Orchard provides some marketplace lending observations and lessons from 2016 in their featured blog post; cites comprehensively integrated risk management controls as essential; notes data quality as an important factor for investors; also says developing solutions for increased investor liquidity will be an increasingly important factor for investors as the industry evolves. Sponsored Blog Post
Southern Cross Financial is seeking to take advantage of New Zealand's expanding real estate supply with challenges in traditional mortgage lending; on December 1, the firm will become a P2P mortgage lender, evolving from a mortgage brokerage business; the firm has been arranging loans between alternative credit consumers and approximately 150 investors as a mortgage broker; the new P2P structure will provide a more standardized process for borrowers and investors. Source
Bloomberg provides insight on factors involved in a potential takeover of OnDeck Capital after rumors on Thursday that Kabbage was considering an offer to acquire the firm; it seems OnDeck's shareholders would likely veto a takeover with 45% of the company still owned by its original investors; as a private company, the structuring of the deal terms for Kabbage would also be difficult and to gain any interest from OnDeck's shareholders they would have to offer a considerable premium. Source
StackSource has launched an online lending platform for commercial real estate; the company provides a marketplace for connecting owners and developers with banks and non-bank lenders for credit financing; the multi-lending platform connects borrowers with lenders through the StackSource proprietary lender database; StackSource was developed from the TechStar accelerator program and was founded by Tim Milazzo. 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
Online lenders FIP, LLC and Future Income Payments, LLC are being sued by the State of Minnesota; the two lenders target seniors and veterans with pension advance loan products and charge exorbitant interest rates of approximately 200%; the interest rates significantly exceed Minnesota's usury cap of 8%; the court filings argue that the lenders are unregistered and unlicensed to offer loans in Minnesota. 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
StreetShares provides loans for veteran-owned small businesses; following the California bizWin™ and VetBizWin™ initiatives, StreetShares has partnered with the Northern California Financial Development Corporation (Nor-Cal FDC) which will expand its business lending solutions with contract financing; Nor-Cal FDC is a licensed Financial Development Corporation and supports small business capital solutions for more than 3.6 million small businesses throughout California including a focus on companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. Source
StreetShares has announced a $10.3 million fundraising; the US marketplace lender specializes in funding business loans to companies managed by veterans; the platform has a range of product offerings with loans issued for $2,000 to $100,000. Source
The Series C fundraising included $40 million in equity and a $200 million debt facility; the platform provides post-graduate loans to international students; it plans to use the funding to expand globally and offer more loans. Source