Tala, a mobile-first financial services for underserved consumers has raised Ksh 6.5billion (US$65 million) in new investment to power the growth of its consumer lending app in Kenya, Tanzania, and the Philippines, where it has delivered credit to nearly 1.3 million customers and originated more than $300 million.
The $6.5m funding Series C investment was led by Revolution Growth with participation from existing investors IVP, Data Collective, Lowercase Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Female Founders Fund.
Tala will use the funds on product development and growing human talent capacity in Kenya and expand its services to cover Mexico and India. In Kenya, Tala has disbursed over 5.6 Million loans to over 1 million customers with an origination value Ksh 28 billion (US$280 million). Tala has over 2.7 million app downloads in country.
Recntly Branch raised funds to launch in India too and will compete Branch in various emerging markets including Nigeria, Ghana and in India and LatAm.
The round brings Tala’s total fundraising to more than Ksh 10 Billion (US $105 million). Steve Murray, managing partner at Revolution Growth, will join Tala’s board of directors.
“We are excited about how Tala is using mobile devices and data-science to unlock this huge unmet opportunity and serve a market that is underserved by traditional financial institutions,” said Steve Murray, Managing Partner at Revolution Growth.
Tala uses thousands of alternative data signals from applicants’ mobile devices to instantly underwrite customers who have little or no formal credit history. Tala disburses loans between Ksh 1000 and Kshs 30,000 to a mobile wallet with more than 85% of Tala’s customers receiving credit in less than 10 minutes.
Tala recently surpassed the 100,000 customer mark in less than a year of operations in Tanzania.
