Atlanta, GA – July 21, 2021  – Momnt formerly know as Artis, a company that powers real-time lending and payment solutions for businesses at the point of need, today announced the closing of a $7 million Series A round led by Saluda Grade Ventures with additional follow-on investment from CMFG Ventures, Fintech Venture Fund, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), and previous investors.

Saluda Grade is one of the leading innovators and investors in the alternative “non-bank” lending sector. The firm will help the Atlanta-based company grow operations, diversify funding sources, and improve client support.

Brad Hartung, Portfolio Manager at Saluda Grade, commented, “Momnt provides a cutting-edge technology solution to a broken and outdated point of need lending landscape. The team at Momnt has proven an ability to execute their vision, and Saluda Grade is excited to marry our capital markets expertise and execution to accelerate their growth.”

Momnt is co-founded by Barclay Keith, Lena McDearmid, and Brian Lanehart, and since its public launch in 2020 has successfully gone to market with new products. Through each product, Momnt enables financial institutions to put excess capital to work by generating consumer loan assets with attractive risk-adjusted returns at point-of-need via merchants and merchant networks.

These merchants become the “face of financing” to the consumer, offering loans originated by partner financial institutions at the point when the consumer is making a purchasing decision. Its API-based platform uses alternative data sources, complex machine learning, and AI to present custom, real-time loan offers to individual borrowers at the point of making a purchase. This approach helps drive demand for the merchant; extends creative, well-structured financing to the consumer; and generates new revenue sources for participating financial institutions.

Barclay Keith, CEO of Momnt, commented, “We couldn’t be more excited about partnering with the team at Saluda Grade to continue to execute on our vision of removing friction from financial services. This round and the expertise our new investors add will allow us to continue to grow the innovative products we’re creating for lenders, merchants, and consumers.”

“Consumers demand an optimized experience at their point of need,” said Sam Das, Managing Director at CMFG Ventures. “Momnt removes friction, empowering both financial institutions and merchants with a sophisticated digital lending infrastructure. We’re proud to support the Momnt team as they fill the growing need to improve consumer access.”

“We selected Momnt for the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator program off the strength of its platform,” ICBA Chief Innovation Officer Charles Potts said. “This investment represents our continued support in Momnt’ solution, which we believe empowers community bankers with the tools they need to support evolving customer needs with confidence and ease.”

Morris, Manning, and Martin, LLP advised Momnt in closing this Series A funding round. “MMM is proud to represent Momnt, a leading solutions provider for financial institutions offering lending solutions to its business partners,” said Nick Rueter of Morris, Manning & Martin. “Momntis fast becoming a key player in the growing Atlanta FinTech community by providing low-friction, affordable financing to customers at their point of need.”

To learn more about joining the Momnt team, visit the company’s LinkedIn page or website.

About Momnt  

Momnt powers modern lending solutions for businesses to provide affordable, low-friction financing to their customers at the point of need – all funded by trusted lending partners. Its API-based platform leverages alternative data sources and ML/AI-informed decisioning to present real-time loan offers fit to each individual borrower, all done within the banking industry’s current regulatory infrastructure. Visit momnt.com for more information and career opportunities or follow @momnt.

About Saluda Grade

Founded in 2019, Saluda Grade is a boutique real estate advisory and asset management firm focused on alternative “non-bank” lending sectors that currently lack access to institutional capital. With offices in New York and Aspen, the company has a broad reach into differentiated asset classes. Through its growth equity and fixed income funds, and mortgage bond securitizations, Saluda Grade now manages over $500 million of assets across the transitional mortgage, home equity, and other non-traditional real estate lending products.