Tala bets on tech to serve underbanked in expansion plan

Financial technology firm Tala has introduced operations in Guatemala as part of a Latin American expansion push, with plans to enter the Dominican Republic and Panama by year-end in a bid to tap the region's underbanked population.

The move marks the latest international expansion for the global fintech, which is deploying its proprietary ‘Tala in a Box’ software platform to quickly establish operations in new markets where it sees potential to provide credit to consumers overlooked by traditional banks.

The expansion comes as the company, founded in 2014, seeks to replicate its success in Mexico, where it has become one of the country's major digital lenders. Tala has provided 20 million loans to nearly four million customers in Mexico over the past eight years, making it the company's fastest-growing market.

"Through our experience serving the Mexican market, we have developed deep insights in the region and found that existing services still don't serve the majority of the population," said Annstella Mumbi, General Manager of Tala-Kenya.

The company's technology platform uses alternative data to assess creditworthiness, allowing it to serve customers who lack extensive formal banking histories. Tala has disbursed approximately $7 billion in credit to over 12 million customers across its global operations.

The Latin American push comes amid sustained growth for the fintech, which has seen revenue climb steadily in recent years. The company now joins a growing list of digital lenders competing to serve consumers in emerging markets where traditional banking penetration remains limited.