LendingHome was founded in 2013 and is the second startup business founded by Matt Humphrey; the firm announced its new consumer loan mortgage product at LendIt USA 2017; since its initial launch, the business has originated over $1 billion in mortgage loans with a focus specifically on fix and flip property owners; the new product will expand the capabilities of the firm's technology by offering consumer mortgage loans to first time homebuyers; the product expansion is a natural extension of the business and talking with Forbes, Humphrey says it has been a part of the firm's plan since founding the company. Source
James Blackham, former managing director and head of digital structuring at Goldman Sachs, is now leading a new insurtech startup; his firm, Just Miles, is focusing on personalized car insurance offerings; the firm has received venture capitalist funding and is developing its data analytics; at Just Miles, Blackham says he is taking the big data and analytics skills learned from his experience at Goldman Sachs and applying them to car insurance with the goal of providing an innovative car insurance solution for consumers. Source
A former SoFi employee has filed a California lawsuit; he is arguing that he was fired for reporting sexual harassment and has included in his court filing, allegations of impropriety in the handling of loans; source also reports that a broader class action lawsuit is being prepared on behalf of a group of mistreated employees. Source
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will hold a fintech forum focusing on blockchain and artificial intelligence on March 9, 2017; the forum will be the third fintech forum for the FTC; event will be free and open to the public at the University of California, Berkeley. Source
Through the partnership Zoho will offer Fundbox credit products to its customers in the US; Zoho is a cloud-based operating system for businesses; Zoho's customers rely on the system to manage their finances, invoices and working capital; with the Fundbox partnership, businesses can now easily connect with Fundbox for credit solutions to manage their cash flow planning. Source
After a pilot study with ZestFinance to test alternative underwriting, the firm has now announced it will extend its model to more broadly consider alternative data for loan underwriting approvals; alternative loan data is being increasingly utilized across the financial services industry; Ford believes the new underwriting initiative could help improve sales for the firm which are down 4.3% year-to-date through July. Source
In an interview with CNBC last week, former PayPal COO and serial entrepreneur David Sacks talks about how cryptocurrencies are fulfilling the original PayPal vision; he explains: "A payment is just a credit to one account and a debit to another. That's a database entry. We believed that, if we could get enough people to participate, money would never need to leave the system. PayPal could become the database of money."; he talks about blockchain technology helping to build web 3.0 and a new wave of innovation; the interview also touched on how the current environment shows some of the same signs of the dot com era, the two ways digital assets are a threat to traditional venture capital and some of the biggest challenges that lie ahead. Source
Amber Baldet was ranked 31 and is working with the JPMorgan team to develop blockchain solution Quorum; others in fintech include Vitalik Buterin the creator of ethereum, Brian Armstrong from Coinbase, and Ernie Garcia, Ryan Keeton and Ben Huston from Carvana. Source
Fund That Flip is a real estate crowdfunding platform; it has been around for three years and plans to add 25 employees to the Cleveland location; the company received a Job Creation Tax Credit on Monday, July 31st which applies to the company's plan to generate $1.5 million in new payroll. Source
Fundrise plans to offer a new fund that invests in the development of homes for sale in Los Angeles, California; investors in the fund will be investing in a diversified portfolio of real estate properties in development and for sale with the option to buy homes in the portfolio; investors will receive distributions from the fund's operating cash flow which will primarily be generated from the sale of homes in the fund; distributions may also be made from other sources of cash flow including structured equity or debt. Source