Startup: Tala
Cited by: Sequoia Capital
Total raised: $105 million
What it does: Tala offers loans to people in underbanked countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, the Philippines, and India despite their lack of credit history. The Los Angeles-based startup collects nontraditional data from customers' smartphones to create a credit score.
Why it's hot in 2019: "It is a surprisingly under-the-radar company despite how well it’s doing. Tala's founder and CEO Shivani Siroya has a really interesting personal story. She used to work at the UN Population Fund, realized that 2 billion people in developing countries were being underserved by financial institutions, rolled up her sleeves to learn to code, and created Tala," said Jess Lee, partner at Sequoia Capital. "She’s been heads-down since then, has grown her company to 500 people across 6 offices, is one of only a few female founders to have raised over $100M."