Orchard has been working for a long time on their new platform called Orchard Deals; the platform has been redesigned from the ground up and boasts more than just a secondary market; features include deal listings, capital management, advanced analytics, data services and news & insights; Peter Renton from Lend Academy spoke with Orchard CEO Matt Burton and outlines what’s new in the blog post. Source
Renren is a US listed publicly traded company currently managing a social networking business and a portfolio of financial technology companies; investing in Renren can offer investors exposure to a portfolio of financial technology companies; Lend Academy provides more details in their article; Renren's fintech investment portfolio currently includes some of the industry's top companies; it owns approximately 21% of SoFi and is also invested in Lending Home, Motif Investing and Fundrise; recently the firm announced a separation of its fintech investment portfolio which could offer an even greater opportunity for returns; accredited investors can receive ownership in the proposed spinoff by investing in the stock. Source
P2Bi is an asset-based small business lender; yesterday they announced a new partnership with New Resource Bank; Krista Morgan, CEO and Co-Founder explains how it works: “Businesses that don’t qualify for traditional bank financing are evaluated by P2Bi for a partnership loan based on joint credit policy criteria. Qualified businesses are extended an asset-backed line of credit with capital provided by the bank in a senior secured position, and the P2Bi marketplace in the second position.” Source
Lending Club and Prosper were the first and for a long time the only online lending platforms available to retail investors; recently companies have leveraged Regulation A+ in order to open offerings across real estate and small business lending to retail investors; Lend Academy outlines additional companies open to retail investors including: Fundrise, RealtyMogul.com, Groundfloor and StreetShares. Source
Cumulative issuance for marketplace lending securitization now totals $28.2 billion across 106 deals; Q4 2017 issuance totaled $4.4 billion which was another record quarter; SoFi issued the largest consumer and student lending deals ever; PeerIQ shares other highlights in their quarterly report. Source
PeerIQ released their third quarter marketplace lending securitization report; total issuance for the quarter was $2.6 billion down from $3 billion in the last quarter; SoFi closed two consumer deals and one student deal; Lending Club and Prosper both issued one deal; College Avenue issued their first ever student loan securitization. Source
This month the CFPB announced a new rule aimed at payday lenders to prevent debt traps; Lend Academy outlines the new rules put in place and shares perspectives from several organizations in the short term loan space. Source
Lend Academy reviews a session on applying blockchain to real estate after attending MIPIM, the world's largest conference dedicated to real estate; one company helping run a pilot is velox.RE; company is working with Chicago's Cook County on a program for transferring and tracking property titles as well as filing liens; the three perceived benefits are: a permanent, immutable public record that is immune to well-funded nation-state attacks, a path towards paperless land transfers and so-called "e-deeds" and reduced costs for offices across the country that want to upgrade electronic document processing systems; other applications for blockchain in real estate include tracking property ownership in emerging markets, real estate crowdfunding and tracking/transferring solar energy. Source
Last week Prosper closed their Series G, raising $50 million from an investment fund co-managed by FinEx Asia and LPG Capital based in Hong Kong; sources say the post money valuation was $550 million, approximately a 70% drop from their high in 2015; Peter Renton reflects on the investment and the current state of the market. Source
Prosper originated $2.9 billion in 2017 and now has surpassed $11 billion in total loans. Source