China credit assessment platform Wecash gets $80m
Wecash, a Chinese financial technology company that provides credit evaluations online, has completed an $80 million Series C round jointly led by China Merchants Venture Capital, Forebright Capital and SIG Asia.
Two other Chinese investment firms, Beijing Dongfang Hongdao Asset Management and Lingfeng Capital, also took part in the round.
Founded on April 2014, Wecash uses big data technology to evaluate an individual consumer’s credit, with a view to helping banks make lending decisions. The company bases its assessments on personal informationo such as income history, online and offline consumption, social network activity, repayment records and other financial data. It claims to be able to generate credit scores within 10 minutes.
These credit reports can in turn be used by consumers to make cash withdrawls from banks, pay for purchased goods through installment plans, and secure rental on properties and cars. Wecash says it has connected 80 million individual users with 30 Chinese financial institutions, facilitating more than RMB15 billion ($217 million) worth of transactions.
Wecash previously raised a $6.6 million series A round from IDG Capital in 2014, and a $20 million series B led by SIG in 2015.
The company plans to use the most recent round to further develop its artificial intelligence-enabled lending system, expand its domestic partnership network and scale up its business globally, Wecash CEO Yu Li told 36kr. The company set up an R&D center in Silicon Valley in 2015 and expanded into Brazil last year.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.