Dutch financial firm, ING, has disclosed that they have acquired an equity stake in marketplace lending company, Kabbage. The stake is part of a $135 million financing round that Kabbage has raised. Led by Reverence Capital Partners, the round also includes participation from Santander and Scotiabank.
An online marketplace lender, Kabbage has been aggressively expanding the width of their operations over the past year. Initially focused on providing capital to small and medium enterprises (SME), Kabbage has added personal loans with the launch of the Karrot brand. In addition, the firm has launched third party initiatives, providing their technology as a licensed solution to enable other firms to offer their SME customers with lending.
With their growth, Kabbage has recently announced that they expect 2015’s loan originations to be triple the level of 2014. In addition, they stated that their daily funding has reached above $5 million. This milestone follows their achievement of the $3 million benchmark six months ago.
According to Dow Jones that quotes sources familiar with the deal, the $135 million in funding was based on a billion dollar valuation. If true, it would mark Kabbage as the latest Fintech startup Unicorn , joining SoFi, OnDeck, Avant and Lending Club within the marketplace lending space.
The addition of three European based banks as Kabbage shareholders could signal that the firm has specific plans to target Europe within its expansion goals.
