Dec 15 (Reuters) - Fintech startup Aspiration Partners Inc, backed by actors Robert Downey Jr and Leonardo DiCaprio, said on Wednesday it had raised $315 million from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management and affiliates of former Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer.

The capital raise comes just months after Aspiration agreed https://www.reuters.com/article/us-aspiration-partners-m-a-interprivate-idUSKBN2FJ18D to be taken public by blank-check firm InterPrivate III Financial Partners Inc at a $2.3 billion valuation. That deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Aspiration said it now expects net proceeds exceeding $700 million, including $200 million of private investment in public equity (PIPE) and nearly $260 million from the special purpose acquisition company's (SPAC) trust account.

SPACs are listed firms with no business operations but to hunt for a company to take public. They give shareholders the right to redeem their shares in return for cash.

California-based Aspiration says it provides banking services and investment products in an environmentally sustainable manner, claiming that customer savings and debit card purchases will not be used towards funding oil or coal industries. (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)