Fintech unicorn WeLab raises $75m in funding round led by Allianz
Hong Kong’s fintech unicorn company WebLab has raised $75m in its latest funding round which was led by Allianz X.
WebLab, which has benefited greatly from the shift to digital banking that was almost forced on consumers due to the pandemic, saw its user numbers soar by 20% in 2020 to reach over 50m.
Around 47m of its total users are in mainland China, 2.5m in Indonesia, and less than one million in Hong Kong, a city with a 7.5m population.
Allianz X, a venture capital arm of Allianz, led WeLab’s Series C1 funding round, which involved other investors and followed another Series C round in late 2019 for $156m.
“Obviously, Allianz is one of the largest asset managers and insurers in the world with a strong presence and solid footprint,” WebLab co-founder and CEO Simon Loong told TechCrunch during an interview.
“Allianz saw what we did over the last couple of years and identified this very interesting opportunity to co-develop a wealth technology for digital banks, so they came to us and said, why don’t they lead the round?” Loong explained.
It is unclear what the unicorn company’s latest valuation is but he did say that it was now above $1bn.
Equally important to WeLab’s revenues are its enterprise services, which help conventional banks and financial institutions build up a digital presence. It has so far attracted about 600 enterprise customers, most of whom are also in mainland China.
WeLab was looking to go public back in 2018 but halted its plans because “we didn’t feel that it was the right market window to do this,” Loong recalled. The company wanted to secure a banking license before going public.