Tala, a Paypal-backed Microloans startup, has raised $110 million in its Series D round to expand in India, where it launched last year, as well as into West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Led by RPS Ventures, the Series D round got participation from GGV Capital and previous investors including IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, Data Collective VC, ThomVest Ventures and PayPal Ventures.
With the new funding, Tala is set to launch new products such as a micro health insurance product in partnership with hospitals it has been testing in Kenya as well as financial education and coaching products for its users.
Kabir Misra, Founding General Partner at RPS Ventures, and formerly managing partner at Softbank’s Vision Fund will join Tala’s Board of Directors after this round.
Over the last year, Tala raised an additional $100M in debt, including a $50M facility led by Colchis that is the first of its kind in Kenya and Colchis’ first debt facility outside the United States and the United Kingdom.
“We’ll use this funding to advance our mission by expanding in India and other markets, launching new products on the Tala platform, and scaling our world-class team across our offices in Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, India, and the United States,” announced the firm.
The new funding puts the total equity funding raised by Tala at slightly over $200 million since its launch in 2014 as Mkopo Rahisi by 37-year-old Shivani Siroya. Tala is valued at nearly $800 million at the moment.
Present in Kenya, Tanzania, the Philippines, Mexico and India, heavily funded Tala is taking on Kenyan and US-counterpart Branch which in 2018 raised $70 million in equity and $170 million Series C to expand across India and other emerging markets. Branch is also already present in Nigeria, Tala’s launch in West Africa will open up more opportunities for both firms.
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