Tala

Tala offers credit, savings and payments through a mobile app to people who lack formal credit histories, mostly in Kenya, Mexico and the Philippines. It scores applicants with smartphone data and lends from its own balance sheet. Loans usually run from $10 to $500. Shivani Siroya, who previously worked in microfinance and at the United Nations Population Fund, founded the company in 2011 as InVenture Capital Corp in Santa Monica, California, and it later took the Tala name. Siroya is still CEO.

Early financing was small. InVenture's Form D filings show $300,000 raised in 2011, $1.2 million in 2013 and $5.3 million in 2015, and Lowercase Capital founder Chris Sacca was listed as a director from 2013. IVP led a Series B of more than $30 million in February 2017, with Ribbit Capital co-investing alongside Lowercase Capital, Data Collective, Collaborative Fund and Female Founders Fund. Revolution Growth led a $65 million round in April 2018 that included $50 million of Series C equity, bringing total funding to $105 million. RPS Ventures led a $110 million Series D in August 2019, with GGV Capital, ThomVest Ventures and PayPal Ventures participating, at a valuation reported above $750 million. Upstart led a $145 million Series E in October 2021, joined by the Stellar Development Foundation, Kindred Ventures and J. Safra Group, which brought equity funding to more than $350 million.

Tala is still private. It also uses debt to fund loans, including $100 million alongside the Series D, a facility from Victory Park Capital and a $150 million facility from Neuberger Berman in April 2025 for its Mexico business. In November 2024 the company reported more than 10 million customers, repayment rates around 90 percent and nearly $6 billion in credit disbursed since founding. In January 2026 it announced a $100 million partnership with CIMB to launch in Vietnam. Tala has also drawn criticism over loan pricing and collection practices, as other digital lenders in its markets have.

Tala shows the long timeline and mixed capital stack of emerging-market lending. Institutional venture firms came in after five years of small insider rounds, and fintech specialists such as IVP, Ribbit and PayPal Ventures led or joined later rounds. Because lending growth depends on debt facilities as well as equity, the equity check size understates the capital at work. No exit has been announced, and the last disclosed valuation dates from 2019.