Fintech funding round-up: 9 November 2017
Briskly following yesterday’s (8 November) and Tuesday’s (7 November) fintech funding round-ups, here’s more brief news action. Features WeLab, FinMkt and FriendlyScore.
Hong Kong’s lending platform WeLab has raised $220 million of combined Series B+ equity and debt financing – and has won the backing of the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other banks (such as Credit Suisse). The financing brings WeLab’s total funding to $425 million. The latest cash injection will be used for vague growth plans.
WeLab was founded in 2013 and operates in Hong Kong and China. It says it has grown its number of users to 25 million and loans processed to $28 billion. With its proprietary risk management technology, WeLab analyses unstructured mobile big data to make credit decisions for individual borrowers. The company also licenses its technology to banks and telecommunications companies.
FinMkt closes $5m equity round (Image source: depositphotos.com)
Over in New York, FinMkt, a provider of technology and infrastructure for the online lending industry, has closed a $5 million equity round led by venture capital firm ManchesterStory Group with participation from Perot Jain LP, Vectr Ventures and existing investors.
This round will allow the firm to grow Lending Gateway, its B2B platform, which it says has processed over $1 billion in consumer loan applications and has “contributed exponential revenue growth” since its launch last year.
Across the Atlantic to London, where FriendlyScore, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) B2B credit-scoring platform, is looking to raise £1 million through a bridge funding round that aims to close by end of the year. The company says this will help it reach its Series A funding round, which will be held in the second half of 2018. The funding target of the Series A is £3-4 million. (Back in May, FriendlyScore was looking to raise £500,000.)
The firm says it uses big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to assess credit risk. Its model incorporates data from social media, mobile devices, bank transactions, third-party databases and other existing measures of creditworthiness. It also has an office in Wroclaw, Poland.
