Business lender Moula raises $20 million in Series D

Non-bank lender Moula has raised $20 million in Series D equity funding to scale up its business lending.

The round for the Melbourne fintech, which offers same-day, short-term loans worth $5,000-$500,000, was led by Escala Partners supported by existing shareholders Liberty Financial and Acorn Capital.

Moula previously raised $30 million in 2015.

Co-founder and CEO Aris Allegos (pictured above) said the equity investment will go towards additional SEM lending and talent, machine learning technology and products such as Moula Pay, its three-month interest free buy-now-pay-later credit for business.

The five-year-old venture has now processed more than 20,000 business loan applications, with the loan book increasing by 124% in 2019.

Most importantly, Moula is now at break-even point Allegos said.

Acorn Capital CEO Robert Routley said the SME lender had developed sustainable and scalable financing platform using data-driven tech.

“Moula is playing an important role in efficient provisioning of credit to small high growth companies that make out sized contributions to employment, productivity and innovation outcomes in the Australian economy,” he said.