Online lending startup Pave, Inc. has raised $8 million Series A in a round led by Maxfield Capital that included existing investors C4 Ventures and Seer Capital.

Founded in 2012, Pave pitches itself as a lending platform for Millennials (people born after 1980) who want access to funding at fair rates from people who want to see them succeed.

People using the service are able to receive loans up to $25,000 with “personalized rates” that start at 6 percent and are payable over 2 or 3-year terms.

Where perhaps the company gets more interesting is that funding for those loans is provided by “Backers” who (and this is a direct quote) “care about providing the next generation with the tools they need to get ahead;” sort of like crowdfunding but you make a profit from it at the same time.

Pave claims to take a “holistic approach” to lending that provides individuals, particularly those with limited credit histories, access to loans at better rates than traditional sources.

“Over the past year, we have been building a platform that empowers borrowers, even those with limited credit histories, to advance themselves by securing the financial resources they need,” said Oren Bass, Pave Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Oren Bass said in a statement sent to SiliconANGLE.  “There are many creditworthy individuals that have not been treated fairly by the financial system and we solve that problem by looking at the complete picture of an individual, including their potential. With this investment we are in a great position to grow our team, and most importantly, expand lending to overlooked borrowers.”

Sounds good

On paper Pave actually sounds good, and although lending money to people with dodgy credit scores is a high-risk game, every indication is that they’re picking who they borrow to well, and making money at the same time as well, something you can’t say about many startups in 2016.

A good startup caters to an unmet need, realized before or otherwise, and borrowing money, for younger people, isn’t the easiest task, whereas Pave is attempting to make it easier, within reason.

In the weirdest Series A total funding to date line ever written, including the new round Pave has now raised over $308 million (the amount of their seed round was not disclosed); the initial pre-series funding was to allow them to facilitate loans themselves before they built up a base of people willing to offer their own money for borrowing.

The company said they would use the new funds to expand their financing program “to help more, and often underserved, individuals achieve their financial and personal goals affordably.”

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