Prosper is in talks with Chinese conglomerate Linca to sell an approximately 10% stake in the company; according to the source, Linca would invest $50 million in Prosper at a valuation of about $550 million, reducing Prosper's value from approximately $2 billion reported in 2015; plans for its recent $5 billion investment in loans on the platform from a consortium of investors continues and this new deal is reportedly expected to help provide capital for future investments. Source
OnDeck Capital beat earnings estimates and missed revenue estimates for the second quarter; revenue was $86.85 million, increasing 25% from the comparable quarter; earnings per share were $0.02, increasing from -$0.20 in the second quarter of 2016; loan originations decreased from $589.7 million in the second quarter of 2016 to $464.4 million in the second quarter of 2017; company reported success in acceleration to profitability; expanded online lending partnership with JPMorgan for up to four years; deBanked provides their perspective on the earnings release. Source
LendingRobot shares returns for the second quarter; aggregated return for the LendingRobot series was 2.7% year to date; there are currently four risk-based funds in the series ranging from short term conservative to long term aggressive; loans included in the funds are from Lending Club, Prosper, Funding Circle and Lending Home; the series funds are available to accredited investors for investment. Source
P2P lenders in the UK will be required to give information to investors on loan performance; the new measure is expected to be announced this year with implementation not likely until mid-2018; both information on delinquent loans and due diligence were included in the FCA's interim consultation paper; the latest review by the FCA is the second in two years. Source
Fellow Finance is a Finnish P2P lender; the new offering will allow businesses to turn trade receivables into cash; invoices will be placed on the marketplace for investors; the loans will be offered in addition to traditional business loans; Jouni Hintikka, CEO of Fellow Finance, stated: "Financing a trade receivable is one of the easiest and most reasonable ways for companies to acquire working capital. By financing an invoice, a firm immediately receives its money, which accelerates money circulation and supports the growth of the business. The invoice finance service by Fellow Finance is technologically a forerunner compared to traditional services and operators in Europe." Source
A report from Citi Global Perspectives and Solutions, titled "Education: Back to Basics" says student loan default and delinquency rates are down from 14.7% in 2013 yet still high at approximately 11% which is comparable to peak mortgage crisis delinquency rates of 11.5%; report also provides additional comparisons of the current state of the student loan market to the mortgage market crisis; notes that the student loan market overall is $1.41 trillion compared to $8.6 trillion for mortgages, making high student loan defaults less significant than a mortgage market crisis. Source
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released new rules for banking business lenders regarding APR transparency and pricing; the CMA has confirmed that P2P lenders will be exempt from its new banking rules; despite the exemption, it is likely that the new rules will cause more P2P lenders to provide greater APR transparency in order to maintain market competitiveness. Source
Short term small business lender Kabbage raised a $250 million Series F round from Japan's SoftBank, bringing their total equity funding to $500 million; according to TechCrunch, Kabbage CEO Rob Frohwein says the funding will be used to expand their US footprint, launch more analytical tools, expand into the Asian market and add new products; when talking with TechCrunch before the round was public, Rob explained the thought process behind going into new products like payments; Frohwein says: "Look at how PayPal and Square have both gone from being payments companies to small business lenders. There is a clear connection between how companies think about those two business areas, so it's not a giant leap of faith for us to consider this." Source
The company has raised its Series B round in an effort to expand the number of retail partners; Menlo Ventures led the equity portion of the investment with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, and RRE Ventures, among others; Victory Park Capital is providing the debt facility; founded in 2014 the company provides a white label solution for retailers to offer financing to their customers; they compete directly with firms such as Affirm, PayPal Credit and Klarna. Source
Leading non bank lender loanDepot opened the mello™ Innovation Lab where the tech team will continue working to expand their proprietary mello technology; in comments regarding the innovation lab, loanDepot CEO and Chairman Anthony Hsieh said: "Our lending professionals and LD tech team have combined strengths to create an unstoppable force in next-gen lending. Our never-ending, iterative innovation process is the basis of our business strategy and our true competitive advantage."; the mello technology is designed to make loan origination faster, easier and more accurate by integrating marketing tools and third party data; the digital experience is available to consumers, referral partners and lending professionals; this new lab is meant to foster innovation and allow the technology team to work in a unique environment that includes fun activities and nice weather. Source