Introduction
Tala 145m Series Upstart 800m keneokafortechcrunch, Tala, an emerging marketplaces digital lender that offers credits between $10 and $500 to consumers and small business owners, raised $145 million email, an emerging markets digital lender that offers loans between $10 and $500 $ to consumers and small business owners, raised $145 million in Series E funding.
Upstart, a company founded by former Googlers Dave Girouard, Anna Counselman and Paul Gu, led the round. The Stellar Development Foundation’s venture fund participated, along with new investors Kindred Ventures and the J. Safra Group.
What is Tala? Tala 145m Series Upstart 800m keneokafortechcrunch
Tala is an online lending app that provides instant credit scoring, loans, and other personalized financial services in the Philippines and worldwide. Using alternative data to assess clients in real-time, Tala offers fast, customized loans to approved borrowers, helping clients establish their financial identity over time. Millions of persons have borrowed through Tala’s smartphone app, which allows anyone with an Android smartphone to apply for a loan and receive an instant decision, regardless of their credit history.
Tala 145m Series Upstart 800m
Existing investors IVP, Revolution Growth and Lowercase Capital also joined the round, bringing Tala’s total funding raised to just over $360 million. The new investment values Tala at over $800 million, according to a source familiar with the company’s Series E funding.
Upstart, a company founded by former Googlers Dave Girouard, Anna Counselman and Paul Gu, led the round. The Stellar Development Foundation’s venture fund participated, along with new investors Kindred Ventures and the J. Safra Group.
Existing investors IVP, Revolution Growth and Lowercase Capital also joined the round, bringing Tala’s total funding raised to just over $360 million. Conferring to a source close to the company, the new investment values Tala at more than $800 million.
Tala 145m Keneokafortechcrunch
Mobile tech startup Tala has raised $145 million in a Series E funding round led by Upstart, with participation from the Stellar Development Foundation and new investors Kindred Ventures and J. Safra Group. Existing backers IVP, Revolution Growth and Lowercase Capital also invested in the round.
Founded in Nairobi in 2014 by Shivani Siroya, Tala raised a total of $350 million with this latest round. The funds will remain used to accelerate the implementation of new financial services tools, including cryptocurrency offerings, to borrow, save and manage money. Tala also plans to grow her team in Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico, India and the United States.
“Tala has spent the past seven years providing essential and valuable services in markets where the financial system is failing for millions of people,” Siroya said.
He added that this round of funding will help the company continue its strategic journey to become the “first financial account” for the unbanked globally and help millions of people “leapfrog their financial lives.”
Tala’s account services will offer an expanded set of personalized credit options, payments, and savings. Longer-term loans tailored to clients’ income cycles will also be available.
What Siroya Telling about Tala 145m Keneokafortechcrunch
Upstart and Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), two round investors, are critical to this next growth phase for Tala. An AI lending platform, Upstart has helped banks and credit unions generate over $13 billion in loans. At the same time, SDF, the non-profit arm of the Stellar network, takes advantage of interoperability with existing financial systems worldwide.
“For us, it is both. One continues to refine and improve our credit offerings,” said Siroya. “The other side is thinking about accelerating that experience and leveraging cryptocurrency with those platforms.”
Following the announcement, Paul Gu, co-founder of Upstart and Denelle Dixon, CEO and CEO of Stellar Development Foundation, will join Tala’s board of directors.
During our conversation, I referred to Branch, a close competitor to Tala, and noted that it was interesting that both platforms were simultaneously considering providing services other than credit.
Like Tala, Branch started as a digital lender offering loans to customers in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and India. But now the company, backed by Visa, IFC and Andreessen Horowitz, is transforming into a digital bank that offers bill payments, money transfers and investment functions. And also
Although Siroya can spot the match, he doesn’t hesitate to praise his business over other apparent competitors.
Conclusion
Tala offers financial services to the traditionally unbanked through a consumer credit application that underwrites and distributes loans ranging from $10 to $500 with rates starting at 4%. The company says more than 6 million people have used the mobile app to borrow more than $2.7 billion in Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico and India.