Tala, a Los Angeles, CA-based global technology company building accessible financial services, raised $145m in Series E funding.
The round, which brought total funding to more than $350m, was led by Upstart with participation from the Stellar Development Foundation, new investors Kindred Ventures and the J. Safra Group, and existing investors IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, and PayPal Ventures. As part of this fundraise, Paul Gu, co-founder of Upstart and Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, have joined Tala’s board of directors.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the rollout of its new financial account experience, grow its team across Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico, India and the United States, and pull forward plans for both geographic and product expansion, including crypto offerings.
Led by Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO, Tala provides customers with tools to borrow, save and manage their money, all through its consumer finance app. The company was already testing its new product lines in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated demand for digital financial services and moved quickly to meet that demand, leveraging technology the company had developed to scale its mobile credit product and bridge digital and cash ecosystems across multiple geographies.
In addition to payments and savings, the company’s account will offer an expanded range of personalized credit options, including longer-term loans and credit that can be configured to match customers’ income cycles. Since launching in Nairobi in 2014, Tala has delivered more than $2.7 billion in credit to more than 6 million customers across Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico and India. Every day, more than 12,000 new users globally sign up for its services.
