Hong Kong’s WeLab considers new funding round

Hong Kong-based fintech firm WeLab is considering a new round of financing with the aim to accelerate growth.

WeLab considers new funding round

According to Bloomberg, the fintech firm is valued at around $2 billion and is looking to raise $200 million to $250 million.

Founded in 2013, WeLab is working on making credit accessible for consumers, operating consumer credit platforms across three markets – WeLend in Hong Kong, WeLab Digital in Mainland China and Maucash in Indonesia.

In July 2020, WeLab launched WeLab Bank in Hong Kong, a digital bank for which it had raised $156 million in Series C funding in December 2019.

In terms of business performance, WeLab claims every one in four “tech-savvy” young adults in Hong Kong uses WeLab’s services, having seen 1.5x year-on-year growth in loan balance in Hong Kong since Covid and “forged strong partnerships with Apple, Tesla and Allianz on widening our reach and fintech offerings”.

In collaboration with Astra, one of Indonesia’s largest private companies, WeLabs recently acquired Indonesian commercial bank, Bank Jasa Jakarta, for an undisclosed sum, claiming the transaction to be Southeast Asia’s largest digital bank M&A transaction of the year.

WeLab is backed by investors including Sequoia Capital, Allianz, Tom Group and International Finance Corporation, among others.