A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – ALTERNATIVE LENDING
- CommonBond, a Brooklyn-based education loans and refinancing platform, closes a $231M securitization of refinanced education loans. Link
- Chinese P2P lender Tuandaiwang raises $262M in a pre-IPO round led by China Minsheng Investment, with participation from Beijing Yisheng Innovation Technology and Beihai Hongtai Investment. Link
- Darwin Loan Solutions, a Manchester-based provider of secured and unsecured personal loans through Evolution and Progressive Money brands, secures a GBP 100M ($128M) facility from Insight Asset Management and an undisclosed UK-based private credit manager. Link
- Toronto-based PoS loans provider Financeit secures a $75M renewable securitization facility and a $10M warehouse facility with a major Canadian life insurance company. Link
- Health First Financial, a Springfield, US-based patient financing provider, secures a $75M credit facility from a lending syndicate of Umpqua Bank, Columbia Bank, Opus Bank and Pacific Continental Bank. Link
London-based P2P lender Zopa raises a $41.2M Series E round from Wadhawan Global Capital and Northzone. Link - San Francisco-based public finance company Neighborly raises a $25M Series A round led by 8VC, with participation from Emerson Collective, Sound Ventures, Maven Ventures, Bee Partners, Stanford University, Govtech Fund, Abstract.vc, and Fintech Collective.m Link
- London-based P2P lender RateSetter raises a GBP 13M ($16.6M) round from Woodford Investment Management and Artemis. Link
- NYC-based Zibby, an omnichannel lease-to-own payment option for online and in-store shopping, raises $13.5M in a funding round led by CURO and MissionOG, with participation from Blumberg Capital and Tribeca Venture Partners.Link
- Blispay, a Baltimore, US-based purchase financing solutions provider, raises a $12M funding round from FirstMark, Accomplice, NEA, Camden Partners, and F-Prime Capital. Link
- MoneyTap, a Bangalore, India-based personal credit line provider, raises $9M in a funding round led by Sequoia, with participation from NEA and Prime Venture Partners. Link
- German real estate crowdfunding platform Exporo raises €8M ($9M) from E.Ventures, Holtzbrinck, Sunstone and BPO Capital. Link
- Seoul-based marketplace lender Lendit raises $8.9M from Altos Ventures, YellowDog and Collaborative Fund. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Remotize (2016, Ann Arbor) – A peer-to-peer auction styled marketplace for student loans. Students post customized loan plans using available templates while investors browse the marketplace and place bids on student loans. Investors offering the lowest interest rates on a particular loan win the right to invest in that student.
Orchard Lending Club (2016, Luton) – First P2P lending platform which provides insurance premium, professional and school fee funding in the UK. Also offers working capital loans to schools and professional practices like insurance brokers and legal & accountancy firms. Minimum investment is £100 with term commitments of 1,2,3,4 or 5 years.
LEADER BOARD – ALTERNATIVE LENDING
Consumer Loans
Lending Club (2007, SF, IPO) – P2P online lending marketplace. Backed by Canaan Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures, Foundation Capital. Went public in 2014.
SoFi (2011, SF, $2.12B) – Marketplace lender and provider of student loan refinancing. Backed by Morgan Stanley, SoftBank, Third Point Ventures, Renren, Discovery Capital, Baseline Ventures, QED Investors.
Prosper (2005, SF, $353M) – P2P lending marketplace. Backed by Credit Suisse, Sequoia Capital, Francisco Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Avant (2012, Chicago, $655M) – Online lending platform. Backed by Tiger Global Management, Victory Park Capital, August Capital.
Affirm (2012, SF, $420M) – Provides instant point-of-sale financing for online purchases. Backed by Spark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
GreenSky (2006, Atlanta, $410M) – A consumer finance marketplace, specializing in providing support services for consumer credit in the home improvement, retail, and healthcare industries. Backed by QED Investors, TPG, Fifth Third Bancorp.
Klarna (2005, Stockholm, $335.8M) – Platform providing e-commerce payment solutions for merchants and shoppers. Backed by General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, QED Investors, DST Global.
Business Loans
OnDeck (2007, NY, IPO) – Technology-enabled financial platform that provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses. Backed by Tiger Global Management, Google Ventures, RRE Ventures. Went public in 2014.
IOU Financial (2006, Kennesaw, IPO) – Working capital loan provider to small businesses. Went public in 2014.
Funding Circle (2010, London, $375M) – P2P marketplace for business loans. Backed by Accel Partners, Index Ventures, Union Square Ventures, DST Global, Temasek, Ribbit Capital, Baillie Gifford, Rocket Internet, Sands Capital, Montage Ventures, Endurance Companies.
Kabbage (2009, Atlanta, $241M) – Provider of working capital loans for small businesses. Backed by Reverence Capital Partners, SoftBank Capital, Mohr Davidow Ventures, BlueRun Ventures.
Behalf (2011, NY, $156M) – Lending platform which offers financing for small businesses. Backed by Sequoia Capital, Viola Group, Spark Capital, Vintage Partners, Western Technology Investment, Victory Park Capital, MissionOG, Maverick Ventures.
BlueVine (2013, Redwood City, $113M) – An online invice factoring company. Backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North, and Citi Ventures.
AbleLending (2014, Texas, $111M) – A collaborative lending platform for small businesses. Backed by Community Investment Management.
LendingHome (2013, SF, $109M) – Online mortgage marketplace for real estate loan. Backed by Foundation Capital, Renren, Ribbit Capital.
Fundbox (2012, SF, $107.5M) – An invoice discounting service provider.Backed by Spark Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Khosla Ventures.
Enablers
Think Finance (2001, Fort Worth, $60M) – Analytics and technology services for lenders. Backed by Sequoia Capital, TCV, Victory Park Capital.
Zest Finance (2009, LA, $54M) – Deploys machine learning to provide lenders with borrowers’ credit score. Backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Kensington Capital, Northgate Capital, Baidu.
FactorTrust (2006, Atlanta, $43.6M) – Provider of consumer data, analytics and risk scoring solutions on those underserved by traditional banking channels. Backed by ABS Capital Partners, MissionOG, Archbrook.
Insikt (2012, SF, $24M) – White label platform for online lending. Backed by Accelerator Ventures, Investment AB Kinnevik, FirstMark Capital, Atalaya Capital.
Investment Platforms
Orchard (2013, NYC, $45M) – An investment and analytics platform that supports the lending marketplaces by providing technical and operational efficiency to help institutional investors and loan originators connect and transact. Backed by Canaan Partners, Spark Capital, QED Investors, Thrive Capital, Thomvest Ventures, Victory Park Capital, Conversion Capital, Tom Glocer, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Nyca Partners, Social Leverage.
Leader board includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
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