Koren fintech startup PeopleFund closes $11 million in Series B funding to accelerate growth

As reported this morning, PeopleFund, Korea’s fastest growing financial technology platform that connects borrowers and investors, has secured $11 million in Series B funding to use the new funds to accelerate growth of its customer base and further invest in technology capabilities and top talent. This is the largest Series B investment for a Korean P2P lending company. The funding was led by Kakaopay corp., a subsidiary of Kakao, which offers financial features into Korea’s popular chatting app, KakaoTalk. Returning investors included DAYLI Financial Group, 500 Startups, and D3 Jubilee, bringing total funding to date close to US$17M. Back in June 2017, PeopleFund raised a $5.7 million Series A funding, which included investments from 500 Startups, Wooshin Venture Investment Corp., D3 Jubilee, and DAYLI Financial Group.

Founded in 2015 by Joseph Kim, PeopleFund is Korea’s fastest growing financial technology platforms that delivers loans and a full spectrum of diversified alternative investment products. It is the first and only Korean P2P lending platform to fully integrate with a top tier commercial bank to process personal and business loans that are government approved. The company is upgrading its automation processes and credit analysis models in order to deliver a more seamless experience to fulfill financing needs. Going forward, PeopleFund also has plans to partner with other fintech companies to share capabilities and leverage each other’s extensive customer base to grow its pool of investors and borrowers.

Through PeopleFund’s automated proprietary credit scoring model, ‘P-Score’, users can receive an immediate credit score and apply for a loan which is fulfilled by a top-tier commercial bank within seconds. PeopleFund leverages the unique partnership and its technology-enabled financial platform to efficiently connect borrowers and investors. The CEO and Founder of PeopleFund, Joey Kim, is also currently serving as the President of the Korean Fintech Industry Association.

“We are pleased to welcome these new and existing investors as strategic partners who share our vision to use technology to promote financial inclusion by giving more people access to credit and alternative investments,” said Joey Kim, CEO and Founder of PeopleFund.

He added, “Incremental investments into advanced technology and recruiting top talent has allowed us to deliver a safe and more efficient financial platform and also stay at the forefront of the fintech industry.”

“We continue to support PeopleFund as we are confident that it will maintain its strong momentum and remain one of the most prominent and transparent financial technology companies amid consolidation of the Korean P2P financial market,” said Sean Shin, CEO of DAYLI Financial Group, the largest fintech company in Korea with capabilities in artificial intelligence and blockchain, robo-advisors, financial platforms, etc.

He added, “PeopleFund’s growth performance, unique business model that fully integrates with a top-tier commercial bank to process loans, and caliber of people have positioned the company to continue to gain market share in Korea as it grows its existing base of users.”

The funding comes on the heels of a banner year for PeopleFund which is one of Korea’s
largest tech-driven financial platforms. PeopleFund recorded 823% growth in 2017 compared to the previous year. In addition, September of this year marked a record high for loans issued, with 69% of investments totaling US$21.5M coming from institutional investors. The increasing scale and transparent track record of PeopleFund has enabled institutional capital to flow in. Using institutional funds in addition to retail, PeopleFund expects to reach a broader range of borrowers and sustain significant growth.