OakNorth Bank Ltd., the U.K. challenger bank backed by Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd., sold a 16% stake to three investors for $203 million, Deal Street Asia reported, citing a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The investors were Singapore-based Clermont Group, U.S.-based fund Coltrane Capital and London-based investor Tosca Fund, according to the report.

Indiabulls Housing Finance now holds a 30% stake in the bank valued at $380 million, having invested about $100 million for a 39.8% stake in 2015. OakNorth, which was valued at $1.27 billion, will be able to lend around $20 billion in 2018, with the new investment, according to the newswire.

Sky News had earlier reported that OakNorth was understood to have secured £150 million of new capital from a group of international investors, thus reportedly becoming the first challenger bank in the U.K. to reach "unicorn" status.

Sources told Sky News that OakNorth is in advanced negotiations with a number of banks in North America regarding issuing licenses for the use of its Acorn Machines artificial intelligence technology.