Financial technology startup Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) has reportedly been looking to close $500 worth of funding from the Qatar Investment Authority. As of writing, the company has already raised a whopping $2 billion from its existing pool of investors.
Should the San Francisco-based fintech company successfully close the deal with the Qatar Investment Authority, its overall valuation would come up to around $4.3 billion, similar to its 2017 valuation led by Silver Lake, reports Bloomberg.
Fintech Unicorn
The company has been dubbed as a fintech unicorn in the market. In the past years, it has successfully launched a few of its products to the market. Founded in 2011 primarily as a student lending service, Bloomberg notes that SoFi has since evolved. Today, the business has branched off to offer investment opportunities, mortgages, checking and savings account, personal loans, and free stock trading.
Mountains of Challenges
It appears that the fintech company experienced one trial after another. Apart from experiencing a decline in its lending business, SoFi also lost its chief revenue officer Mike Cagney. According to Crunchbase, Mike Cagney announced his resignation last September 15, 2017, following allegations and his involvement in sexual harassment reports. Cagney initially dismissed these allegations as forms of distraction.
After the resignation of Mike Cagney, Business Insider states that Anthony Noto took over the chief revenue officer’s position. Noto was formerly working for Twitter as its chief operating officer as well as the former managing director at Goldman Sachs. Noto assumed the role early in 2018.
Other challenges the company suffered from included the layoffs that happened in 2018, notes Crunchbase. It had also been reportedly involved with misrepresentation with its student loan offerings.
Despite these unfortunate encounters, SoFi remains as one of the market’s most promising startups.
