P2P lender China Rapid Finance gets $35m Series C round

Additional capital was raised through UBS, with participants including a prominent global family office.

China Rapid Finance was founded in 2001 by Zane Wang, who previously served as head of analytics at Sears Credit, a retail credit card business subsequently acquired by Citibank. On returning to China, he advised the People's Bank of China on the creation of the national credit bureau.

The company has 5,000 employees and 80 data verification centers nationwide that form part of an end-to-end automated credit decision-making system. China Rapid Finance will use the new funding to attract more potential borrowers, including through partnerships with leading internet companies. Earlier this year it teamed up with Tencent Holdings to provide pre-approved loans to pre-screened users on the company's social platforms.

There has been substantial PE and VC investment in China's P2P lending space, prompting a proliferation in platforms that connect individual lenders with small-scale borrowers, essentially meeting the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises that don't qualify for bank financing.

China Rapid Finance estimates there are 500 million consumers in China who are economically active but have never had access to bank credit. The company has facilitated more than 2.5 million loans, with the total doubling in the last three months. Loans are provided in sizes of less than $15,000 and the majority are RMB30,000-80,000 ($4,800-12,900). Most loans have a term of 18-30 months.

"In the case of China Rapid Finance, Zane Wang and his team have created a unique marketplace to address the burgeoning consumer credit demands of China's emerging middle class - the world's largest untapped market," said Christopher Thorne, founder and chairman of the PE firm, in a statement.

Earlier this week, Firstp2p, a rival P2P financing site, raised a $41 million Series B round of funding from San Shan Capital, CITIC Capital and China Equity. The largest round seen so far was RMB3 billion, which went to Lujiazui International Financial Asset Exchange (Lufax), a platform controlled by Ping An Insurance.

Broadline focuses on growth capital and impact investments in China and North America.

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