This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 21, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: A consortium led by Khazanah Nasional Bhd has invested US$160 million (RM703 million) in WeLab Holdings Ltd, which operates Hong Kong’s leading online lending platform, www.WeLend.hk and China’s first fully mobile lending platform, www.wolaidai.com.

Others in the consortium include ING Bank and China state-owned Guangdong Financial Technology Group Ltd.

In a statement, Khazanah said its investment came after a round that raised US$20 million in January last year from investors like CK Hutchison’s TOM Group and Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund Sequoia Capital.

The investment represents Khazanah’s first investment in China’s financial technology sector, which will allow it to gain exposure to China’s growing consumer loan market. WeLab’s business model is “attractive” because the company cooperates with financial institutions to provide banking solutions on a purely online and mobile platform, while providing affordable credit to people who can’t obtain financing through traditional channels, Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said.

WeLab is also exploring a potential collaboration in online lending and direct banking with ING, with the early introduction of ING Direct, its online banking business.

“This second fundraising is eight times bigger and combines the support of a leading international financial institution and government funds,” said Simon Loong, founder and chief executive officer of WeLab in a separate statement.

“Looking forward, WeLab will start collaborating with Ule.com and the Postal Savings Bank of China in 2016 on Internet finance initiatives,” Loong added.