China-based trade financing platform Qupital has closed a $15m series A round led by peer-to-peer lending platform CreditEase’s FinTech Investment Fund.
E-commerce firm Alibaba’s Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and venture capital firm MindWorks Ventures also took part in the round. MindWorks led Qupital’s $2m seed round in May 2017, investing with Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, Aria Group and DRL Capital, according to TechCrunch.
Founded in 2016, Qupital runs an online lending platform catered to small and medium-sized e-commerce clients with cross-border supply chains. The loans are intended to reduce the impact of pending invoices on the clients’ cash flow.
Qupital will use the series A funding to pursue a recruitment drive centred on technology development and risk management, as it looks to expand on the Chinese mainland. It will also fund the opening of a product development and talent sourcing hub in California.
The startup formed a strategic partnership with Alibaba in 2018 and has now signed a deal with CreditEase through which the latter will provide access to its peer-to-peer lending platform. It will also consider supplying capital to underpin Qupital’s financing services.