Zopa, the industry's first P2P lender, has reached a new milestone, originating over 2 billion British pounds ($2.5 billion) in loans since 2005; according to Zopa the firm has originated 300,000 loans from 246,000 borrowers and has 75,000 investors; in the UK, Funding Circle is also close to reaching the 2 billion British pound mark with cumulative loan originations of 1.92 billion British pounds ($2.40 billion) since its launch in 2010. Source
Real estate investment platform, Cadre, has gained the support of a $250 million credit line from George Soros’ Soros Fund Management; the funding has been a significant factor for the real estate firm which connects institutions with real estate investments after initially investing in the deals with funds from the credit line; past funding rounds have provided Cadre with over $68 million in capital and the firm is valued at approximately $100 million; in the first half of 2016 the firm closed over $200 million in real estate investment deals; the firm was founded in 2015 by brothers Jared and Joshua Kushner and Blackstone alum Ryan Williams who will be speaking at LendIt USA in March; Jared Kushner is expected to sell his stake in 35 companies as he joins the Trump administration as an adviser. Source
Aegon has announced it will allocate 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of its investment portfolio to Auxmoney P2P loans; the platform offers average returns of 5.5%; the investment represents one of the market's largest institutional endorsements in P2P loans; Aegon is also involved in a 15 million euro ($16.03 million) Series E funding round for Auxmoney. Source
Acuity Market Intelligence has released the 2017 "Ten Top Trends for Biometrics and Digital Identity"; the market intelligence firm says 2017 will be an important year for biometrics and digital identity; topping the list of trends for the year is behavioral biometrics on smartphones and their associated privacy issues. Source
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
Climb Credit is integrating earnings potential into its credit underwriting models for student loans; firm offers student loans for individuals and through partnerships with educational institutions; its credit underwriting process for a student loan includes multi-factor data on the earnings potential of the loan's borrower in addition to the individual borrower's credit score. Source
Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial has announced the acquisition of US payments company MoneyGram; Ant Financial plans to leverage and integrate MoneyGram's payments network to provide enhanced servicing for its digital clients; the acquisition represents a significant expansion of services both globally and into the US for Ant Financial; MoneyGram offers global money transfer services from over 350,000 global locations with over 40,000 payment processing locations in the Unites States; with MoneyGram Ant Financial will now have a broader payments network which currently includes its affiliate Alipay, a partnership with Paytm in India and a partnership with Ascend Money in Thailand; the acquisition also helps to support Ant Financial's mission to bring inclusive financial services to users globally. Source
Orchard has released a comprehensive report analyzing platform data attributes across the marketplace lending industry; the white paper is titled, "Making Loan Data Actionable"; provides insight on varying data management strategies across the industry and explores an accounting standard for alternative marketplace loans; Orchard has taken the lead on marketplace lending data standardization due to its association with the majority of the industry's lending network. Source
Coverager provides insight on the insurtech investment market with a list of 11 insurtech deals announced in January; Practo in India tops the list with a $55 million investment; firm provides a platform for patients to book appointments and also offers a software as a service solution for doctors. Source