Newcastle entrepreneurs Evangeline Atkinson and Laura Mills have launched their credit score technology to UK lenders after raising £2.3m in funding. The childhood friends developed Noggin HQ to help millions of people who are prevented from borrowing money because of their credit score, or because they do not have one.
Inspiration from rejection
Evangeline hit upon the idea for the business after being rejected for a mobile phone contract, despite being in full-time work and paying rent and bills. When Noggin was initially set in motion in 2023, she said: “With one in three UK adults now estimated to have difficulty accessing products from mainstream lenders, a solution is much needed.”
After originally founding the company in London, Evangeline and Laura, both 32, set up base in their native Newcastle, at the Toffee Factory in Ouseburn. They attracted £710,000 in seed funding to develop the new price comparison platform, where people can purchase products with fair and transparent credit terms.
FCA authorisation and funding
Noggin – which scooped the start-up of the year award at the North East Business Awards in 2024 – has launched its alternative credit score tech to UK lenders, after raising £2.3m in an oversubscribed seed round. The raise comes as the business successfully obtains its credit referencing authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Noggin HQ can now provide its cashflow-based credit data to FCA-authorised lenders. This makes it one of only a handful of companies to obtain a licence to become a credit reference agency in the UK in the last ten years.
With 3.2 million UK adults declined credit in the two years to May 2024, Noggin HQ uses permissioned banking transaction data to help lenders identify creditworthy customers traditional systems miss. The latest round of funding was led by Blackfinch Ventures, with participation from existing investors Oxford Capital and Bethnal Green Ventures and angel investors, including Alastair Douglas, former CEO of TotallyMoney.
Market adoption and investor backing
The investment will support Noggin HQ as it moves from successful pilots into wider market adoption. The founders’ own experiences highlighted how people with thin credit files, limited borrowing histories or time spent living abroad can appear risky, even when their banking data shows they can afford to repay.
Evangeline said: “The UK credit market has changed. Consumers earn, spend and borrow in more complex ways than ever before, but much of the credit referencing infrastructure still reflects an older economy. Now that we’re an authorised credit reference agency, we’re energised to be supporting more nuanced credit checks for the consumers the system has historically underserved.”
Alastair Douglas said: “Credit scoring is broken because it only looks backwards, judging people on a patchy record of their past, held in a system built to keep data in the hands of companies, not the people it belongs to. Open banking turns that on its head: real-time data that shows what someone can actually afford today, making decisions quicker, fairer and more accurate.
“That’s why I’ve backed Noggin. Eva and Laura are proving you can build a great business and make credit work better for lenders and customers at the same time.”
David Mott, founder partner of Oxford Capital, said: “Noggin HQ is tackling a large and persistent problem in consumer credit: too many people are judged on incomplete or outdated data. Its credit reference agency authorisation is an important milestone, and the strength of its early lender engagement shows there is clear demand for more accurate, data-led decisioning. We believe Eva, Laura and the team have the potential to build a category-defining credit infrastructure business from the North East.”
Hugh Bartlett, principal at Blackfinch Ventures, said: “At Blackfinch Ventures, we look for businesses using technology to solve real, persistent problems, and Noggin is a strong example of that. Its approach helps credit assessment evolve beyond traditional models by using richer, more up-to-date data to build a clearer picture of borrowers. We believe that Noggin’s solution can help lenders make more informed decisions while widening access for people who may be overlooked by existing approaches.”
Paul Miller, managing director of Bethnal Green Ventures said: “We are very happy to be part of Noggin HQ’s fundraising round. We originally invested in the company through our accelerator programme in 2021. Eva and Laura are great representatives of a new generation of female founders who are looking to deliver positive social impact as they grow their business.”
