South Korea-headquartered financial services app developer True Balance has raised $28m in a series D round backed by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank and internet company Naver, TechCrunch has reported.
Financial and leasing services firm Shinhan Capital also participated in the round, alongside BonAngels Venture Partners and Daesung Private Equity, while SoftBank invested through SoftBank Ventures Asia. It brought the company’s total funding to about $90m since it was founded in 2014 according to TechCrunch.
True Balance’s core product was a mobile wallet that enables users to check their mobile balances and top up their mobile credit.
The company has since expanded its offering to include financial services such as online lending and utility payments and has issued over $13.5m of small loans to a total of more than 6.7 million customers.
True Balance had picked up $23m in October 2019 from investors including SoftBank subsidiary SB Partners, Shinhan Capital, securities brokerage NH Investment & Securities, investment bank IBK Capital, IMM Investment, HB Investment and D3 Jubilee Partners.
SoftBank Ventures Asia led a round of undisclosed size for True Balance in 2016 before co-leading a $14.9m series B round with IMM Management, with participation from Korea Development Bank, Capstone Partners and Mega Investment the following year.
The company then secured $23m in a 2018 bridge round featuring the corporate venturing vehicle for messaging app developer Line, Line Ventures, alongside Naver, Shinhan Bank and TS Investment.
