Venture capital investment in marketplace lending is slowing as firms are struggling to become profitable; in 2015 venture capitalists invested $5.2 billion in 132 marketplace lending deals; in 2016 that total is down to $2.2 billion and 65 deals, according to a report from PitchBook Data; Moody's has also reported on a lack of profitability in the sector; with a key focus on achieving profitability it seems there are a few themes that will be important to watch in the industry including investor channels, unified methodology, capital usage, partnerships to increase demand and more reliance on institutional cash. Source
News Roundup
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The company may go public as soon as late autumn; sources state that the company will exceed a £1 billion valuation; investment banks are expected to be in place by spring; Funding Circle would be the first p2p lender in the UK to go public. Source
Marketplace lender, Spotcap, is headquartered in Germany and first launched in Spain; it now has opened an office in London and has begun serving the UK lending market; uncertainties with Brexit crossed executives' minds but didn't deter the launch; UK Managing Director, Niels Turfboer, said, "a lot needs to happen in the world [for London] to lose its position, which is basically number one in the world after Silicon Valley [for fintech]"; in fact, he adds, "Historically a period of uncertainty will lead to more restricted activity from the more traditional finance companies like the High Street banks. That has its effect mostly on the SMEs as they're considered to be more risky. I definitely think it's going to be a turbulent and challenging time but alternative finance will have more influence in the coming years, in my opinion."; the company focuses on offering working capital lines of credit for small businesses. Source
- Samsung And Ant Financial Eye AI With $40M Investment
- Jiko Raises $7.7m in Series A Funding
- Hong Kong, Singapore to Collaborate on DLT Trade Finance Platform
- Canadian Small Business Lender Lendified Secures $60 Million Credit Facility From ClearFlow
- Current Secures $5M in Series A Funding
- Homelyfe Raises £2.4M in Seed Funding
- M?kuSafe Raises $1.25m Convertible Funding Round
- SelfScore rebrands as Deserve, raises $12m funding
- Newable Business Finance partners with Open Risk Exchange
Billie is an invoice finance platform that launched earlier this year; the round was led by Creandum with participation from existing investors Speedinvest and Global Founders Capital; the company focuses on complete automation with no human interaction; It was co-founded by Matthias Knecht and Christian Grobe; Billie also secured a refinancing facility from a major German bank.
The CEO and Co-founder of Varo discusses what is wrong with traditional banks and how his startup digital bank is different. Source
Anthony Noto will serve as CEO and Director effective March 1; Interim CEO Hutton stated, “We are simply thrilled to have found someone of Anthony’s expertise and knowledge to lead SoFi. The SoFi board unanimously agrees that Anthony’s deep understanding of technology, consumer, and financial businesses make him the perfect fit to be SoFi’s CEO. We could not be more excited to have someone of his caliber on board.”; Noto has previous experience as COO of Twitter and also worked for Goldman Sachs. Source