MoolahSense, a marketplace lender focused on small business loans, has received a full Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS); the MAS license allows the business to offer its loan investments in the country to a broad range of investors including retail investors, high net worth individuals and private funds. Source
Small business, marketplace lender, Kabbage, has announced two new executive hires; the executive hires will focus on technology and data as the company seeks to expand and gain greater market share in online small business lending; Amala Duggirala will join Kabbage as the chief technology officer and Rama Rao will be the chief data officer. Source
Monexo plans to hire 30 to 40 people in a new office in Salt Lake Sector V; company plans to first start with personal loans and has already tied up with CIBIL for credit scores of borrowers; according to Monexo, good borrowers will receive a rate as low as 13%; Monexo has been in operation for 18 months and has offices in Bengaluru and Chennai. Source
Marketplace lender, China Rapid Finance, has now surpassed the one million mark in terms of borrowers; they are considered the largest consumer lender in China in terms of loans facilitated; the company has lent out 8.8 million individual loans since inception and believes their focus on emerging middle-class mobile active consumers, or EMMAs, sets them apart; the EMMA population typically has no credit history and is estimated at around 500 million people in China, the world's largest untapped consumer credit market. Source
ReadyForZero has notified users that the site will shutdown on November 12; the platform was acquired in 2015 by Avant to provide debt management and credit monitoring services for consumers; Avant is a marketplace lender focused on personal loans; users were notified of the consumer finance website's closing by an email from ReadyForZero and Avant has not provided any further details on the closing. Source
Blackmoon has secured $2.5 million in equity funding from Target Global, A&NN Group, Flint Capital and several private investors; company provides a technology platform for institutional investment in loans from balance sheet marketplace lenders; will use the funds for technology development and further expansion in the US. Source
Credible is a multi-lender focused on student loans; company announced the addition of the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) to its platform which now includes six refinancing lenders; MEFA will provide student loan refinancing through its MEFA Education Refinancing Loan; the MEFA Education Refinancing Loan is available in all 50 states, has a minimum of $10,000 and includes both fixed and variable interest rate options with the majority of rates ranging from 3.31% to 6.85%. Source
StreetShares is a marketplace lender focused on lending and investing for veterans; company has announced partnership with JPMorgan to launch the StreetShares Foundation which will promote veteran-owned businesses through a $10,000 monthly contribution from JPMorgan for veteran small business awards; StreetShares will manage the monthly veteran small business awards with the $10,000 divided between first, second and third place businesses each month; awards will be given based on public voting. Source
FastPay is an online lender and credit provider for digital businesses in the US and UK; the company has partnered with Hitachi Capital America Corp. for a new FastPay for Enterprise product; the new product will provide working capital loans of $10 million or more to digital media enterprises. Source
Funding Circle's, Samir Desai discussed his platform's business model at this week's Web Summit; Desai provided details on how his platform categorizes small business loans and makes credit approval assessments, noting that approximately 80% of businesses funded would likely be approved by traditional banks; also highlights the benefits of diversification for investors who can invest in multiple loans through a single platform; says 90% of investors are earning over 5% a year. Source