This is an excerpt from a story delivered exclusively to Business Insider Intelligence Fintech Briefing subscribers.

To receive the full story plus other insights each morning, click here

US-based online personal money management startup Social Finance (SoFi) is in the final stages of securing $500 million from the Qatar Investment Authority, according to Bloomberg citing four people familiar with the matter.

Business Insider Intelligence

The funding would value SoFi at $4.3 billion — similar to its valuation after the $500 million raise led by Silver Lake in 2017. But in order to get the same valuation, investors were asking for more protections should the company raise money or sell itself for a lower price tag in the future; however, the terms of the raise may still change.

This indicates that SoFi is seeing difficulties securing money from investors, which could justify its goal of going public this year.

Here's what it means: Despite its turbulent past, SoFi is set to expand its business.

Negative headlines have been following SoFi since 2017. In 2017, SoFi CEO Mike Cagney stepped down amid sexual harassment allegations at the company; and the startup earned more buzz when the FTC claimed it had misrepresented its student loan offerings. Additionally, SoFi lost money throughout 2018, as its lending business declined, per Bloomberg.

However, SoFi has made moves to expand into more business lines.It recently announced the launch of SoFi Invest, and introduced free ETFs. And the fintech partnered with insurtechs Lemonade and Root earlier this month to add three more types of insurance to its product suite, on top of its existing life insurance offering via a partnership with Ladder.

The bigger picture: With competition increasing, it's a wise move for SoFi to offer more financial services to users.

SoFi can attract customers by bolstering its suite of products to become a one-stop shop for financial services. SoFi competitors range from Robinhood to Wealthfront and LendingClub; however, as of yet, SoFi is one of the few that offers a wide variety of financial services — potentially giving it a competitive edge.

As such, rolling out new products could help keep customers within SoFi's ecosystem as it'll have a more robust suite of offerings than the competition: For example, if someone is already using SoFi for loans, they might also be interested in investing in ETFs with the fintech, rather than seeking out an offering with a different provider.

However, the startup should also ensure that it's not spreading itself too thin by launching a number of new ventures. Thus, introducing new features via partnerships might be a good move to ensure that the products are well thought out and developed by experts in their respective field.

Interested in getting the full story? Here are two ways to get access:

1. Sign up for the Fintech Briefing to get it delivered to your inbox 6x a week. >> Get Started

2. Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to the Fintech Briefing, plus more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now