A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – ALTERNATIVE LENDING
- Kabbage, an Atlanta, US-based online lender for small businesses, secures $250M in equity funding from SoftBank Group. Link
- Shanghai-based P2P lender Dianrong closes a $200M Series D round led by GIC, with participation from CMIG Leasing, Simone Investment Managers, and other institutional and individual investors. Link
- Renew Financial, an Oakland-based clean enery and home improvement financing provider, closes a $300M revolving credit facility with Morgan Stanley Bank and Barclays Bank. Link
- Bread, an NYC-based consumer purchase financing solutions company, closes a $126M equity and debt financing round. Menlo Ventures led the equity round, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, and others. The debt facility was provided by Victory Park Capital. Link
- Juvo, a San Franciso-based mobile identity scoring provider, closes a $40M Series B round led by NEA and Wing Venture Capital, with participation from SignalFire and existing investors. Link
- Neyber, a London-based provider of salary-deductible loans and financial education through employers, raises £21M ($27M) in a Series C round led by Wadhawan Global Capital with participation from existing investors. Link
- Vyze, an Austin, US-based PoS financing provider, closes a $13.1M Series C round led by Austin Ventures with additional investment from Fathom Capital and Starvest Partners. Link
- UangTeman, a Jakarta-based P2P lending platform for personal and business purposes, closes a $12M round led by K2 Venture Capital, with participation from STI Financial Group and Draper Associates. Link
- PeerIQ, an NYC-based provider of data and analytics for the lending sector, closes a $12M Series A round co-led by TransUnion, Hearst’s Financial Venture Fund and Macquarie Group, along with existing investors Uprising and former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack. Link
- Borrowell, a Toronto-based online lender for personal and business loans, raises CAD 57M ($44.8M) in debt and equity financing.The CAD 12M ($9.5M) Series A round was led by Portag3 Ventures LP, Equitable Bank and White Star Capital with participation from FirstOntario Credit Union and a few other new and existing investors. CAD 45M ($35.3M) credit facilities were provided by Concentra and FirstOntario. Link
- Lendingkart, an Ahmedabad, India-based SME financing provider, closes a $10M debt funding from Kotak Mahindra Bank, Aditya Birla Financial Services and other financial institutions. Link
- Flexiti Financial, a Toronto-based point-of-sale financing and payment technology provider for retailers, secures a $6.25M investment from a group of undisclosed investors. Link
- Aire, a London-based alternative credit scroring fintech, raises a $5M Series A led by Sunstone Capital with support from White Star Capital. Link
- Self Lender, an Austin-based credit builder loans provider, completes a $5M Series A round led by Silverton Partners, Deepspace Ventures and Accion Venture Lab. Link
- ThinCats, a Leicestershire, UK-based P2B lender for small business loans, receives a full FCA authorization. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
MyFinB (2016, Singapore) – A provider of NLP powered analytics and risk assessment tool for financial institutions. Offerings mainly include reports such as basic company profiling, valuation driver report based on financial analysis and management review.
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, $491M) – 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, $65M) – 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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