Fintech startup SoFi is reportedly in talks to raise $500 million from Qatar, but won't gain any value from 2017

Twitter Anthony Noto

Online lending company Social Finance is in talks to raise $500 million from the Qatar Investment Authority, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
The round would value SoFi around $4.3 billion, making it a flat round from its valuation in 2017, according to the report.
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Online lending platform Social Finance is in talks to raise $500 million in funding from the Qatar Investment Authority and others, according to Bloomberg.

The new round would value SoFi around $4.3 billion, the same valuation of its 2017 financing round led by Silver Lake, according to Bloomberg.

Investors have sought protective clauses in the terms of the deal which would safeguard them them in case the company raises money or gets acquired below that price down the road, according to the report.

SoFi declined to comment.

Though the round is large by venture capital standards, it's just half the size of SoftBank's $1 billion investment in SoFi back in 2015, which valued the company at $2.6 billion. The company also raised money from G Squared in December 2018, according to PitchBook.

SoFi, which offers personal loans, student loans as well as other tools like checking and stock trading, is run by Anthony Noto, the former chief operating officer of Twitter and former managing director at Goldman Sachs.

Noto took on the role in 2018 after SoFi's founding CEO Mike Cagney stepped down amid a sexual harassment scandal at the company, kicked off by a New York Times investigation which characterized the company as "a frat house."

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