worldwide — built for the billions of people that legacy financial systems were never designed to serve. Founded in 2011 by Shivani Siroya (a former UN Population Fund and investment banking analyst), Tala pioneered smartphone-based lending for thin-file borrowers in informal economies, and its story began in Kenya, which remains one of its flagship markets: Tala Kenya was named Best Digital Credit Provider in Risk Management 2025 by Think Business.

Tala has served over 15 million customers and delivered more than $10 billion in credit access across three continents — East Africa, Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Central America), and Asia (Philippines, India, Vietnam). Its AI-native credit engine was built from the ground up for informal economies rather than adapted from legacy systems: trained on over $10 billion in lending performance data, it gets smarter with every loan cycle. Tala InSight, its patent-pending credit decision model, uses causal methods to personalise terms for every customer, and roughly 80% of its technology stack deploys across geographies without customisation — enabling fast market entry for Tala and for partners building on its infrastructure. The impact is measurable: 79% of customers report improved financial management, 82% report quality-of-life improvements, and 80% of women surveyed report increased confidence. Backed by over $360 million in equity from investors including PayPal Ventures, Upstart, IVP, Revolution Growth and GV, Tala is one of the best-known names in inclusive fintech globally.