Dianrong.com announces new funding infusion led by Stanchart, China Fintech Fund

Source: Dianrong.com. Dianrong Completes C-round funding of US$207 million led by Standard Chartered Bank to jointly create 'Bank of Tomorrow'.

Dianrong.com has US$207 million in funding, co-led by Standard Chartered Bank and China Fintech Fund (CFF), followed by Bohai Leasing and other financial institutions. Going forward, Dianrong.com and Standard Chartered will be full-fledged partners in a number of areas and regions to jointly explore the best solutions to financial development and create the 'Bank of Tomorrow'.

Dianrong is a major P2P lending platform in China. Its founder and CEO Soul Htite is the cofounder and former CTO of Lending Club, another P2P lending platform. Htite Chairman of the Board and CEO of Dianrong, commented that he is excited to work with Hong Kong listed companies such as Standard Chartered, and the funding marks the first time that a traditional bank is investing in a Chinese internet finance company, indicating that the global financial sector has started a new chapter and the integration between traditional finance and Internet finance is entering a fruitful phase.

Standard Chartered spent two years looking for an outstanding Internet finance company. Wei Zhu, Managing Director and Global Co-President of Standard Chartered Private Equity, commented that Standard Chartered focuses on investing in the best and most differentiated companies. P2P lending is a major direction of the global finance industry transformation. It can enhance the efficiency of financial services by relying on technology and shape the way the future financial industry, especially the commercial banking sector, will evolve, he said.

As a global leader, Standard Chartered has proactively embraced this new model of financial services and is developing ways to apply it more effectively to the bank's services in the future, he added.

Prior to this funding round, Dianrong received investment from Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited in October, 2014. Since its inception, Dianrong has been committed to regulatory compliance and building an efficient, transparent and user-friendly Internet lending platform while using technology to transform traditional lending business, lower borrowing cost and increase investment returns. 

Its flagship wealth management product Tuantuan Zhuan (团团赚, meaning 'group investment' or literally, 'every group wins'), is powered by a sophisticated, backend computing system to achieve automated, transparent investment diversification. So far, Tuantuan Zhuan has exceeded RMB2.7 billion in volume and earned more than RMB100 million in interest for lenders.