BEIJING, April 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Jimubox, a market-leading Chinese P2P lending platform based in Beijing, today announced that it has completed an $84 million Series C funding round, led by Investec Bank plc with co-investment from Haitong Kaiyuan Investment Co., a division of Haitong Securities.
The Series C funding round also included participation from new investors Mandra Capital and Zhong Capital Fund. Existing Jimubox shareholders Matrix China Partners, Xiaomi, Shunwei China Internet Fund, Ventech China, and Magic Stone Alternative each participated in the Series C financing round.
China e-Capital Corporation acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Jimubox for this funding round.
Investec Bank plc is incorporated in the United Kingdom and controlled by Investec PLC ("Investec"), an international specialist bank and asset manager listed on the London Stock.Exchange (INVP; LN). Investec was founded in South Africa in 1974 and has expanded through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Investec has full banking licences in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and is present in a dozen geographies including China, Hong Kong, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland and the US. Investec, which employs about 8,000 people internationally, has as its main businesses, investment banking, capital markets, asset management, private banking, wealth management and property finance. The current market capitalisation of Investec is approximately RMB 48 billion, with assets of RMB 450 billion, and third party funds under management of RMB1.05 trillion.
"We have been following the developments of the Chinese financial sector closely, and have looked for ways to participate. Given our banking experience, we were impressed by Jimubox's understanding and management of credit risk. The Internet finance sector in China has grown rapidly over the last few years, and P2P is one of the most significant growth areas. Jimubox has emerged as a leading P2P platform in a short period of time. We believe that Jimubox has the potential to become the market leader in this new and exciting sector," stated Richard Forlee, CEO and Director of Investec Capital Markets Ltd.
"Given Investec's strong track record in risk control, wealth management, and international asset allocation, Jimubox is very excited to have Investec join as a shareholder as we prepare for our next phase of growth," said Dong Jun, Founder and CEO of Jimubox.
Haitong Kaiyuan is a wholly owned subsidiary of Haitong Securities Company Limited, one of the largest securities brokerages in mainland China. Haitong Kaiyuan manages more than RMB 20 billion of capital across multiple investment funds. Haitong Kaiyuan has been activein investing in Internet finance as the industry has rapidly grown over the last few years.
Haitong Kaiyuan's Internet finance director Wei Bingfei stated; "We are a strong supporter of the Chinese internet finance market. Although this market is still at a relatively early stage and external uncertainties exist, we are fully confident of the long-term prospects. Through our time getting to know Jimubox over the last year, we have been impressed with their professionalism and team cohesion. We appreciate the opportunity to be involved and to support the growth of the Jimubox platform. Our involvement will help facilitate our plan in this important market area."
As part of this financing round, Matrix China Partners increased their shareholding ownership percentage in Jimubox. "We will continue to support Jimubox with capital, industry knowledge, and the facilitation of cross-border partnership opportunities. We feel that Jimubox has the potential to be a very large company," said Harry Man, Matrix China Partners' Internet partner."
The Jimubox team has built a marketplace-lending platform with an entrenched brand image, industry leading transparency, and a liquid secondary trading market. The Jimubox platform facilitates SME loans and individual consumption loans for under-banked Chinese borrowers by providing direct investment opportunities to RMB investors through an innovative online marketplace. Jimubox has completed almost 6 billion RMB of new issue loans since launching in August of 2013.
Jimubox has developed a multi-layer investor protection scheme that involves third party credit enhancement, cash-based security deposits as first protection against borrower default, and a borrower-funded mutual risk protection mechanism. Additionally, Jimubox has pioneered the concept of investor observation groups -- the "Jimu Jury" -- which provides select investors with monthly access to information and documents that are unable to be disclosed directly on the Jimubox website. These innovative measures ensure that Jimubox is a market-leader in providing the highest level of transparency and investor protection.
For more information, please visit www.jimubox.com.
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