March 20 (Reuters) - Fetch, an app that lets consumers

scan receipts to earn rewards, has raised $50 million in debt

from funds managed by Morgan Stanley Private Credit, the

companies told Reuters.

This funding came after Fetch turned profitable for the

first time in the fourth quarter of 2023. It shows how private

credit, which has seen a boom on Wall Street, become more

accessible to late-stage venture capital-backed startups as they

turn their focus to profitability.

Wes Schroll, Fetch's chief executive, said the app is used

by more than 10 million monthly active households. The company

positions itself as a one-stop digital loyalty and marketing

platform by partnering with retailers and consumer packaged

goods (CPG) brands, including General Mills ( GIS ) and Unilever ( UL )

.

"We've gotten to a tipping point of the number of consumers

on the platform, where I think a lot of brands have realized, by

coming on Fetch, you can move the needle for your national

results," Schroll said.

Backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Hamilton Lane ( HLNE )

and Headline, Fetch had raised $578 million from

investors in total, and was valued at more than $2.5 billion in

April 2022.

Fetch said it had grown its revenue by more than 400% since

then, without disclosing details. Headquartered in Madison,

Wisconsin, the company has about 850 employees.

Last August, the company hired Gideon Oppenheimer, a former

executive at Uber ( UBER ), as chief financial officer to prepare for a

potential public listing. It also plans to invest in acquiring

more users and expanding its partnerships across CPGs,

restaurant and retailers.

Ashwin Krishnan, co-head of North America private credit at

Morgan Stanley ( MS ), said the lender does not underwrite startups

based on any single metric, but rather on the quality of the

business and the growth rate.

Although most private companies his team has financed are

enterprise software makers, Fetch stood out by offering a

tech-enabled service that benefited both consumers and brands,

Krishnan added.