Financial Performance and Revenue Growth of a Business in 2021, Exams of Marketing

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Diversification

Driving Growth

Turn to

the Nerds

Vertical

Integration

“Unlock

Your Dreams”

Land and

Expand

We continued our integration of Fundera by NerdWallet, resulting in strong engagement in SMB loans with a net dollar repeat rate for our Q1’21 cohort of over 65%, even better than our pre-COVID cohorts.*

Exiting the year, we launched our latest brand campaign, highlighting how NerdWallet’s financial guidance, tools and products enable consumers to reach their dreams, big and small.

We followed our 2020 launch of NerdWallet UK with the launch of NerdWallet Canada in 2021, leveraging our extensible organic playbook to bring trusted financial guidance to our second international market.

Credit Cards, Loans and Other Verticals all posted 50%+ year-over-year growth in 2021, generating a total of $380 million in revenue.

We ended the year with over 10 million registered users and provided trustworthy guidance to over 19 million average Monthly Unique Users (MUUs) in 2021.

*Net dollar repeat rate represents incremental revenue generated from a cohort within first year as a percentage of the initial transaction

Fellow Shareholders:

NerdWallet's mission is to provide consumers and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) with clarity for all of life's financial decisions.

In keeping with our mission, we will strive to deliver the same level of clarity to our shareholders each quarter. Our goal is to provide a straightforward, succinct update to help you make informed decisions.

With that, let's get straight to the results.

Last year was one of sustained momentum at NerdWallet, culminating in unseasonably high revenue in Q4. Our business saw several positive signs of recovery following a COVID-19-impacted 2020. We provided trustworthy financial guidance to consumers and SMBs across the US, UK and Canada who were faced with a variety of financial decisions.

2021 HIGHLIGHTS

● Consumers & SMBs Turned to The Nerds: Our marketing

investments and our knowledgeable and trustworthy guidance drove an average of 19 million Monthly Unique Users (MUUs) to our platform in 2021. We continued our efforts to register and engage those MUUs, ending the year with over 10 million registered users.

● We Landed and Expanded: We followed our 2020 launch of

NerdWallet UK with the organic launch of NerdWallet Canada in July 2021, leveraging our extensible organic playbook to bring trusted financial guidance to our second international market.

● Growth Across Every Product Category: Credit Cards, Loans

and Other Verticals all posted growth in 2021, generating a total of $380 million in revenue. Within Credit Cards, partner budgets outpaced pre-pandemic levels and consumer demand continued to recover. Loans growth persisted amidst favorable but rising interest rates, and Other Verticals secured a number of new partnerships and offerings.

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

● We Vertically Integrated: We continued the integration of

Fundera by NerdWallet, resulting in strong engagement in SMB loans with a net dollar repeat rate in our Q1’21 cohort exceeding 65%, which is even better than our pre-COVID cohorts.

Q4 BUSINESS UPDATE Our fourth quarter performance capped off a year of sustained momentum: We achieved strong year-over-year revenue and MUU growth and maintained positive adjusted EBITDA while investing both in our trusted brand and in our Nerds.

At the end of Q4, we launched our “Unlock Your Dreams” brand campaign, highlighting how NerdWallet’s financial guidance, tools and products enable consumers to reach their dreams, big and small. The campaign has already appeared across a variety of notable media spots and will also be featured on new-to-NerdWallet marketing channels such as TikTok, HBO Max and Peacock. We believe that these investments will help us continue to build our brand awareness and establish Nerdwallet as the trusted source consumers can turn to—and return to—for all of their money questions.

Our vertical integration of Fundera by NerdWallet continued to gain momentum. During the second half of the year, we launched two new SMB marketplaces, one for payment processors and one for insurance providers. Both of these marketplaces enable small business owners to get qualified for and matched with multiple providers at once, putting the power to make the right financial decision in their hands. We believe that product developments like these will help us expand our foothold in the SMB market.

LOOKING AHEAD We will continue building on the momentum we saw in 2021 by finding new ways to engage our users, helping more consumers and SMBs, and better serving our financial services partners. As consumers and SMBs increasingly take a digital-first approach to managing their finances, demand will continue to grow, and we’re confident that the investments we’re making will enable us to address the significant market opportunity ahead.

At the same time, the events of the past several years have made it clear how critical it is for NerdWallet to do its part in creating a more equitable world. To that end, we will be investing in the growth of our Nerds; helping to provide underserved communities with access to equitable financial products and services through our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program; and doing all of the work necessary to achieve our vision: a world where everyone makes financial decisions with confidence.

We look forward to updating you on our progress!

Thank you,

Tim Chen Co-Founder & CEO

(1) Credit cards revenue consists of revenue from consumer credit cards. (2) Loans revenue includes revenue from home mortgages, personal loans, student loans, and auto loans. (3) Other verticals revenue includes revenue from other product sources, including insurance, banking, investing, and SMB products. (4) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measure” for more information. (5) We define a Monthly Unique User (MUU) as a unique user with at least one session in a given month as determined by unique device identifiers.

Q4 2021 RESULTS

SUMMARY FINANCIAL RESULTS

THREE MONTHS ENDED (IN MILLIONS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS) DEC 31, 2021 DEC 31, 2020 % CHANGE Revenue $ 99.5 $ 56.7 75% Credit cards 1 34.9 16.7 109% Loans 2 29.6 20.2 46% Other verticals 3 35.0 19.8 76%

Income (loss) from operations $ (9.4) $ (5.2) 83% Net loss $ (7.9) $ (3.4) 136%

Net loss per share Basic $ (0.13) $ (0.07) 86% Diluted $ (0.13) $ (0.07) 86%

Non-GAAP financial measure 4 Adjusted EBITDA $ 13.5 $ 2.1 528%

Cash and cash equivalents $ 167.8 $ 83.4 101% Average monthly unique users 5 18 15 22%

CREDIT CARDS In 2020, our Credit Cards revenue was impacted more than any other category by the economic impact of the COVID- pandemic, but we’ve since seen multiple quarters of continued recovery. As 2021 came to a close, we saw partners back on the site, pricing outpacing pre-pandemic levels and consumer demand continuing to recover. Revenue in the fourth quarter of $34.9M increased 109% year-over-year. Total 2021 Credit Cards revenue reached $123.8M, a 58% increase from 2020.

REVENUE

OTHER VERTICALS Other Verticals revenue increased 76% year-over-year to $35. million in the fourth quarter. Other Verticals consists of SMB, insurance, banking, and investing verticals as well as NerdWallet UK. SMB grew across all major sub-verticals — most importantly in loans, where we are seeing strong repeat revenue. Our investing and banking verticals’ growth exceeded our expectations driven by additional partners launched in the second half of the year and limited-time offers in Q4. Total 2021 Other Verticals revenue reached $129.4M, a 51% increase from

REVENUE

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Q4 Research & Development expenses increased 38% year-over-year, but were 6 points lower as a percentage of our Revenue. Increases versus prior year were primarily driven by the hiring of additional Nerds as we scale our product and engineering teams given our continued emphasis on the development of key platform capabilities. Research & Development expenses were 16% of Revenue during 2021.

COST OF REVENUE Q4 Cost of Revenue expenses increased 24% year-over-year, but were 3 points lower as a percentage of our Revenue. Increases versus prior year were primarily driven by continued investment in our platform and the amortization of those internally developed assets. Cost of Revenue expenses were 8% of Revenue during 2021.

OPERATING EXPENSES

($ MILLIONS) Q4’20 Q4’21 % CHANGE Cost of Revenue $ 5.8 $ 7.2 24% Research & Development 13.4 18.6 38% Sales & Marketing 35.6 63.5 79% General & Administrative 7.9 11.6 48% Change in fair value of contingent consideration related to earnouts (0.8) 8.0 NM Total Costs & Expenses $ 61.9 $ 108.9 76%

BALANCE SHEET AND LIQUIDITY

Our balance sheet and liquidity position remain strong. We ended the fourth quarter with $167. million of cash on hand and no debt.

GENERAL & ADMINISTRATIVE Q4 General & Administrative expenses increased 48% year-over-year, but were 2 points lower as a percentage of our Revenue. As a newly public company, we continued to build out our required capabilities and functions during the fourth quarter. General & Administrative expenses were 10% of Revenue during 2021.

OPERATING EXPENSES

Q1 Revenue: $122 - $125 million; representing 37% year-over-year growth at the midpoint Q1 Adjusted EBITDA: $3 - $6 million

Brand investments will create variability in our quarterly margins, but we expect year-over-year accretion in our 2022 annual Adjusted EBITDA margin.

NerdWallet has not provided a quantitative reconciliation of forecasted GAAP net income (loss) to forecasted total Adjusted EBITDA within this communication because the company is unable, without making unreasonable efforts, to calculate certain reconciling items with confidence. These items include, but are not limited to: income taxes which are directly impacted by unpredictable fluctuations in the market price of the company’s capital stock; depreciation and amortization expense from new acquisitions; impairments of assets; gains or losses on extinguishment of debt and acquisition-related costs. These items, which could materially affect the computation of forward-looking GAAP net income (loss), are inherently uncertain and depend on various factors, many of which are outside of NerdWallet’s control. For more information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this communication, please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measure” below.

QUARTERLY CONFERENCE CALL A conference call to discuss NerdWallet’s fourth quarter 2021 financial results will be webcast live today, February 24, 2022 at 2:00 PM Pacific Time (PT). The live webcast is open to the public and will be available on NerdWallet’s investor relations website at https://investors.nerdwallet.com. Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on NerdWallet’s investor relations website.

FINANCIAL OUTLOOK

This letter to shareholders contains forward-looking statements about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this letter are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the statements in the section titled “Financial Outlook.” In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will” or “would” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited, statements concerning the following:

● the effect of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and stock price; ● our expectations regarding our future financial performance, including total revenue, costs of revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and MUUs; ● our ability to grow traffic and engagement on our platform; ● our expected returns on marketing investments and brand campaigns; ● our expectations about consumer demand for the products on our platform in 2022; ● our ability to convert users into Registered Users and improve repeat user rates; ● our ability to convert consumers into matches with financial services partners; ● our ability to grow within existing and new verticals, including our ability to expand SMB product marketplaces; ● our ability to expand geographically; ● our ability to build efficient and scalable technical capabilities to deliver personalized guidance and nudge users; ● our ability to maintain and enhance our brand awareness and consumer trust; ● our ability to generate high quality, engaging consumer resources; ● our ability to adapt to the evolving financial interests of consumers; ● our ability to compete with existing and new competitors in existing and new market verticals; ● our ability to maintain the security and availability of our platform; ● our ability to maintain, protect and enhance our intellectual property; ● the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents, and investments to meet our liquidity needs; and ● our ability to successfully identify, manage, and integrate any existing and potential acquisitions.

You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions or guarantees of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this letter primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and operating results. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including those factors described in the Company’s final prospectus dated November 3, 2021 and filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and other filings we make with the SEC from time to time.

The forward-looking statements made in this letter speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this letter to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this letter or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

ADJUSTED EBITDA We use Adjusted EBITDA in conjunction with GAAP measures as part of our overall assessment of our performance, including the preparation of our annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies, and to communicate with our board of directors concerning our financial performance.

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) from continuing operations adjusted to exclude depreciation and amortization, interest expense, net, provision (benefit) for income taxes, and further exclude (1) loss (gain) on impairment and on disposal of assets, (2) remeasurement of the embedded derivative in long-term debt, (3) change in fair value of contingent consideration related to earnouts, (4) deferred compensation related to earnouts, (5) stock-based compensation, and (6) acquisition-related costs.

The above items are excluded from our Adjusted EBITDA measure because these items are non-cash in nature, or because the amount is not driven by core operating results and renders comparisons with prior periods less meaningful.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results and in comparing operating results across periods. Moreover, we have included Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measurement used by our management internally to make operating decisions, including those related to analyzing operating expenses, evaluating performance, and performing strategic planning and annual budgeting. However, the use of this non-GAAP measure has certain limitations because it does not reflect all items of income and expense that affect our operations. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as a financial measure, should be considered as supplemental in nature, and is not meant as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. These limitations include the following:

● Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest income (expense) and other gains (losses), net, which include unrealized and realized gains and losses on foreign currency exchange and the derivative embedded in long-term debt; ● Adjusted EBITDA excludes certain recurring, non-cash charges, such as depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of intangible assets, and although these are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect all cash requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements; ● Adjusted EBITDA excludes stock-based compensation expense, which has been, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, a significant recurring expense in our business and an important part of our compensation strategy; and ● Adjusted EBITDA does not include the impact of impairment of assets previously acquired, acquisition-related transaction expenses, contingent consideration fair value adjustments related to earnouts, and deferred compensation related to earnouts.

In addition, Adjusted EBITDA as we define it may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Because of these limitations, you should consider Adjusted EBITDA alongside other financial performance measures, including net income (loss) and our other GAAP results.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE