Tala receives US$30-million in funding

Credit service Tala has recently raised US$30-million in Series B financing, being led by IVP and joined by Ribbit Capital.

Additional participants included in the funding round are Lowercase Capital, Data Collective, Collaborative Fund and Female Founders Fund (F3)

Their newly received funding will go toward accelerating their product development as well as to expand into new markets along with building their internal team.

Jules Maltz, from IVP, has also joined Talas Board of Directors as part of the financing agreement.

“By using smartphone data to build financial identity, Tala is pioneering a new model that can reach more than two billion people globally who have been underserved by traditional finance companies,” said the general partner at IVP, Jules Maltz, in a press release.

“We are thrilled to partner with Shivani and the Tala management team to help accelerate Tala’s next phase of growth and unlock capital and opportunity for millions of people across the world,” Maltz continued.

Tala goes on to receive massive funding for expansion

Tala currently operates out of East Africa and Southeast Asia and aims to empower underserved populations. According to Tala, their Android app aggregates more than 10 000 different data points on their users’ devices. This includes financial transactions, savings, network diversity and many other factors to build a customised credit score.

Once a customer has received their credit score, their size and terms of the credit product are then customised based on the customers “risk and capacity”.

The credit is then sent to the user’s mobile money accounts in less than five minutes.

“From day one, Tala’s mission has been to change global financial systems so that people have more access, choice, and control,” said founder and CEO of Tala, Shivani Siroya.

“With this new round and team of phenomenal investors and advisors, we are positioned to connect millions of underserved people to financial services that can advance their lives,” he concluded.

Feature image: CafeCredit.com via Flickr. (CC 2.0, resized)