Fintech Firm Tala Raises $145 Million For Expansion, Including Crypto Offerings

New Delhi: Financial services company Tala on Friday announced that it has raised $145 million in Series E fundraise led by artificial intelligence platform Upstart with participation from the Stellar Development Foundation. 'Series E' implies that a company has, at a given point, gone through many funding rounds.

Kindred Ventures, J. Safra Group, along with existing investors including IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, and PayPal Ventures also joined the round, Tala said. "The total funding now tops $350 million," it added.

The company said it will use the investment to accelerate rollout of its new financial account experience and "pull forward plans for both geographic and product expansion, including crypto offerings."

The company entered India in 2020 and mentioned that it has more than half a million users.

"In addition to payments and savings, Tala's evolved account will offer an expanded range of personalized credit options, including longer-term loans and credit that can be configured to match customers' income cycles," it added.

The financial services company said it will also use the fresh funding to develop the "first mass-market crypto product for emerging markets, advancing a core promise of digital currency ecosystems by making more affordable and equitable financial tools available to populations that can benefit the most from the crypto economy."

Tala also said, "The round will fuel the rollout of new mobile-first account services and crypto solutions for emerging markets, including India."

"Upstart shares Tala's belief that technology is the key to unlock access for the underserved, and we're excited to support them in serving the next 1 billion people entering the financial system," said Paul Gu, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Upstart.

It also stated that as a part of the fundraise, Upstart's Gu and Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, have joined Tala's board of directors.

"This Stellar Enterprise Fund investment represents our high confidence in Tala's technology, traction, and leadership – supporting their growth made perfect sense," said Dixon.

Shivani Siroya, Founder and CEO, Tala said that the company "has spent the past seven years delivering critical and valued services in markets where the financial system is fundamentally broken for millions of people."