Yongqianbao nabs $67m for micro lending app

Beijing-based mobile lending app Yongqianbao has picked up $67m in a funding round.

The round was co-led by Hong Kong-based private equity firm Golden Brick Capital Management and China International Capital Corporation’s investment arm CICC Alpha.

Existing investor Source Code Capital, as well as Sinovation Ventures and GX Capital also participated in the round.

Yongqianbao was founded in 2013 and provides small loans of between ¥500 ($72.5) and ¥5,000 ($725) over periods of seven to 30 days.

The company aims to allow users to complete all the forms required through its app and receive funds within 30 minutes.

The funding follows an undisclosed Series A it raised in 2015 and coincides with the company’s rebranding from Yongqianbao to Zhirong Group.

The company will operate three services in future: the Yongqianbao mobile lending app, an AI-based risk control system and a big data-driven credit management platform.

Golden Brick Capital manager Wang Zhan commented: “US and Europe have a mature financial system, so there’s little space left for financial technology companies.

“However, China has a huge market which hasn’t been covered by traditional financial companies. So there’s a bright future for Chinese financial technology startups.”

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