Kabbage, the US-based owner of a lending platform for small businesses, has raised about $120m in series E capital from investors including logistics company UPS, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported on Friday.
The company is targeting $150m for the round, which also includes financial services firm Santander, BlueRun Ventures, Thomvest Ventures and undisclosed Indian and Chinese private equity firms. UPS invested through its Strategic Enterprise Fund.
Kabbage runs a fully automated platform that lends sums between $2,000 and $100,000 to small businesses, selecting recipients using an algorithm that assesses a range of financial and businesses data.
The company has also established a consumer loans subsidiary called Karrot.
The funding will be used to add up to 100 new staff members to Kabbage’s team and double the company’s office footprint. The round, which values Kabbage at about $750m pre-money, is expected to close “in a few weeks,” a source told the Chronicle.
Kabbage has now raised approximately $224m in equity funding and more than $350m in debt since it was founded in 2011, including $50m from a May 2014 series D round led by Softbank Capital, the corporate venturing unit of Japan-based telecommunications company Softbank.
The series D round also included UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, Thomvest, Bluerun, TCW/Craton, Lumia Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures.
UPS had previously participated in Kabbage’s $17m series B round in 2011, returning for its $30m series C round the following year.