Hong Kong-based fintech company WeLab has announced the closure of its Series C round financing, bagging RMB 1.1 billion (USD 156 million) 36Kr reported on Thursday.
Five existing investors including Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund and CCB International, which is the investment banking arm of China Construction Bank, one of the four largest State-owned banks in China, participated in the round, together with five new investors, which were not disclosed.
Other WeLab’s earlier investors are Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, CK Hutchison’s TOM Group, and International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group.
WeLab founder and CEO Long Peizhi said to 36Kr that the fresh cash will be used to improve algorithms and computing power, and also to expand the company’s virtual banking service and financial technologies.
Founded in 2013, the company grants loans to borrowers in Hong Kong and mainland China after analyzing their creditworthiness based on big data. WeLab currently operates WeLend and WeLab virtual bank in Hong Kong. The company also runs an online lending platform called WeLab Digital in the Chinese mainland, which was renamed from Wolaidai in September, according to WeLab’s website.
WeLab has also established a fintech joint venture with PT Astra International in Indonesia called AWDA.
The company previously raised USD 220 million in November in a combination of series B+ equity as well as debt financing. In 2018, the firm raised USD 160 million in a Series B round of financing.
36Kr is KrASIA’s parent company.