Credit Karma has hired the software consulting firm Bitmatica to bolster data science and engineering work. The team, which specializes in web and mobile development, had previously helped build Lightbox, its first-of-a-kind enterprise platform, according to a company press release.
The Bitmatica team consists of eight people.
Credit Karma noted that Bitmatica focused on using technology to solve complex problems in fields like personal finance and logistics since it was founded over nine years ago.
Lightbox is a service that analyzes robust data from Credit Karma members to provide users with a greater degree of certainty that they will be approved for credit if they apply. Giving users greater certainty concerning specific financial products they are likely to be approved for can enhance confidence and a sense of control. Lightbox enables lenders to set parameters for the specific kinds of borrowers they are willing to lend to and update this information in real time as market conditions and other factors change. And then there’s the element of speed, with Lightbox helping businesses speed up their processes, which used to take weeks and needed lots of manual support.
“We’re aiming to give all Americans access to the best-priced financial products — by creating a platform where we apply machine-learning to surface the best, most certain offers to fit our members’ financial situations,” the company wrote. “The Bitmatica team will help us move even faster to deliver on that vision.”
This isn’t the only Credit Karma team-up lately — it has also integrated its Credit Karma Money program with QuickBooks’ online payroll service, according to PYMNTS.
Read more: Credit Karma Integrates QuickBooks’ Payroll
That integration will help small business employees, many of whom are living paycheck to paycheck. Now, small business employees can select an option to deposit their pay into a Credit Karma Money Spend account. They’ll also get access to other features, including the company’s Instant Karma program, allowing rewards for good spending habits and ways for people to win back money by making purchases with cash already in their accounts.
Credit Karma General Manager of Assets and Tax Poulomi Damany, speaking with PYMNTS recently, said the company wants to help people improve their credit scores.