allows users to sync their billing accounts, and borrowers can make flexible payments either monthly or in lump sums.

Zirtue employs 12 full-time workers and 10 contractors. The startup has raised $6 million in capital to date. Cail said the company is currently hiring for at least four more positions in Dallas.

Zirtue’s backers include Google, Morgan Stanley and Capital Factory. The company previously said it anticipates annual revenue to grow 120% by the end of 2021. It gained nearly 200,000 lenders and borrowers in 2020 alone, and Cail said the platform will serve more than 300,000 people by the end of this year.