INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tala, a Santa Monica, Calif.-headquartered startup that creates a credit profile to provide uncollateralized loans to millions of people in
five-year-old startup was led by RPS Ventures, with GGV Capital and previous investors IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, Data
fundraising to more than $215 million, valued it above $750 million, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch
Tala has also raised an additional $100 million in debt, including a $50 million facility led by Colchis in the last year.Tala looks at a
It approves loans within minutes and disburses the money via mobile payment platforms
customers last year, Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO of Tala, told TechCrunch in an interview.The startup, which employs more than 550
people, will use the new capital to enter India, said Siroya, who built Tala after interviewing thousands of small and micro-businesses.In
the run up to launch in India, Tala began a 12-month pilot program in the country last year to conduct user research and understand the
people globally have limited access to financial services and working capital
recent years, several major digital payment platforms in India, including Paytm and MobiKwik, have started to offer small-sized loans to
Traditional banks are still lagging to serve this segment, industry executives say
(Outside India, Tala competes with Branch, a five-year-old San Francisco-based startup that has raised more than $170 million to date and
earlier this year inked a deal with Visa.)Tala goes a step further and takes liability for any unpaid returns, Siroya said
More than 90% of Tala users pay back their loan in 20 to 30 days and are recurring customers, she added.The startup also forwards the
positive credit history and rankings to the local credit bureaus to help people secure bigger and long-term loans in the future, she
added.Tala, which charges a one-time fee that is as low as 5% for each loan, relies on referrals, and some marketing through radio and
television to acquire new customers
eyeing more countries in South Asia and Latin America.
