PeopleFund, a South Korean P2P lending platform that connects borrowers and investors to facilitate lending, has added $20m to its $63.4m Series C fund.
According to a report from TechCrunch, Bain Capital led the extension, with participation from previous investors such as Access Ventures, CLSA Capital Partners Lending Ark Asia, D3 Jubilee Partners, 500 Global, Kakao Investment, TBT Partners and IBX Partners.
PeopleFund was founded by proven and successful serial entrepreneurs and is supplemented by an experienced support team.
The startup said it has a passion for taking great business visions at any stage and growing them into larger and more profitable enterprises. Since its founding, PeopleFund and its affiliated businesses have impacted a wide array of charitable, social impact and nonprofit organisations in communities around the world by contributing time, expertise and resources.
The additional capital brings the total raised by PeopleFund to around $100m in equity.
The P2P lending platform also secured $240m in debt financing in 2022 from Goldman Sachs, CLSA Lending Ark Asia and Bain Capital.
PeopleFund will reportedly use the funding to continue to advance its AI-powered risk management and credit scoring system for its users, which included borrowers and lenders.
The startup is also planning to launch a B2B service this year to provide AI-enabled customised credit scoring services to financial institutions.
Joey Kim, founder of PeopleFund, said, “2022 will be marked as a year of turbulence for FinTech, with the global public market adjustment alongside changes in the macro environment. Meanwhile, the Korean consumer lending market has undergone a dramatic transition into the mobile sphere, with big players like KakaoPay and Toss leading the change.
“This transition, coupled with the instability of the credit market, is opening up opportunities for tech-based digital lenders and its technologies to highlight our competence compared to traditional financial institutions.”
Earlier this month, kompasbank, a Danish commercial bank dedicated to SMEs, closed a capital round of DKK92m.
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