South Korea-based peer-to-peer lending marketplace PeopleFund has raised $63.4m in series C funding from investors including investment bank Goldman Sachs, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Private equity firm Bain Capital led the round, which also featured wealth management firm CLSA’s Lending Ark Asia subsidiary and venture capital firm 500 Global. It increased the company’s total funding to approximately $83.6m.
Founded in 2015, PeopleFund runs a peer-to-peer lending marketplace providing personal and business loans. Capital from the round will be used to hire artificial intelligence engineers and further develop its credit scoring system.
PeopleFund secured $5.7m in a 2017 series A round featuring building materials provider Asia Cement’s Wooshin Venture Investment subsidiary, financial technology provider Dayli Financial, 500 Global and impact investment firm D3 Jubilee.
Internet group Kakao’s mobile payment subsidiary, KakaoPay, led the $11m first tranche of the company’s series B round in 2018, investing alongside Dayli Financial Group, 500 Global and D3 Jubilee.
CLSA Lending Ark Asia, Shinhan Invest and D3 Jubilee joined unnamed existing backers to add $5m in equity funding and $30m in debt financing to the round in mid-2019.
