Tala, a leading mobile technology that allows access to loans through smartphones has announced a strategic investment from PayPal, a worldwide online payment system that supports online money transfers.

Tala operates in Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, and Philippine providing a convenient, fast, secure and transparent loan through their consumer lending app to customers who are financially underserved regardless of their financial history. The company has provided more than 500 million USD in credit to its customers.

PayPal’s investment will help Tala bring visibility and access to underserved populations in countries where Tala operates as it is committed to building financial health and enabling all people to gain access to the digital economy.

Mark Britto, Senior Vice President and General Manager of global credit, Paypal said: “At PayPal, we believe that everyone should have access to transparent, convenient and secure financial services.” He also emphasized that Tala shares a similar vision “…especially for the unbanked and those underserved by the traditional financial system. Tala empowers these people through innovative mobile solutions to improve their overall financial health, and we are proud to help them achieve this goal,” Britto added

With around two-thirds of the world adult population having no formal credit bureau record making traditional financial service difficult to reach them, Tala app can help underwrite these customers and create a personalised loan offer on their behalf.

Tala disburses loans between 10 and 500 USD to a mobile wallet or through convenient payment method customer chooses in lesser than 10 minutes as over 85 per cent of Tala consumers receives credit in less than 10 minutes.

Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO, Tala said “Tala is driven by the belief that all people deserve to be seen, understood and trusted by the global financial system, and our goal is to leverage data and technology to help them prove their potential,” “We are excited to add PayPal as an investor to further our mission to reach more underserved consumers and deliver the financial access, choice and control they deserve,” Siroya added.