Aspiration Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Aspiration was acquired by Inherent Group for $20M in June 2025.
Aspiration acquisition price
$20M
Acquired by Inherent Group · Jun 2025
Cumulative funding Aspiration raised
$250M
across 5 funding rounds
Key investors in Aspiration
AGO Partners
Alpha Edison
Ruttenberg Gordon Investments
Moatable
FootPrint Coalition
Jovono
Deep Field Asset Management
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Alvaro Boulet Alonso
About Aspiration
Aspiration is a Los Angeles-headquartered fintech company offering carbon-neutral financial products to consumers and enterprises. It provides debit and credit cards that automatically offset purchase carbon footprints for over six million users, alongside software for enterprise carbon monitoring and access to carbon-reducing assets. The platform helps businesses integrate climate action into operations, making products carbon neutral through proprietary inventory and features.
Founded
2013
HQ
Los Angeles, CAWebsite
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2C & B2B
Revenue model
Product sales
Valuation
$20M (acquired Jun 2025)
Aspiration Acquisition
Aspiration was acquired by Inherent Group for $20M on 5 June 2025.
Before the acquisition Aspiration had raised $250M across 5 funding rounds.
Inherent Aspiration, LLC, an entity apparently affiliated with the hedge fund Inherent Group, acquired substantially all of the assets of Aspiration Partners (CTN Holdings) out of Chapter 11 in June 2025. The buyer was the stalking horse bidder and the largest prepetition secured noteholder, and its bid was a USD 20 million credit bid under section 363(k) of the Bankruptcy Code with no cash component beyond cure costs on assigned contracts. The Delaware bankruptcy court entered the sale order on 5 June 2025 after the auction was cancelled for lack of competing bids. The sale preserved the carbon credit business, and the case was converted to Chapter 7 in August 2025. Aspiration was founded in 2013 by Andrei Cherny and Joseph Sanberg and is headquartered in Los Angeles.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Jun 2025 | PE buyout | $20M |
Sources: elevenflo.com, chapter11cases.com
Aspiration Valuation
Aspiration is insolvent and not operational anymore. Read the announcement ↗
Aspiration valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2025 | Write-down · Insolvency | $0 |
Aspiration Funding History
Before winding down, Aspiration has raised a total of $250M across 5 funding rounds.
Aspiration's first fundraising round was a $3M seed round in October 2013. The most recent completed round was a $50M undisclosed-stage round in January 2021.
Aspiration funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2021 | Undisclosed stage | AGO Partners (lead); Deep Field Asset Management (lead); Jovono; FootPrint Coalition; Ruttenberg Gordon Investments | $50M | Aspiration is a sustainability-focused fintech company offering banking, spending, saving, and investment products that enable users to offset carbon footprints, such as planting trees with every credit card purchase and providing 1% cash back. The company, founded in 2013 by Andrei Cherny and Joseph N. Sanberg and headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA, has attracted celebrity investors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, and Robert Downey Jr.'s Footprint Coalition Ventures, along with firms like Alpha Edison, AGO, Capricorn Investment Group, Allen & Company, Flourish Ventures, Social Impact Finance, and Deep Field Asset Management. It has raised over $250 million in venture capital funding overall, serving more than 5 million members with ESG-driven financial services. In 2021, Aspiration pursued going public via a SPAC merger with InterPrivate III Financial Partners, implying a pro-forma equity value of $2.3 billion, with projected 2022 revenue of $254 million and 2023 revenue of $508 million, expected to yield over $400 million in cash proceeds. Aspiration later acquired Carbon Insights in 2022 to enhance its climate impact tools. |
| May 2020 | Series C | Alpha Edison (lead) | $135M | Aspiration, founded in 2013 by Andrei Cherny, is a neobank offering bank accounts, cash management, and investment services with a focus on socially and environmentally responsible assets. The company had 1.5 million registered users at the time of its Series C funding in May 2020 and emphasized its commitment to conscious consumerism through products like its Impact Measurement Score, which allows customers to track the social impact of their spending habits. The company also offers partnerships with socially conscious brands like TOMS and Warby Parker for cash-back rewards. Aspiration closed a $135 million Series C round on May 21, 2020, led by existing investor Alpha Edison and joined by UBS O'Connor, DNS Capital, Radicle Impact, Sutter Rock, Social Impact Finance, AGO Partners, and individual investors including Jeff Skoll and Joseph Sanberg. The round brought total funding to over $200 million, though the company declined to disclose its post-money valuation. The company noted record debit card transaction volumes in March and April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting accelerating adoption of digital banking services that management attributed to broader market trends toward fintech solutions. |
| Dec 2017 | Series B | Social Impact Finance (lead) | $47M | Aspiration, a California-based banking and investing platform, secured $47 million in a Series B funding round on December 13, 2017, led by Social Impact Finance, with participation from Allen & Company, Omidyar Network, Alpha Edison, AGO Partners, Reyl & Cie, Capricorn Investments, and angels including Orlando Bloom and Doc Rivers. This brought total funding to $67 million following a $15.5 million Series A in 2015 led by Renren. The company offers fee-free banking with up to 1% annual interest, opened with a $10 minimum, alongside investing and retirement products positioned as socially conscious. Aspiration reported adding thousands of customers weekly since 2015 and supporting more than $2 billion in transactions annually around the time of the round, highlighting rapid growth in its consumer base. Funds were earmarked to accelerate customer acquisition and launch new products, aligning with its mission-driven approach in ESG-focused fintech. The company later raised larger rounds, including $135 million Series C in 2020 and $258.75 million Series D in 2021 at $2.3 billion valuation via SPAC plans, but faced challenges post-2021. Aspiration pledged 10% of earnings to charities for microloans and mentoring low-income Americans as a Public Benefit Corporation. |
| Sep 2015 | Series A | Moatable (lead) | $16M | Aspiration closed a $15.5 million Series A funding round on September 17, 2015, led by Renren. The company is a next-generation financial services platform combining profitability with purpose, offering investment strategies democratized for everyday Americans using cutting-edge technology. Aspiration pioneered a pro-investor approach allowing customers to pay what they think the company deserves, including zero, and donates 10% of its revenue to charities supporting microloans and mentoring for low-income Americans to start businesses. Launched in November 2014, Aspiration achieved rapid growth by doubling its number of accounts every six weeks over the six months prior to the funding announcement. A significant 60% of its customers had not previously owned another retail investment product, and its user base spanned all 50 states plus U.S. Armed Forces overseas, with over 70% outside New York and California. |
| Oct 2013 | Seed | Alvaro Boulet Alonso; Michael O'Mary; AGO Partners; Walid Gardezi; James Meeks | $3M | - |
Who has invested in Aspiration?
12 investors have backed Aspiration across its funding rounds, including AGO Partners, Alpha Edison, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments, Moatable, FootPrint Coalition and Jovono.
Lead investors include AGO Partners, Deep Field Asset Management, Alpha Edison, Social Impact Finance and Moatable.
Aspiration Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA | 2 | Lead | Oct 2013 | |
 Munich | 1 | Lead | Dec 2017 | |
| Los Angeles, CA | 1 | Lead | Jan 2021 | |
| Los Angeles, CA | 1 | Participant | Jan 2021 | |
| Alvaro Boulet Alonso |  Madrid | 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 |
| Michael O'Mary | New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 1 | Participant | Jan 2021 | |
| New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Jan 2021 | |
| Los Angeles, CA | 1 | Lead | May 2020 | |
| Phoenix, AZ | 1 | Lead | Sep 2015 | |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 12 Aspiration investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Aspiration
Aspiration has acquired 1 company to date.
Last acquisition by Aspiration was on January 12th 2022. Aspiration acquired Carbon Insights for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by Aspiration
| Description | Carbon Insights is a climate technology firm offering a platform that analyzes bank transactions and spending patterns to calculate personal and organizational carbon footprints. London-based, its proprietary algorithm applies emission factors from sources like the GHG Protocol to deliver real-time insights and recommendations for emission reductions. The service integrates directly with financial institutions to provide users with actionable data on travel, food, and shopping impacts. |
| HQ Country | |
| HQ City | Denver, CO |
| Deal Date | 12 Jan 2022 |
| Valuation | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | |
| EV/EBITDA | |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Aspiration acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |
Aspiration Competitors
Aspiration competitors included listed companies like Change Financial and Blender Financial, and private ones like Mokka, Relai, Solvento and Tima.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Warsaw | Private | - | - | $20M | - | |
 Zurich | Private | - | - | $20M | - | |
 Mexico | Private | - | - | $20M | - | |
 Hanoi | Private | - | - | $20M | - | |
 Australia | Publicly listed | $19M | $3M | $20M | 1.1x | |
 Israel | Publicly listed | - | - | $19M | - |
Aspiration Public Comps
Aspiration is no longer listed, but its public comps include Change Financial, Jhaveri Credits & Capital, EarlyPay, Blender Financial, DF Deutsche Forfait, Orchard Funding Group, Flow Capital, Fiinu, Banco BMI and Pool Advista Finance.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $19M | $3M | 1.1x | 1.1x | 6.8x | 5.8x | |||
| $12M | ($340K) | 1.6x | - | (57.7x) | - | |||
| $15M | $2M | 13.4x | 7.7x | 81.5x | - | |||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| $13M | $369K | - | - | - | - | |||
| $13M | $3M | 4.8x | 4.5x | 21.7x | - | |||
| $9M | $3M | 2.3x | - | 8.3x | - | |||
| $890K | ($14M) | 19.4x | - | (1.2x) | - | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Aspiration competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Aspiration
| What happened to Aspiration? | Aspiration is not operational anymore and insolvent as of 30 March 2025. |
| When was Aspiration founded? | Aspiration was founded in 2013. |
| Where was Aspiration headquartered? | Aspiration was headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, United States. |
| Was Aspiration publicly listed? | No, Aspiration was a private, VC-backed company. |
| Who acquired Aspiration? | Aspiration was acquired by Inherent Group in June 2025. |
| How much was Aspiration acquired for? | Aspiration was acquired for $20M in June 2025. |
| How much did Aspiration raise? | Aspiration raised $250M across 5 funding rounds. |
| What was Aspiration's last funding round? | Aspiration's last funding round was a $50M undisclosed-stage round in January 2021, led by AGO Partners and Deep Field Asset Management. |
| Who were Aspiration's investors? | Aspiration's investors included AGO Partners, Social Impact Finance, Deep Field Asset Management, Jovono, Alvaro Boulet Alonso, Michael O'Mary, FootPrint Coalition, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments, Alpha Edison, Moatable and 2 others. |
| Who were Aspiration's competitors? | Aspiration's competitors included Mokka, Relai, Solvento, Tima, Change Financial and Blender Financial. |
| How many companies did Aspiration acquire? | Aspiration acquired 1 company, including Carbon Insights. |
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