China-based peer-to-peer lending platform Dianrong.com has closed a $207m series C round backed by investors including industrial leasing firm Bohai Leasing.
The round was co-led by financial services firm Standard Chartered Bank and specialist investment fund China Fintech Fund, and also featured undisclosed institutional investors from Dianrong’s first two funding rounds.
Founded in 2012, Dianrong operates an online marketplace for personal and business loans, linking borrowers with potential lenders, as well as a consultancy service that provides technology and risk management techniques to financial institutions looking to update their businesses.
Dianrong claims the series C funding represents the largest single round ever raised by a China-based online finance company.
The round is also significant because of the presence of a mainstream bank, Standard Chartered, which plans to work with Dianrong to develop China’s peer-to-peer lending industry and further innovation in the country’s financial services sector.
Northern Light Venture Capital invested an eight-figure dollar sum in Dianrong in 2013 before hedge fund Tiger Global Management supplied an undisclosed amount of series B funding to the company in January this year.
Other prominent peer-to-peer lending companies in China include Ppdai, which raised $100m in April this year, 9fbank, which secured a similar amount the same month, and Jimubox, which raised $84m in its last round.