QIA leads $500m SoFi investment

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), has led a $500 million investment in US-based digital lender Social Finance (SoFi).

The latest round of financing, which also involved existing SoFi investors, brings the online start-up’s total funding to $2.3 billion while SoFi’s pre-money valuation for this financing round was $4.3 billion.

QIA chief executive Mansoor Al-Mahmoud hailed the announcement as evidence of the sovereign wealth fund’s “growing focus” on investing in “leading innovators” in the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sector.

“QIA has ambitions to build strong partnerships with Technology companies in the US and beyond,” he said.

The QIA’s investment in SoFi is one of several recent deals in a variety of sectors outside of the TMT market. This includes a stake in Malaysia’s Pavilion Bukit Jalil shopping mall as well a 4.2% stake in UK water management firm Severn Trent worth £200 million and a 3.3% share in UK-based Sirius Minerals which is currently building a giant fertiliser mine under a national park in north Yorkshire.

©2019 funds global mena

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