Fintech firm Pagaya issuing $100 million in asset-backed securities

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Pagaya, a U.S.-Israeli firm that uses machine learning and big data to manage institutional money, said on Wednesday it is issuing and overseeing $100 million in actively managed asset-backed securities led by structuring agent Cantor Fitzgerald.

This brings Pagaya's assets under management to $450 million since its founding in 2016. Its artificial intelligence (AI) analyses data to assess risk in financial instruments, identifies emerging asset classes and seeks to generate a stable return.

Pagaya will use its AI to select and buy individual loans, rather than the traditional method of securitising a pool of previously assembled asset-backed securities.

Pagaya is targeting close to $1 billion in assets under management by year-end, Gal Krubiner, co-founder and CEO of Pagaya, told Reuters.

Customers include Israeli banks Hapoalim and Leumi, Citi, European banks and Israeli insurers.

It has raised $20 million from Viola Ventures, Oak, Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank and Clal Insurance, among others, and raised $75 million in debt financing from Citi.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen)