Tala Money App Gains 800,000 New Customers in First Half

Tala added 800,000 new customers in the first half of the year — a 114% increase in growth compared to the first half of 2022.

More than 8 million customers across four markets — Kenya, India, the Philippines and Mexico — are now using the money app for the underbanked, Tala said in a Thursday (July 20) press release.

“Tala was founded on the belief that simple, easy and affordable access to capital can unlock potential,” Tala Founder and CEO Shivani Siroya said in the release. “Our success and customer growth has proven this out, with more people using our global platform to manage their daily lives and fund new ideas, businesses and innovations — allowing more people to fully participate in the global economy.”

The Tala platform’s users are accessing more than 3 million loans each day and $100 million in origination every month, according to the press release. Tala is bridging digital and cash ecosystems to help customers manage their financial lives, processing nearly $200 million in transactions monthly.

Offering a smooth and efficient onboarding, browsing and purchasing experience for new clients is the best way for mobile apps and online platforms to stand out from competitors, Tala Chief Risk and Strategy Officer Kunal Kaul told PYMNTS in an interview posted in November 2021.

Tala relies on behavioral analytics as it aims to offer standout service amid a sea of financial services companies, Kaul said when interviewed for “Monetizing Digital Intent,” a PYMNTS and Neuro-ID collaboration.

“Behavioral analytics has some major advantages,” Kaul said. “It can work behind the scenes and hence not put an incremental burden on the customer, thus delivering a smoother onboarding experience. It can provide orthogonal insight because it uses data based on what a customer does versus being based on data that a customer [provides].”

Tala’s reaching the landmark of 8 million customers comes not quite three years after an October 2021 Series E funding round in which the company raised $145 million.

The company was founded by Siroya in Nairobi in 2014 and in subsequent years worked to deliver services in markets in which “the financial system is fundamentally broken for millions of people,” Siroya said at the time of the funding round.