A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – ALTERNATIVE LENDING
- Prosper, an online consumer lending marketplace, closes a $5B loan purchase agreement with a consortium of investors, which are affiliates of New Residential Investment, Jefferies Group, Soros Fund Managemen and Third Point. Link
- Kabbage, a lending-as-a-service (LaaS) technology provider and lending platform, prices a $525M securitisation – a facility which is expandable to $1.5B. Guggenheim Securities acted as sole structuring advisor and initial purchaser of the notes. Link
- SoFi, a markteplace for Education Loans, secures $500M in a funding round led by PE investor Silver Lake, with participation from Softbank and GPI Capital. Link
- Home improvement financing provider, Renovate America closes a $200M credit facility with Bank of America. Link
- Zibby, a New York-based provider of point-of-sale financing solutions for online and in-store shopping, secures $150M in debt financing from Victory Park Capital. Link
- LendUp, a lender for the emerging middle class, raises $100M credit facility with investment firm Victory Park Capital to fund future loan growth. Link
- BlueVine, an invoice factoring solution, raises $75M in debt funding from Fortress Credit Corp. Link
- Upstart, an online lending platform, raises $32.5M in a funding round led by Japan’s Rakuten and an unnamed asset manager, with participation from Third Point Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and First Round Capital. Link
- Tala, a credit scoring and lending startup, secures more than $30m in a Series B round led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), with participation from Ribbit Capital, Lowercase Capital, Data Collective, Collaborative Fund and Female Founders Fund (F3). Link
- Sydney-based online small business lender, Prospa raises $19.2M in a Series B round led by AirTree Ventures, with participation from Entrée Capital and Ironbridge Capital, making it the largest fintech venture capital round for an Australian startup. Link
- Brazilian secured consumer loans provider Creditas (formerly BankFácil), raises $19M Series B round from World Bank’s International Finance Corp, Naspers and Redpoint Ventures. Link
- Snap Capital, an alternative lending platform offering unsecured term loans for businesses, secures credit facility with Old Hill Partners. Link
- Indian invoice discounting platform KredX acquires Hummingbill, a New York based accounts receivables management software startup. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Worcash (2017, Palo Alto) – An employer-enabled emergency loans platform positioning itself as an alternative to payday loans.
Fint (2017, Lagos) – Nigerian P2P lending platform with a sustainable business model, promising high returns to investors.
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, $1.5B) – Marketplace lender and provider of student loan refinancing. Backed by SoftBank, Third Point Ventures, Renren, Discovery Capital, Baseline Ventures.
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.
LendInvest (2013, London, $117M) – P2P lending marketplace for mortgage loans. Backed by Atomico, Kunlun, Macquarie Group.
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.
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.
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.
Leader board includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
For the latest update, visit Alternative Lending feed