NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aktos, the leading system of record for modern debt collections agencies, announced today that it has raised $4.4 million in Seed funding co-led by 8VC and Crew Capital. The new capital will be used to accelerate the company’s mission to build the modern AI-powered operating system for the $20B debt collection industry.
Aktos’s cloud-native, fintech-first software platform is quickly becoming the leading platform for forward-thinking third-party debt collection agencies. Its software manages the end-to-end accounts receivable management (ARM) workflow for debt collectors, including everything from consumer communications and compliance, to payments and invoicing. While debt collection agencies have historically been resigned to relying on complex and specialized software, Aktos is reshaping the industry by providing debt collectors a platform that combines intuitive user-friendliness with enterprise readiness that can serve agencies of all sizes.
“Most collection agencies are small businesses run by honest, hard-working folks who play an underappreciated yet critical role in the US economy,” said Aktos CEO Peter Wang. “But they’re being crippled by their outdated software, and are forced to rely on DOS-based and AS400-based systems that were built 20-30 years ago.”
Agencies face ballooning costs from having to hire scores of administrative staff to plug operational holes caused by legacy software which results in lost productivity. This pressures margins and creates redundant menial work for employees. Agencies’ legacy software does not meet consumers in their preferred communication channels, which is increasingly email, text, and chat. Instead, agencies are forced to use phone calls and letters to communicate with consumers, resulting in worse outcomes for agencies and consumers alike.
Aktos fixes these challenges by providing a modern end-to-end operating system for collection agencies. Aktos features full API integrations that enable it to work seamlessly with an agency’s existing technology solutions, such as dialers, payment processors, consumer portals, skip-tracing software, credit reporting, and more. In addition, Aktos’ workflow automation center acts as the “brain” of a collection agency, and transforms the collections floor with minimal bottlenecks, task automation, and intuitive software that employees love. By increasing collector productivity, Aktos provides an 80%+ reduction in menial work, allowing agency owners to grow their agencies without growing their backend staff.
Consumer debt in the United States has ballooned rapidly over the last decade. The Federal Reserve estimates that the total household debt has reached $16.9 trillion at the end of 2022. This increased volume has caused debt portfolios for collection agencies to balloon—indeed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) estimates that 1 in 3 American consumers has been contacted by a debt collector in the last year alone. But despite the ubiquity of debt in the American economy, and the resulting critical role that collections agencies play to lower the cost of that debt, existing technology in the industry does not allow agencies to provide a consumer-first experience.
“It’s all about the consumer experience,” said Aktos advisor Justin Miller, former President of Vital Solutions. “Consumers don’t want to deal with collectors that accidentally call them at the wrong times, or that send them letters when they prefer email. They want validating and paying off their debts to resemble a modern eCommerce experience—no one wants to mail in checks and open letters anymore. At the end of the day, Aktos makes the collections process more efficient and compliant for collectors, and in doing so facilitates a more streamlined and positive customer journey for repayment.”
Despite being only a year old, Aktos is taking the collections industry by storm and is onboarding new customers every month, including large agencies with hundreds of agents.
“I’ve been waiting 20 years for a software like Aktos to come along,” said Debt Co Collection CEO Diane Stamatelatos. “With my old collection software, my vendor treated me like I was lucky to be their customer because they knew I had nothing better to switch to…until Aktos.”
“With Aktos, we’re beginning to see our collection rates go way up, and our back-office costs go way down because the system is so good,” said Christopher Rehkow, President & CEO of NCS Plus. “Our collectors love it too. Normally it takes a new agent weeks and months to learn the software. With Aktos, they can pick it up in an afternoon—that’s a 90%+ improvement in collector readiness.”
“Aktos is supporting the ARM industry’s entrance into the modern SaaS era,” said Dylan Reider, Partner at Crew Capital. “Debt collectors are a vital part of the US economy as they lower the risk and total cost of lending, thus increasing the pool of eligible borrowers. Yet debt collections agencies have been forced to run their businesses on clunky on-premise software from the 2000s. Aktos offers an API-enabled, data-driven system of record that streamlines consumer communications, increases automation, and ultimately facilitates increased agent productivity. Crew Capital is proud to be supporting Aktos as they bring modern digital transformation to the ARM industry.”
Aktos is led by a team of entrepreneurs and experienced Silicon Valley engineers. CEO Peter Wang and CTO Daniel Pao co-founded Aktos to modernize the collections process, and to make it as easy and painless to pay off a debt, as it is to buy products online.
For more information or to schedule a demo, visit getaktos.com.
About Aktos
Aktos is the first and only modern collection software for forward-thinking debt collection agencies. Built on a modern cloud-based and API-first architecture, Aktos was developed by top Silicon Valley product designers, is easy to use and learn, and integrates seamlessly with agencies’ existing technology providers. With Aktos, collectors spend less time clicking and more time collecting. Aktos improves agent productivity by automating manual tasks, delivers a modern experience for consumers, and ultimately drives greater revenue for agencies. Dual headquartered in New York and San Francisco, Aktos is backed by leading venture capital firms like 8VC and Crew Capital. For more information, visit https://www.getaktos.com/