According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, Affirm — the FinTech startup fronted by Max Levchin — has picked up a fat $100 million in Series D funding.
The round was reportedly led by Founders Fund.
That means the alternative lending startup, which helps business offer consumers lines of credit, is now skirting close to unicorn territory with a valuation of $800 million, according to PitchBook Data. The research firm based those figures off of a Delaware filing on the round.
A filing that Affirm has not confirmed exists at the moment.
“There is no filing, and we have no comment,” an Affirm spokeswoman told WSJ.
Assuming she’s not being wholly forthcoming, Founders Fund joins an investor party that includes some rather august players already, including Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Spark Capital. In 2015, the firm reportedly grabbed up $275 million in debt and equity funding.
Affirm is a second act in the career of its founder, who was part of what is affectionately known as the PayPal mafia — the group of young entrepreneurs behind the product that went on to become PayPal. Fellow mafioso Peter Thiel actually made his own alt-financing news with his choice to invest in Even — the “anti-payday lending” payday lending company. The most notable member of that founding team is Elon Musk, who has gotten out of financial services in favor of using his resources and talents to make Star Trek a reality.
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