Chicago fintech giant Avant has a new CEO.
The company has named Matt Bochenek, one of Avant’s earliest employees, its chief executive. Bochenek joined Avant eight years ago in the strategy and operations department. He was most recently chief operating officer.
He replaces James Paris, who has served as CEO since 2020 and is now transitioning to vice chairman. Under Paris’ leadership, Avant surpassed the 1.5 million customer milestone in 2020. Paris took on the CEO role after Avant's founder Al Goldstein stepped down and became executive chairman.
Avant, founded in 2012, makes a platform that allows users to quickly apply for and receive loans, especially those with no credit or low credit scores. The company said it has connected 1.7 million customers to $7.5 billion in loans and to 500,000 credit cards. According to Crunchbase, Avant has raised $1.6 billion in debt and venture funding.
During his tenure at Avant, Bochenek helped the company launch spinoff startup Amount, a tech lending service for banks that recently reached unicorn status. Earlier this year, Avant also acquired San Francisco-based Zero Financial.
Prior to joining Avant, Bochenek worked at Superfund Asset Management.
