Cushion
Cushion was an AI-powered consumer finance platform that used ML-based bots to negotiate bank fee waivers and reconstructed fragmented BNPL loan data from consumer email inboxes for over 1 million U.S. consumers, before being acquired by LendingClub in April 2025.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Cushion does
Cushion was an AI-powered consumer finance company founded in 2016 by Paul Kesserwani in San Francisco. The company initially built bots that negotiated with human bank agents at scale to secure fee waivers on behalf of consumers, then evolved into a spending intelligence platform centered on reconstructing fragmented Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and recurring financial obligations from consumer email inboxes. Cushion's ML infrastructure processed 30M+ emails to reconstruct $300M in loans and analyze $1.46T in transactions for 1M+ consumers, covering BNPL providers, utilities, subscriptions, free trials, and credit card statements.
The company's core technology consisted of proprietary AI bots for agent negotiation, NLP-driven email inbox parsing, and what Cushion described as the first structured BNPL data layer in consumer finance. Its products included the AI-Powered Fee Negotiation Bots, the Spending Intelligence Platform, the Structured BNPL Data Layer, and a bill pay solution that was in development at the time of acquisition. The platform earned a 4.8-star rating on approximately 3,000 app store reviews and helped refund $15M+ in bank fees to users.
Cushion operated a horizontal B2C consumer model targeting U.S. consumers struggling with fragmented financial obligations; pricing was not publicly disclosed. The company raised $21M total from investors including 500 Global, Afore Capital, Flourish Ventures, Rose Park Advisors, TruStage Ventures, and Vestigo Ventures. In April 2025, Cushion was acquired by LendingClub, with LendingClub obtaining Cushion's intellectual property and talent to enhance its debt management and financial product offerings.
Cushion firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cushion
- Legal name
- Cushion
- Website
- https://cushion.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Cushion was an AI-powered consumer finance platform that used ML-based bots to negotiate bank fee waivers and reconstructed fragmented BNPL loan data from consumer email inboxes for over 1 million U.S. consumers, before being acquired by LendingClub in April 2025.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cushion industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Consumer Finance Management
- NAICS
- Finance and Insurance (52), Sales Financing (52222)
- SIC
- Finance Services (6199), Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)
- akta.pro primary industry
- BNPL Consumer Apps & Wallets (Discovery, Management) (FSAGAIAG)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Expense Tracking & Financial Dashboards (FSAGADAB)
Keywords
Where Cushion is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cushion business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Cushion product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cushion was an AI-powered consumer finance company that built tools to help consumers manage financial obligations. Its core offerings included AI-powered bots that negotiated with bank agents to waive fees on behalf of users, and a Spending Intelligence Platform that parsed email inboxes to reconstruct fragmented Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) loan data, utilities, subscriptions, and credit card obligations into a single structured view.
Product overview
Cushion was an AI-powered consumer finance company that built tools to help people navigate a confusing, costly, and ever-changing financial system. The core offering consisted of AI-powered bots that negotiated with bank agents to get fees waived, and a Spending Intelligence Platform that analyzed email inbox data to reconstruct fragmented BNPL loan data across multiple apps. The company processed 30 million emails, analyzed over $1.46 trillion in transactions, and refunded over $15 million in bank fees for more than 1 million consumers. Cushion was acquired by LendingClub in April 2025.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cushion Fee Negotiation Bots AI-powered bots that negotiated with human bank agents at scale to get bank fees waived on behalf of consumers who did not know they could ask, or who did not have the time or confidence to try. Refunded over $15M in bank fees to users.
- Cushion Spending Intelligence Platform AI-powered platform that parsed confirmation emails and payment reminders from users' inboxes to reconstruct fragmented BNPL, utility, subscription, and credit card data into a structured view. Processed $1.46T in transactions across 1M+ consumers.
- Cushion Bill Pay Solution A bill payment solution in development aimed at enhancing bill payment processes for consumers.
Companies that use Cushion
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Cushion technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature3 records
Cushion partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Cushion competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Cleo: Direct peer offering an AI-powered chatbot for personal finance management, bill tracking, and budgeting, targeting a similar Gen Z / millennial consumer segment as Cushion.
- Trim: Direct peer in AI-driven personal finance assistance, offering bill negotiation, subscription cancellation, and spending insights through a chat-based interface to consumers.
- Prism Money: Direct peer in consumer bill pay, bill tracking, and personal financial management, serving a similar horizontal consumer segment with bill aggregation and payment capabilities.
- Rocket Money (Truebill): Direct peer in consumer bill management, subscription cancellation, and bill negotiation. Acquired by Rocket Companies, it is the closest scaled comparable to Cushion's fee negotiation and spending intelligence product.
- Tally: Direct peer in AI-driven consumer credit card and debt management. Also acquired by LendingClub (2022), Tally is the most directly comparable prior LendingClub acquisition and validates the strategic thesis behind the Cushion deal.
- Albert: Direct peer in AI-powered consumer financial wellness, combining expense tracking, savings automation, and budgeting tools in a mobile-first app for everyday consumers.
Emerging players
- Origin (originfinance.com): Emerging player in AI-driven personal finance, offering an AI financial advisor that aggregates spending and provides recommendations, with a comparable AI-first consumer finance approach.
Others
- Plaid: Adjacent data infrastructure provider aggregating financial account data, including emerging BNPL data connectivity, representing the platform layer that could eventually compete with or replace inbox-parsing approaches.
Broad incumbents
- Dave: Broader incumbent in consumer finance apps offering budgeting, cash advances, and overdraft protection, overlapping with Cushion's bill-management and BNPL exposure use cases.
- Credit Karma: Broader incumbent owned by Intuit offering free credit monitoring, spending insights, and bill management, with a far larger user base and product breadth than Cushion.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Cushion social profiles
Digital presenceCushion financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cushion leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Cushion funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors10 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cushion M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cushion
What does Cushion do?
Cushion was an AI-powered consumer finance company that built tools to help consumers manage financial obligations. Its core offerings included AI-powered bots that negotiated with bank agents to waive fees on behalf of users, and a Spending Intelligence Platform that parsed email inboxes to reconstruct fragmented Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) loan data, utilities, subscriptions, and credit card obligations into a single structured view.
Is Cushion a public or private company?
Cushion is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Cushion founded?
Cushion was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Cushion based?
Cushion is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Cushion's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Cleo, Trim, Prism Money, Rocket Money (Truebill), Tally and Albert. Origin (originfinance.com) is listed as an emerging player. Plaid is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Dave and Credit Karma.
Does Cushion have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cushion.
What industry is Cushion in?
Cushion's product category is Consumer Finance Management. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGAIAG, BNPL Consumer Apps & Wallets (Discovery, Management), with a secondary code of FSAGADAB, Expense Tracking & Financial Dashboards. Its NAICS code is 52 and its SIC code is 6199.