San Francisco-based SoFi was incorporated in 2011 as a startup refinancing student loans but now there’s more to it. It went on to add more to its plate taking a radical approach to lending, wealth management, and insurance. Traversing the path of innovation, it has now added $500 million to its kitty.

In the recently announced series F financing round, Silver Lake fueled the capital along with SoftBank Group and GPI Capital. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions.

The investment round brings SoFi’s total equity funding to $1.9 billion. The firm intends to utilize the funds in order to accelerate its expansion into new product areas and countries outside of the United States.

In 2017, SoFi will venture into more areas of personal finance and new geographies. It had recently taken over banking startup Zenbanx, post which it is adamant on unveiling a suite of mobile deposit, credit, and payment products for its users in the US this year. SoFi is also keen to expand its lending services to Australia and Canada by the end of 2017. Mike Cagney, SoFi co-founder, Chairman, and CEO,

We’ve seen tremendous growth at SoFi because we know what people expect from their financial partner: they want speed, transparency, and alignment with their interests.

He further adds about SoFi’s distinct approach, saying,

We’re the only personal finance company focused not just on people’s money, but their careers and relationships as well. We know this opportunity doesn’t just exist in the United States, and look forward to bringing the SoFi approach to finance to more people around the world. 

SoFi is widely known to offer its lending services taking into consideration account factors like income and cash other than FICO scores.

Last year, it showed a strong year of growth, with loans rising up to $8 billion up from $5 billion in 2015. On the other hand, its user base shot up to 225,000 from 100,000.

It extended its product offering in lending by introducing a first-of-its-kind Student Loan Payoff Refi for home mortgages and student loans. Also, it introduced more services namely, SoFi at Work brand for employee financial wellness, SoFi Wealth for modern investment management, and a partnership with Protective to offer term life insurance.

Mike Bingle, Managing Partner of Silver Lake, expressing his belief in SoFi’s vision, said,

We are thrilled to partner with Mike Cagney and his talented team, and we look forward to helping SoFi achieve its long-term vision of offering a broad suite of financial services around the world.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.