Investec Bank leads $84m round for China P2P lending site
South African-based Investec Bank has led an $84 million Series C round of funding for Jimubox, a Chinese peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending platform, with participation from Haitong Kaiyuan, a PE arm of Haitong Securities.
The round also includes new investors Mandra Capital and Zhong Capital Fund, as well as existing backers Matrix China Partners, smart phone maker Xiaomi, Shunwei Capital Partners, Ventech China and Magic Stone Alternative.
Jimubox, which came online in August in 2013, was founded by Xiaomei Peng, formerly COO at travel search provider Qunar. The platform connects individual lenders with small-scale borrowers, essentially meeting the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises that don't qualify for bank financing. The platform has transacted almost RMB6 billion ($968 million) in newly issue loans.
Jimubox completed a $37.2 million Series B round in September last year led by Xiaomi and Shunwei. The round came seven months after it secured a Series A round from Ventech Capital.
The start-up has developed a multi-layer investor protection scheme that involves third-party credit enhancement, cash-based security deposits as first protection against borrower default, and a borrower-funded mutual risk protection mechanism. It has also launched an investor observation group - the Jimu Jury - that provides select investors with monthly access to information and documents that are unable to be disclosed directly on the Jimubox website.
The new funding will be used to build up Jimubox's team, enhance risk control systems, and expand offline distribution channels.
"Given our banking experience, we were impressed by Jimubox's understanding and management of the credit risk. The internet finance sector in China has grown rapidly over the last few years, and P2P is one of the most significant growth areas," Richard Forlee, CEO and director of Investec Capital Markets, said in a statement.
Investec Bank is controlled by Investec, a specialist bank and asset manager listed on the London Stock Exchange. The group has a market capitalization of $7.7 billion, with assets of $72.6 billion and third-party funds under management of about $169 billion.
Established in 2008, Haitong Kaiyuan manages more than RMB20 billion in assets.
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