PayPal backed Tala has raised $110 million in a series D funding, led by RPS Ventures, with participation from GGV Capital and existing investors including IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, Data Collective VC, ThomVest Ventures and also PayPal. The company said that it will use this funding to expand its operations in India. Following a $50 million Series C funding in April 2018, the company had said it would bring its lending app to India. Tala was founded in 2012 by Shivani Siroya and launched its lending app in Kenya first in 2014, and then expanded to Tanzania, Philippines, and Mexico in 2017 before entering India. The company claims to have lent over $1 billion to more than four million customers across three continents via its smartphone app. How Tala works In order to provide loans to customers with limited or no financial records, Tala analyses two categories of data to check a person's loan eligibility: Android device data and behavioral data. Behavioral data refers to how a user interacts with the smartphone app, and device data includes device type and ID, the year of the operating system, and the apps on the phone. The company says that anyone with an Android smartphone can apply for a loan and receive an instant decision, regardless of credit history. Loans range from $10 to $500.
