Finda Raises $36.8 Million in Series C Funding from JB Financial Group-500 Global

Finda, a loan brokerage and management fintech company, signed a strategic investment agreement with JB Financial Group to expand its digital financial platform partnership business at the JB Building in Yeouido, Seoul on April 26. (From left) Hyemin Lee, Co-founder of Finda, Ki-Hong Kim, Chairman of JB Financial Group, Hongmin Park, Co-founder of Finda

Finda, a loan origination and management fintech company, has raised $36.8 million (47 billion won) in Series C funding from JB Financial Group and 500 Global. This comes two and a half years after the company raised an $11.5 billion Series B round in January 2021, which included participation from Kia Motors and 500 Global’s main fund, bringing the total investment to $50.4 million (KRW 64.4 billion).

With 68 affiliates, the most in the industry, Finda shows the power of fintech by forming a big three with Toss and Kakao Pay in the loan comparison platform market. Last year alone, Finda brokered $3.13 billion (KRW 4 trillion) in loans, including $782.5 million (KRW 1 trillion) in loans executed for refinancing purposes. To date, the cumulative amount of loans brokered has exceeded $5.48 billion (KRW 7 trillion), and the total amount of loans managed by Finda’s users is $54.77 billion (KRW 70 trillion).

The Series C round was led by JB Financial Group as a strategic investor (SI). Finda has been partnering with Jeonbuk Bank, a subsidiary of JB Financial Group, since 2020, starting with a non-face-to-face dedicated loan product. JB Financial Group, which has been strengthening its cooperation with fintechs across the board, plans to expand its partnership with Finda by developing competitive non-face-to-face products and alternative credit assessment models.

To this end, JB Financial Group will invest 15% of Finda’s equity, JB Financial Holdings will invest 5% and Jeonbuk Bank will invest 10%. Finda will also acquire a partial stake in JB Financial Holdings and form a “fintech-financial group alliance” to become a game-changing “financial changer” against big tech and commercial banks.

Finda also received a follow-on investment from existing investor 500 Global. 500 Global, which also participated in Finda’s seed and Series B rounds, has a diverse portfolio of investments that have grown beyond unicorns in the global fintech market, including Credit Karma in the U.S., which was acquired by Intuit for approximately $6.65 billion (KRW 8.5 trillion), leading Mexican fintech unicorns Clip and Konfio, and leading African fintech unicorn Chipper.

With the new funding, Finda plans to invest in the development of its upcoming mortgage lending, deposit and insurance comparison and brokerage services, as well as the advancement of its platform business, including the construction of an AI-FDS (Fraud Detection System) and the development of Findascore, a specialized CSS (Alternative Credit Scoring Model).

“We will set a good precedent in Korea, as there are many examples of partnerships between fintech companies and financial companies through equity investments overseas,” said Hyemin Lee, co-founder of Finda. “With this investment, we will be able to introduce more specialized and differentiated financial services and financial products to the market, and we will do our best to provide more utility and benefits to more customers than before.”