Avant is an online lending platform that offers mid-prime loans for debt consolidation, emergency funding, home improvement, or other use cases. The company is focused solely on its virtual platform—there are no brick-and-mortar locations. Avant also offers a credit card that the company says is aimed at helping its users improve their credit scores.

Avant was founded in 2012 by Al Goldstein, John Sun, and Paul Zhang. It is based in Chicago, Illinois, and its CEO is Matt Bochenek. It has seen investment from big hitters like Tiger Global, August Capital, and Victory Park Capital. The company employs more than 400 people and has served more than two million customers.