Lending Club's chief technology officer, John MacIlwaine, has resigned and will pursue another opportunity; the firm will conduct a search for a new chief technology officer and has appointed the senior vice president for technology to oversee the business; MacIlwaine had been with Lending Club since 2012 and has extensive experience in executive management roles overseeing financial technology platforms. Source
SmartBiz is expanding its Small Business Administration (SBA) loan offerings to include a new online SBA commercial real estate loan; SmartBiz is an online marketplace providing small business owners with SBA loan financing options facilitated through banks; its new commercial real estate offering will include the SBA 7(a) commercial real estate loan. Source
Patch of Land has filed a Form D 506c with the Securities and Exchange Commission; it seeks to raise $3.2 million in debt capital with a minimum investment of $250,000; the company has already raised $1.5 million; the company raised a total of $23.6 million in 2015 and has facilitated over $100 million in loans. Source
One, Inc. has announced the closing of a Series B funding round which raised $20 million for the firm; the Series B funding follows a Series A funding round in 2014 and brings total capital raised to $36.7 million; investors in the Series B funding round included AXA Strategic Ventures, MassMutual Ventures and H&Q Asia Pacific; over the past three years the company has tripled its annual revenue and quadrupled its number of customers; offers a full Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that provides for all the core functions an insurance company needs; provides solutions for both new market entrants and large insurance providers seeking new technology platforms; it plans to use the new capital to add products and business lines as well as for global expansion. Source
Chicago-based Westbon has launched an auto and consumer loan platform for international students in the US with limited or no credit history; Hao Liu, co-founder of the company, says, "Our mission is not only to provide them with convenient financing options at affordable rate, but also to help them build credit history at an early stage."; the company says it looks beyond a traditional credit score, they look at the borrower's financial and academic status as well; the auto product will be available in 23 states and the consumer products in eight states. Source
AutoGravity has launched a new mobile financing app; the app allows consumers in California to choose a car and receive four financing options through the mobile app; the buyer can arrange all of the pre-sale details through the mobile app making the completion of the deal at the dealership fast and convenient. Source
The Federal Open Market Committee raised its target for the federal funds rate to 0.50% to 0.75% at its December meeting; Fed officials also signaled a more aggressive approach for rate increases in 2017 with projections showing the potential for three more rate increases next year; improvements in the labor market, positive GDP growth and stable inflation were key market factors for the rate increase. Source
BlueVine raised $49 million in a Series D funding round from existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners; BlueVine has so far provided $200 million in working capital and says they are on track to lend out $500 million in 2017; BlueVine credits partnerships for a lot of their success, in particular the deal with QuickBooks who says the BlueVine offer is very popular among users. Source
Online multi-lender, Bizfi, has announced a new partnership with Internex Capital; Bizfi will add Internex to its network of lenders on the platform; Internex will offer asset-based revolving lines of credit from $250,000 to $5 million for small to mid-sized businesses in manufacturing, wholesale, trucking, business and consulting services; through its online lending platform Bizfi originates loans and also matches borrowers with its network of over 45 lenders. Source
