Finda attracts $37 mil. investment from JB Financial, 500 Global

Finda's co-CEOs Lee Hye-min, left, and Park Hong-min, right, pose with JB Financial Group Chairman Kim Ki-hong, after winning investment from the financial holding firm, at the latter's headquarters on Yeouido in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Finda

By Lee Min-hyung

Finda, a loan comparison platform operator, has attracted investment worth 47 billion won ($36.94 million) from JB Financial Group and 500 Global, the fintech startup said Thursday.

The company is considered one of the top three mobile lending platform providers along with Toss and Kakao Pay. Teaming up with 68 financial companies, Finda helped customers receive loans worth 4 trillion won last year alone.

JB Financial Group partnered with Finda for the latest Series C funding. The companies joined hands in 2020. JB aims to diversify its mobile sales channels by developing more competitive business models with Finda.

The financial holding firm is set to acquire a 5-percent stake in Finda, and Jeonbuk Bank, a banking subsidiary of JB, will also take over another 10-percent stake in the fintech company. Finda also won investment from 500 Global, a venture capital firm.

Finda shared its plans to focus more on sophisticating services in its lending platform by setting up an artificial intelligence fraud detection system (AI-FDS) with the invested capital, the company said.

“We hope to set a good example in the local financial market through the partnership with the financial holding company,” Finda co-CEO Lee Hye-min said. “Finda will be able to offer more specialized and differentiated financial services to the market after winning investments.”

Finda has attracted investment worth 64.4 billion won. The latest one came about two and a half years after the company raised 11.5 billion won in Series B funding from Kia and 500 Global in January 2021.