When Borrowell launched in 2014, Canadians were still paying to see their own credit scores.
Co-founders Eva Wong and Andrew Graham believed that had to change.
Their company became one of the first in Canada to give people free access to their credit scores and full reports—partnering with Equifax so anyone could understand and improve their financial standing.
That simple but radical idea has since grown into a full-service personal-finance platform with more than three million users.
Borrowell now offers credit monitoring, AI-driven product recommendations and even tools like Rent Advantage, which reports rent payments to credit bureaus to help people build credit history.
It’s a prime example of technology meeting social purpose: Democratizing access to financial information while still operating as a sustainable business.
From piano lessons to global classrooms
Eva Wong’s journey to fintech leadership began far from Bay Street. Growing up in Whitby, she was raised by parents who emigrated from Hong Kong in what she describes as a “typical immigrant family”. Education and hard work were non-negotiable.
At fourteen she was already showing entrepreneurial flair, printing tear-off posters to advertise her own piano-teaching business and charging five dollars per half hour. Those early experiments taught her how to attract customers and deliver value.
She earned a Bachelor of Commerce at Queen’s University, laying a solid foundation in business and finance. After several years in consulting she pursued a Master in Public Administration at Harvard’s Kennedy School, focusing on international development.
That mix of private-sector rigor and public-policy vision would shape her belief that business can drive social impact.
Trial & error
Before fintech, Wong built a varied career that took her to places like Malawi and Trinidad, working in non-profits and international development.
Back in Toronto she co-founded Toronto Homecoming, a social venture that helped Canadians returning from abroad connect with job opportunities—a precursor to the startup world she would eventually embrace.
Borrowell itself began with bumps. The team’s first product was an online personal loan, but early applications were almost all rejected because the risk models were off.
“We were literally rejecting every single application,” Wong recalled in a podcast interview. Marketing money had been spent, credit checks run, and yet not a single loan went through.
Rather than give up, the founders iterated on underwriting and eventually pivoted toward what customers truly needed: Understanding their own credit profiles.
“For every story that’s out there that’s super positive, there are at least ten stories in the background of things that didn’t go according to plan,” she later said.
That philosophy of experimenting, failing fast and refining the model became a hallmark of Borrowell’s growth.
Building Borrowell
Once the company began offering free credit scores, user growth accelerated. Borrowell added credit monitoring, product recommendations and tools to help members strengthen their credit, such as reporting rent payments to Equifax.
Funding followed: A $12 million Series A, a $20 million round as membership hit one million, and a $25 million raise to acquire Refresh Financial and broaden its credit-building services. Recognition came too, from Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 to KPMG’s Global Fintech 100 list.
Through it all, Wong has insisted on keeping the mission front and centre.
“The biggest obstacle I needed to overcome was my own self-doubt,” she has said, but she’s equally clear that Borrowell’s purpose is to help Canadians “borrow well” and manage money confidently, not just to scale for scale’s sake.
Where is Eva Wong today?
Eva Wong remains Borrowell’s Chief Operating Officer, overseeing engineering, data, member experience and strategy.
She sits on the advisory board of Queen’s Smith School of Business and speaks frequently on financial literacy and women’s leadership in tech.
Awards such as EY Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year and spots on international Women in FinTech power lists reflect her influence.
Looking ahead, Wong continues to advocate for open banking and consumer data rights in Canada, pushing for a system where individuals control their financial information and innovators can build products that serve them better.
Her career—spanning piano lessons, Harvard classrooms, early-stage missteps and national fintech success—shows how resilience and purpose can turn a simple idea into an industry-shaping enterprise.
For more about Borrowell and Eva Wong’s story, click here.
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