Rewards startup Fetch taps private credit boom, raising US$50 million from Morgan Stanley

Fetch, an app that lets consumers scan receipts to earn rewards, has raised US$50 million in debt from funds managed by Morgan Stanley Private Credit, the companies told Reuters.

This funding came after Fetch turned profitable for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2023. It shows how private credit, which has seen a boom on Wall Street, become more accessible to late-stage, venture capital-backed startups as they turn their focus to profitability.

Wes Schroll, Fetch’s chief executive, said the app is used by more than 10 million monthly active households. The company positions itself as a one-stop digital loyalty and marketing platform by partnering with retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, including General Mills and Unilever.

“We’ve gotten to a tipping point of the number of consumers on the platform, where I think a lot of brands have realised, by coming on Fetch, you can move the needle for your national results,” Schroll said.

Backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Hamilton Lane and Headline, Fetch had raised US$578 million from investors in total, and was valued at more than US$2.5 billion in April 2022.

Fetch said it had grown its revenue by more than 400 per cent since then, without disclosing details. Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, the company has about 850 employees.

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Last August, the company hired Gideon Oppenheimer, a former executive at Uber, as chief financial officer to prepare for a potential public listing. It also plans to invest in acquiring more users and expanding its partnerships across CPGs, restaurant and retailers.

Ashwin Krishnan, co-head of North America private credit at Morgan Stanley, said the lender does not underwrite startups based on any single metric, but rather on the quality of the business and the growth rate.

Although most private companies his team has financed are enterprise software makers, Fetch stood out by offering a tech-enabled service that benefited both consumers and brands, Krishnan added. Reuters