TL;DR Breakdown
- Tala crypto firm make $145m in Series E funding round.
- Firm to use fund begin crypto offering services in developing countries.
American emerging fintech firm Tala crypto doubled down recently on its crypto offering, raising $145 million to improve on its crypto products.
Tala crypto platform is popular for offering loans between $10 to $500 to consumers and small business owners.
The emerging fintech firm raised the $145 million in Series E funding led by Upstart, a company founded by ex-Googlers Dave Girouard, Anna Counselman, and Paul Gu. Stellar Development Foundation’s Enterprise Fund also participated in the funding round, alongside new investors Kindred Ventures and the J. Safra Group.
Tala crypto, based in California, has raised over $350 million from different funding rounds.
Tala crypto to use funds begin crypto offering service
The crypto platform famous for its lending services plans to use the funds to expand its borrowing, savings, and money management opportunities to emerging countries like the Philippines, Mexico, India, and Kenya. Tala is said to be looking at providing crypto offerings, too, according to a CNBC report.
Founder and CEO of Tala, Shivani Siroya, said that the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for her company to add more services aside from the traditional ones.
The firm focuses more on those who are underbanked. Siroya said that the company had lent over $1 billion to millions of clients, opining that digital assets have the potential to enhance financial transactions.
She stated that the new product offerings will help customers “use, save, protect and grow their money better.”
Other plans Tala has
The merging firm aims to develop the first mass-market crypto product for emerging markets and to make crypto affordable to its users. Then, Tala plans to use blockchain-based finance to refine its capital market strategy and connect investors and borrowers on the Tala platform.
Upstart and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), two investors in the round, are critical to this next phase of growth for Tala. An AI lending platform, Upstart has assisted banks and credit unions originate more than $13 billion worth of loans. At the same time, SDF — the nonprofit arm of the Stellar network — leverages interoperability with the world’s existing financial systems.
“For us, it really kind of matches both things. One is continuing to refine and become even better in terms of our credit offerings,” said Siroya. “And then the other side is thinking about how do we accelerate this experience and leverage crypto with these platforms.”
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