Brigit

Brigit is a holistic financial health application aimed at Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. Its app bundles instant cash advances of $25 to $500, a credit-building product tied to savings, credit report and identity-theft monitoring (including coverage of up to $1 million for data breaches), spending and bill insights, budgeting tools, overdraft prediction alerts, and a marketplace of job/side-gig listings and offers on products such as personal loans and car insurance. Advances are offered without a credit check or late fees, and the credit builder requires no approval, credit check or upfront deposit.

The company positions itself around fairness, transparency and simplicity, stating it charges no hidden fees and does not sell personal information to third parties. It secures user data with 256-bit encryption. Customer support is delivered through an AI agent named Sonny available 24/7, with escalation to human Customer Care Associates, plus a self-service help center covering deposits and income setup, bank and debit card connection, Instant Cash qualification, and Credit Builder loan terms.

Since January 2025, Brigit has operated as a business segment of Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: UPBD), the parent of Rent-A-Center and Acima, where its earned wage access, credit building and financial wellness products broaden Upbound's consumer offering and its cash flow underwriting data and tech stack are intended to improve risk management, fraud prevention and approval rates across Upbound's brands.

Founding story

Co-founder and CEO Zuben Mathews has said he came from a career in finance where he saw inequality in America firsthand and set out to build a better alternative; co-founder Hamel Kothari has said he started Brigit because he had watched people close to him struggle with financial stress and wanted to work on financial inclusion. The founding principle stated by the company is to look out for, rather than profit from, people in need. The team draws on experience at Amazon, Deutsche Bank, Palantir and Two Sigma.

Business model

Brigit operates a direct-to-consumer mobile app on a subscription basis, with over one million active paying subscribers and almost one million free subscribers at the time of the Upbound acquisition. Paid features include Instant Cash advances, Credit Builder, identity theft protection and financial insights; the company also runs an in-app marketplace of jobs, side gigs and third-party offers such as personal loans and car insurance. Management has stated the business has been profitable for roughly two years prior to 2025.

Consumer subscription revenue from paying app members, supplemented by in-app marketplace and offer placements (e.g., personal loans, car insurance). Reported revenue reached $100 million in 2024, with management projecting more than $200 million for the year discussed in early 2025.

Traction

The company's site reports more than 12 million users and a 4.7+ average rating across roughly 562,000 App Store and Google Play reviews. At the close of the Upbound acquisition Brigit had over one million active paying subscribers and almost one million free subscribers. Revenue reached $100 million in 2024 and management projected over $200 million for the following year, with the company profitable for the prior couple of years and a headcount of about 100. Brigit has cited more than $250 million in member fees saved as of January 2021 and roughly $1 billion in fees saved cumulatively per later statements. Upbound reported that Brigit subscriber growth contributed to a Q1 earnings beat in April 2026.

Latest developments

Upbound Group completed its acquisition of Brigit on January 31, 2025, creating a combined company serving approximately four million active customers. Brigit's co-founders continued to lead it as a business segment, and the companies described joint work on online shopping offerings. Subsequent coverage discussed the deal's implications for Upbound's digital strategy and leverage (February 2026) and reported that Upbound's first-quarter earnings beat estimates on Brigit subscriber growth (April 2026).