PeopleFund raises $20M Series C extension to further develop its credit-scoring system

PeopleFund, a South Korean P2P lending platform, has recently added $20 million to its $63.4 million Series C from existing backer Bain Capital who led the extension.

The additional funding brings PeopleFund’s total raised including the $63.4 million Series C it raised in 2021 also led by Bain Capital, to around $100 million in equity. Apart from the capital, PeopleFund also secured $240 million in debt financing in 2022 from Goldman Sachs, CLSA Lending Ark Asia and Bain Capital.

PeopleFund is a marketplace that connects borrowers and investors to enable lending with an estimated $1.3 billion in its total amount of loans deployed to borrowers as of December 2022, up from $936 billion in October 2021.

The startup says it has seen more than 56.7% growth in the number of borrowers and 9.6% in the number of lenders compared to the previous year. The number of its borrowers and lenders was 20,688 and 2,943,883, respectively, as of December last year.

The company said it will use the new facility to continue to advance its AI-powered risk management and credit scoring system for its users and for B2B service to other financial institutions this year. On top of that, it also plans to fund one of the requirements to obtain a P2P lending license.

The extension round included participation from other previous investors such as Access Ventures, CLSA Capital Partners Lending Ark Asia, D3 Jubilee Partners, 500 Global, Kakao Investment, TBT Partners and IBX Partners.