Tala

Tala is a fintech company founded in 2011 by Shivani Siroya that uses alternative data from mobile devices to provide instant credit to underserved borrowers in Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico, India, and other emerging markets. The company's mobile app assesses creditworthiness without traditional credit histories, opening access to unsecured microloans for the billions of people excluded from conventional banking systems who nevertheless demonstrate reliable financial behavior through their smartphone usage patterns.

Tala has disbursed billions of dollars in credit to millions of customers who use its loans for business investment, education, medical expenses, and household needs. Repayment history on the platform helps borrowers build financial identities over time, creating a pathway from informal credit to larger financial opportunities, and demonstrating that machine learning and mobile technology can extend responsible lending to markets where brick-and-mortar banks have never operated profitably.