Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is a company.
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Leadership Team
Key people at Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp..
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. is a company.
Key people at Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp..
Key people at Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp..
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. was a fintech company that provided credit building and credibility management solutions for small and micro-businesses in the U.S. and Canada.[1][2][3] It offered products like DUNSFile for establishing a D-U-N-S Number and basic credit files, CreditBuilder for monitoring and improving D&B credit scores (including PAYDEX, Financial Stress Score, and Credit Limit Recommendation), and tools to track supplier creditworthiness.[1][2] Targeting underserved SMBs, it solved the problem of limited access to business credit by enabling self-monitoring and profile enhancement, growing from 8 to over 600 employees before its $320 million acquisition by Dun & Bradstreet in May 2015.[1][3]
The company originated in July 2010 when internet entrepreneur Jeff Stibel, backed by $200 million from Great Hill Partners, acquired Dun & Bradstreet's underperforming North American Credit-on-Self division (Self Awareness Solutions or SAS), which served over 150,000 SMB customers.[1][2][3] Stibel, previously CEO of Web.com and founder of Simpli.com, served as chairman and CEO, leveraging his SMB and online expertise to spot value in D&B's data and brand despite the unit's poor financials under D&B ownership.[2][3] The deal created a new entity with perpetual access to D&B's intellectual property via royalties, allowing rapid scaling.[1][3] Pivotal early moves included the 2012 Access to Capital advocacy with Pepperdine University surveys and events, plus a 529 education savings plan initiative covered in major media.[1]
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. rode the early 2010s wave of fintech democratization, making enterprise-grade credit data accessible to SMBs amid post-financial crisis credit scarcity.[1][3] Timing was ideal: SMBs needed affordable credit-building post-2008, and D&B's divestiture created a niche for innovative players like this, blending legacy data with self-service tech.[3] It influenced the ecosystem by advocating for SMB capital access via surveys and events, highlighting loan options and education—paving the way for modern platforms like Nav or CreditSafe.[1] Market forces like rising SMB digitization and demand for transparent credit monitoring favored its model, positioning it as a bridge between traditional credit bureaus and emerging fintech.[2]
Post-2015 acquisition, the company was fully reintegrated into Dun & Bradstreet, likely enhancing D&B's SMB offerings with its CreditBuilder tech and customer base.[1] Looking ahead, its legacy endures in D&B's expanded self-service tools amid trends like AI-driven credit scoring and open banking, which could further empower SMBs globally. As fintech evolves toward real-time data and embedded finance, expect D&B to build on this foundation, amplifying SMB credibility in a competitive landscape—echoing its original mission to level the playing field for small businesses.[1][2][3]
