# First Access

> First Access is a New York-based fintech company that gives lenders in emerging markets a configurable software platform to originate loans and make credit decisions. Founded in 2011, it began by scoring the creditworthiness of people outside the formal financial system using mobile phone and alternative data, then grew into a full loan-origination and decision-engine platform that lets microfinance institutions and small-business lenders digitize operations, launch custom credit applications in roughly two weeks, and automate underwriting while keeping room for human judgment.

- **Founded:** 2011
- **Headquarters:** New York, New York, United States
- **Founders:** Nicole Van Der Tuin (Co-Founder & CEO), Rohit Acharya (Co-Founder & Chief Data Scientist), Duncan Goldie-Scot (Co-Founder & Director)
- **Team size:** ~12 employees
- **Products:** Credit Scoring Platform, Loan Origination Platform, Decision Engine, Credit CRM & Analytics
- **Notable:** Analyzed over 50 billion mobile transactions to build alternative credit scores, Reduced lenders' cost to evaluate borrowers by approximately 65% (as of 2016), Helped lenders cut underwriting time by up to 80%

## Products & services

- **Credit Scoring Platform** — A customizable credit-scoring engine that collects data from multiple sources and processes it against a lender's existing credit policies, scorecards and algorithms - originally built on mobile phone and alternative data to score thin-file and unbanked applicants.
- **Loan Origination Platform** — Configurable loan-origination software with mobile and web application interfaces, data collection and management tools, and offline-capable mobile apps that let lenders launch a custom credit application in roughly two weeks.
- **Decision Engine** — A configurable scoring and decision engine that automates low-risk approvals and routes edge cases for human review, balancing automation with human judgment.
- **Credit CRM & Analytics** — Credit-focused CRM functionality plus business intelligence and analytics that help lenders mine their own portfolios and continuously recalibrate their models as they grow.

## Achievements

- Analyzed over 50 billion mobile transactions to build alternative credit scores
- Reduced lenders' cost to evaluate borrowers by approximately 65% (as of 2016)
- Helped lenders cut underwriting time by up to 80%
- Ran the largest alternative credit-scoring program by a microfinance institution via the FINCA collaboration
- CEO Nicole Van Der Tuin named to Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business (2016)
- Ranked among Entrepreneur's 100 Brilliant Companies
- Raised $7M Series A led by Bamboo Capital Partners (2017)

## Latest updates

- **2017-11** — Closed a $7M Series A round led by Bamboo Capital Partners to scale the platform and grow product, sales and client-success teams.
- **2016-05** — Announced collaboration with FINCA to run alternative credit scoring across six African countries.
- **2016-01** — CEO Nicole Van Der Tuin recognized among Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business.

## Links

- Website: https://firstaccess.co
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/firstaccess
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstaccess

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/first-access
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-21