Congratulations to Tala Founder and CEO Shivani Siroya and the entire Tala team on raising an impressive $110M in Series D funding! As Tala announced last week, the funding round was led by RPS Ventures with participation from GGV Capital and several of Tala’s previous investors, including IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, Data Collective VC, ThomVest Ventures, and PayPal Ventures. The Series D round builds on Tala’s successful Series C, bringing Tala’s total fundraising to more than $215M.

We couldn’t be happier for Tala. Distillery has been privileged to support Tala’s mission since 2016, when our long-term partnership with the female-founded FinTech startup began. Distillery provides Tala with both on- and offsite engineers and designers to augment their team and assist them in product development. We’ve served as their development partner through multiple rounds of funding.

Since 2014, Santa Monica-based Tala has focused on expanding access to financial services for many of the world’s previously underserved populations. The Tala app uses advanced data science alongside users’ smartphone data to instantly underwrite and disburse microloans ranging from $10 to $500.

Tala, now 550+ employees strong, is driven not only by passion, but by a practical approach grounded in data science, iteration, and user research. As Siroya explained to Forbes, “What has made us really successful is this idea that we’re not building a company. What we’re doing is solving a problem. In that sense, we’re not emotional about our solution but, rather, constantly listening to our customers and the market and being able to then adjust alongside that.”

Tala’s commitment to iteration and ongoing improvement has been central to its product development approach. As the company has expanded into new markets, Distillery has helped them to fine-tune their user interfaces and address needs specific to each market. This approach ensures that each Tala app fits the needs of each country’s users. We have been proud to support them in launching the Tala mobile apps in Mexico, the Philippines, Tanzania, and India.

Tala’s continued success is a true testament to the power of women entrepreneurs and women in business. We’re excited to support Siroya and her team as they embark upon Tala’s next chapter!