Kabbage, the US-based online lender backed by corporates SoftBank, UPS and Recruit, has entered talks to raise a “few hundred million dollars,” Reuters reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Founded in 2009, Kabbage runs an online platform where businesses can access credit lines of up to $100,000 by answering a series of questions on sales and operations.
The company is in talks with undisclosed investment firms for the funding, which would be used to support strategic acquisitions that would fuel growth, according to the sources.
One possible target is rival OnDeck Capital, which closed a $230m initial public offering in late 2014 but which has since seen its shares fall from the IPO price of $20 to less than $4.80, giving it a market cap of just over $340m.
The new funding would come after about $240m in equity financing, including a $135m series E round in late 2015 backed by human resources provider Recruit and logistics company UPS through their Recruit Strategic Partners and UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund subsidiaries.
The round, closed at a $1bn valuation, was led by Reverence Capital Partners and included financial services firms ING, Scotiabank and Santander, which invested through its Santander InnoVentures arm, together with BlueRun Ventures, Yuan Capital and Thomvest Ventures.
UPS had previously taken part in Kabbage’s $17m series B round in 2011 and a $30m round the following year, before the company secured $50m in a 2014 series D featuring UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, telecom group SoftBank, Thomvest, Bluerun, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Lumia Capital and TCW/Craton.