Trustbridge leads $130m Series A for China P2P lending platform
Shanghai-based Trustbridge Partners has led a $130 million Series A round of financing for China online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Renrendai.com. The company claims this is the largest transaction ever globally in this sector.
Trustbridge committed a reported $65 million, with the remainder coming from undisclosed investors.
The proceeds will be used to strengthen internal operations, improve product services, as well as to enhance the firm's risk control ability, according to a statement. The company will also seek strategic acquisition opportunities.
Launched in 2002, the platform, which connects individual lenders with small-scale borrowers, facilitated RMB1 billion ($165 million) in loans as of August last year, with an increase of 276% year-on-year in the first half of 2013.
"Online credit lending will be a trend as improved Chinese economy will spur more consumption. And there are more lending channels," said Li Shujun, partner at Trustbridge.
Shanghai-based Trustbridge was founded by several technology sector veterans, including Zhou Donglei, formerly senior executive at Shanda Interactive Entertainment. The firm focuses on telecoms, media and technology sector investments.
The fast growing online P2P lending sector has previously attracted venture capital investment. Just last week, one of Renrendai's rivals, Dianrong.com, set up by US-based P2P lending service Lending Club co-founder Soul Htite, secured a $12 million Series A round of investment from Northern Light Venture Capital.
In November, Softbank China Capital provided a Series A round of funding for Yooli.com, a P2P platform set up by Yannan Liu, formerly of Merrill Lynch and TPG Capital. Rival PPDai received funding from Sequoia Capital in 2012 and reportedly secured further capital from Alibaba Group's finance arm last year.
CreditEase, China's largest P2P platform, has received investment from IDG Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia and KPCB since its inception in 2006. It expanded quickly and now provides a range of consultation services, including wealth management, credit rating and microcredit lending.
Last year the company teamed up with IDG to create a microcredit fund, which will back other financial services start-ups.
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