South Korean lending platform lands $64m in series C funding

Correction (Dec. 7, 3:30 pm): The company clarify that it accounted for 57% of the country’s marketplace lending market, not personal loan market.

South Korea-based online lending platform Peoplefund has raised 75.9 billion won (around US$64 million) in a series C funding round led by Bain Capital, with Goldman Sachs, CLSA Lending Ark Asia, and 500 Global joining in.

The company claims that this is the largest amount raised by any consumer loan-focused lending platform in South Korea.

Peoplefund team / Photo credit: Peoplefund

Peoplefund is a platform that connects lenders with unbanked individuals who need to borrow money. It received a marketplace lending license from South Korea’s financial regulators in June this year and has disbursed more than 1.1 trillion won (around US$980 million) in loans as of October.

In a statement, Peoplefund claims that it accounted for 57% of the personal loan in the country’s marketplace lending market based on loan balance.

Founded in 2015 by Joey Kim, an ex-Bain & Company consultant and former SoftBank Ventures Asia senior associate, the company has raised 100 billion won (around US$84.5 million) in total funding to date.

Moving forward, Peoplefund plans to use the fresh money to hire AI engineers and acquire alternative data to upgrade its credit scoring algorithm.

Currency converted from South Korean won to US dollar: US$1 = 1,181.62 won