With its proprietary risk management technology, WeLab analyses unstructured mobile Big Data within a short time to make credit decisions for individual borrowers
WeLab, a Hong Kong-headquartered mobile lending startup with a focus on Greater China market, today announced that it has raised US$220 million of combined Series B+ equity and debt strategic financing from Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Credit Suisse, and other global banks.
This follows WeLab’s US$160 million Series B financing in 2016.
The fresh financing brings WeLab’s total funding to US$425 million. The company has previously raised multiple rounds of funding from CK Hutchison’s TOM Group, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, and Sequoia Capital, Yuri Milner (Founder of DST Global), ICONIQ Capital, and Ule.com. They also included a US$20 million in Series A funding in January 2015.
WeLab plans to use the fresh funding to advance its credit technology, scale business and accelerate expansion into new products and geographies beyond Greater China.
Founded in 2013, WeLab is a mobile lending company operating in Hong Kong and China. With its proprietary risk management technology, WeLab claims it analyses unstructured mobile Big Data within seconds to make credit decisions for individual borrowers. The company also licenses its technology to banks and telecommunications companies.
With around 25 million users, the startup claims to have processed loans worth US$28 billion to date.
“With a specific focus in developing innovation and entrepreneurship in Hong Kong, we invest in promising Hong Kong companies with groundbreaking business models and technologies. We were attracted to WeLab because of its innovative business model,” Cindy Chow, Executive Director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.
According to the World Bank, 36 per cent of China’s population aged 15 and above have borrowed money, but only 10 per cent managed to borrow from a financial institution. By providing a mobile-driven tech solution, WeLab claims it has been able to provide formal financing and loans to consumers in a more efficient way.
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“WeLab has demonstrated its ability to effectively make credit decisions based on non-traditional, but otherwise reliable data, for millions of Chinese borrowers without prior credit history,” said Andi Dervishi, FinTech Investment Group Head of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. “We believe the firm’s strategic partnership with banks will result in a sustainable competitive advantage to the company. Similarly, consumers will benefit from improved access to credit and from building a credit history, an important step towards financial inclusion.”
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