Tala raises USD 145 mn in funding round led by Upstart

Fintech company Tala on Friday said it has raised USD 145 million in Series-E funding round, led by Upstart with participation from the Stellar Development Foundation.

New investors Kindred Ventures and The J. Safra Group, along with existing investors including IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, and PayPal Ventures, also joined the round, which brings Tala's total funding to over USD 350 million.

"Tala will use the investment to accelerate the roll-out of its new financial account experience all through Tala's consumer finance app.

"Tala will also grow its world-class team across Kenya, India, the Philippines, Mexico and the US, and pull forward plans for both geographic and product expansion, including crypto offerings," the company said in a statement.

The company entered India in 2020 and claims to have already had more than half a million users sign up for the platform.

Since launching in Nairobi in 2014, Tala claims to have delivered more than USD 2.7 billion in credit to more than six million customers across Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico and India.

Leveraging the Stellar network, Tala also plans to use this funding to develop the first mass-market crypto product for emerging markets.

"This new investment will accelerate our path to becoming the primary financial account for the global underbanked and helping millions more people make progress in their financial lives," Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO of Tala, said.

As part of this fundraising, 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 statement said.