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An auto finance platform based on AI, Lendbuzz, recently made an announcement stating the completion of a Series C funding round with $60 million in the bank. The round was dominated mainly by Wellington Management, and later on joined by MUFG Innovation Partners, as well as Goldman Sachs & Co. The Israeli fintech company also successfully raised a total of $300 million as debt finance, which was led by Goldman Sachs Bank, USA.
Various existing investors came on board too for the equity funding round. This included O.G. Tech from Eyal Ofer, 83North, Arkin Communications, Highsage Ventures, and Mivtach Shamir. On the other hand, the debt financing round was joined by Viola Credit.
The newly raised capital will be used to support the quick and steady expansion of the company and allow the AI-based platform to achieve its mission. Moreover, Lendbuzz hopes to become more accessible to those specific individuals, who are being underserved by various traditional credit methods right now.
The fintech company has partnership agreements with numerous auto dealerships and allows its clients to benefit from end-to-end loan origination. Its servicing platform has been designed in a way to function perfectly with the existing F&I workflows of the dealers. Consequently, Lendbuzz enables its buyers to have a seamless digital experience.
Previously, the Israeli fintech corporation raised $350 million in debt and $45 million in equity. Thus, its total investments went up to $650 million in debt and $105 million in equity.
Though Lendbuzz is currently only operating in the US, it was co-founded by two citizens of Israel, Dan Raviv, and Amitay Kalmar. The company recently opened up an R&D center in the Jewish state and is soon going to be employing around 20 workers before the year is out.
The CEO, Kalmar, added that the auto finance platform generates no less than $50 million in a year and provides $400 million, as loans, for the purchase of cars each year. He went on to say that the profitability of the company has risen significantly, allowing it to raise funding within specific conditions and timings that suit it.
According to the CEO, Lendbuzz mainly focuses on foreigners residing within the US. It currently serves a segment that comprises of 45 million people and all of them do not have a credit history.
Kalmar further talked about the R&D center that is located in the city of Petah Tikva. He said that he and his co-founder are two Israelis whose company may be headquartered in Boston, but they wanted to set up the center in their own country. He asserted that the two of them were of the opinion that human capital in the State of Israel is of top-notch level. Consequently, they decided to use their experience and knowledge of the local market to set up a development center in the country.
In the first half of the current year alone, the fintech corporation increased its loan origination run rate by over 200%, as compared to the previous year.