# Shivani Siroya

> Shivani Siroya is the founder and CEO of Tala, a financial technology company that grew from her field research with small-business owners into a mobile platform serving people who are often excluded from formal credit. Her path runs through investment banking, public-health economics, thousands of doorstep interviews, a self-taught prototype, and a continuing effort to make financial infrastructure respond to people whose economic lives rarely fit a conventional credit file.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Tala
- **Organizations:** Tala, Echoing Green, Stellar Development Foundation, United Nations Population Fund, Citigroup, UBS, Health Net, TED, Ashoka, World Economic Forum
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** MPH in Health Economics and International Policy, Columbia University, BA in Government and International Relations, Wesleyan University
- **Known for:** Founded and scaled Tala from a field-research insight into a financial platform used by more than 14 million customers, according to Tala's May 2026 announcement., Selected as a 2011 Echoing Green Fellow, a 2013 TED Fellow, and an Ashoka Fellow., Named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and an Aspen Institute Finance Leader Fellow.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2011** — Worked in investment banking and global health roles including UBS, Citigroup and Health Net, and researched microfinance as an analyst with the United Nations Population Fund.
- **2011** — Founded the venture that became Tala and was selected as an Echoing Green Fellow.
- **2013** — Was selected as a TED Fellow and elected an Ashoka Fellow.
- **2016** — Delivered the TED talk 'A smart loan for people with no credit history (yet).'
- **2021** — Tala raised a $145 million Series E to expand its financial platform.
- **2025** — Tala reported a $300 million annualized revenue run rate for Q1, launched a tokenized lending platform, and began a multi-country expansion.
- **2026** — Tala announced a $100 million partnership with CIMB to accelerate its launch in Vietnam.

## Achievements

- Founded and scaled Tala from a field-research insight into a financial platform used by more than 14 million customers, according to Tala's May 2026 announcement.
- Selected as a 2011 Echoing Green Fellow, a 2013 TED Fellow, and an Ashoka Fellow.
- Named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and an Aspen Institute Finance Leader Fellow.
- Serves on the board of Echoing Green and has served on the board of the Stellar Development Foundation.
- Led Tala through a $145 million Series E in 2021 and a major contraction and recovery during the pandemic.
- Taught herself to code and funded early model tests with personal savings before raising institutional capital.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Tala appointed Eric Weber as chief technology officer to lead its engineering, data and AI functions.
- **2026-05** — Tala announced an embedded USDC credit partnership with Airtm, starting in Guatemala, and reported more than 14 million customers and $8 billion distributed.
- **2026-03** — Published a LinkedIn article about Tala and CIMB scaling Tala's launch in Vietnam.
- **2026-01** — Tala announced a $100 million CIMB partnership for its Vietnam launch and said nearly 13 million people had used its app.
- **2025-12** — Tala announced a tokenized lending platform with Huma Finance, built on Solana and supported by a $50 million USDC credit facility.
- **2025-09** — Forbes reported Tala at a $340 million annualized revenue rate, 1.8 million active revenue-generating customers and a plan for six-country expansion.
- **2025-05** — Siroya reported that Tala had reached a $300 million annualized revenue run rate in Q1 2025.

## Links

- Website: https://tala.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivanisiroya
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/shivsiroya

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/shivani-siroya
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-26