Zopa, a British digital bank, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $300 million from investors including Japan’s SoftBank Group as it tries to expand its operations ahead of a prospective listing next year.
According to a person acquainted with the transaction’s specifics, Zopa is valued at roughly 750 million pounds ($1.03 billion).
“SoftBank has recognized us as the clear leader in digital consumer lending in the UK, and they are also great believers in the use of AI and machine learning for lending and pricing, which we have been doing for years,” said Jainav Janardana, Chief Executive of Zopa.
SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund 2 is the latest in a series of investments by the Japanese company into British financial technology startups.
It also has investments in OakNorth, a small business lender, and Revolut, a digital banking app that was valued at $33 billion in July after an $800 million funding round headed by SoftBank.
Zopa’s new valuation is a substantial shift from media reports in December 2019 that put the lender’s value at 354 million pounds, after one of its investors wrote down its interest amid troubles in the peer-to-peer lending market, where Zopa was founded.
According to Janardana, the investment round puts Zopa on track for a long-awaited IPO in London as early as the fourth quarter of next year.
He also stated that Zopa intends to grow into the lucrative “Buy Now, Pay Later” sector in the United Kingdom within the next year, following other lenders who are pouring money into the credit product that allows buyers to delay payments for items such as clothing and electronics.
The agreement was revealed on Tuesday at a meeting in London attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, top financiers, industrial leaders, and British royals, with the goal of attracting more investment to the country.
