Lending as a service fintech LendKey announced record growth in March 2022, surpassing its previous record set in 2018.
Quarterly revenue was up 50%, and total loan originations rose 60%. The New York-based firm attributed the growth to its expanding network of lenders seeking high-performing originations in strong asset classes like student loan refinancing and home improvement loans.
“LendKey leads the category in building network lending programs for consumer assets,” Vince Passione, CEO and Founder, said.
“As proven by the most recent quarter, our existing network lending programs continue to attract new lenders who are adding new asset classes to the networks we support.”
New partners in student loans, home financing
In Q1, LendKey added seven new lending partners to their student refinancing and home improvement loan network lending programs. In addition, LendKey welcomed five new lenders to the ALIRO platform, LendKey’s private deal network for financial institutions to buy and sell loan participation.
LendKey’s active customer portfolio of more than 335 financial institutions accounts for more than $400 billion in combined assets. In October 2021, the firm surpassed a significant milestone of $500 million in total funded loans.
Back then, Passione attributed the growth to the ALIRO program, an entire batch of fintech lenders and loan marketplaces that work with credit unions and community bank balance sheets to facilitate more than $2 billion of loans. The firm said ALIRO offers bespoke transactions to address one-time loan sales and balance sheet needs in addition to programmatic forward flow transactions.
Home improvement loan origination through LendKey’s networked lending platform saw 400% year-over-year growth, and March volume in student loan financing more than doubled versus the prior year. Originations over the last six months were 40% higher than in 2021.
At the start of the year, LendKey announced a partnership with Unqork, a no-code enterprise application platform. With Unqork’s enterprise-grade no-code system, LendKey said it now offers customers greater flexibility in underwriting and decisioning, can expand its ecosystem of product offerings, and seamlessly integrate third-party partners.
