Varo Money, a mobile-only banking startup, has announced the launch of consumer lending via its mobile app, according to a press release.

Varo said it will issue credit products in several states through its own lending licenses. The company said it recently solidified key strategic partnerships to support this launch, including a banking and credit relationship with Silicon Valley Bank, and Cloud Lending Solutions as system of record.

"We are very excited about the suite of lending products we are building and the partnerships we have formed to support Varo's lending capabilities," Jaime Jerusalmi, Varo head of lending products, said in a statement. "In addition to cutting-edge functionality, we plan to raise the bar in terms of helping customers borrow responsibly. Our Varo Flexible Credit product will be a great alternative for people who don't want to use their credit card to finance large purchases [or] accommodate an unexpected expense, or [for people who] want to build their credit."

The Varo Money app is currently in beta and is expected to launch in the coming months, according to the announcement. Varo recently partnered with Kasisto to introduce "Val," a conversational artificial intelligence bot designed to assist customers with banking, financial insights, real-time goals, and plans to cover unexpected emergency expenses.

In 2016, Varo partnered with The Bancorp Bank to provide private label banking services to support Varo mobile banking products. Varo has also partnered with Galileo Processing to provide payment and transaction processing services.