SoFi has developed a new marketplace lending fund primarily targeting family offices; a regulatory filing shows the fund as SoFi Prime Income Fund with 33 investors each investing a minimum of $500,000; total fund investment is $105 million; the Fund will focus on investing in SoFi's unsecured student and personal loans. Source
Goldman Sachs reported its first quarter earnings on April 18 with few details about its new online lending platform, Marcus; the only mention of the new platform was in the analyst Q&A; the firm said the new platform is evolving slowly and is operating according to plans; the firm reported revenue of $8.03 billion, an increase of 26.7% from the first quarter of 2016; net earnings were $2.26 billion and earnings per share were $5.15; disappointing trading revenue was a point of emphasis for the quarter; investors are interested in more details about Marcus, which has a competitive cost advantage and is reporting potential return on assets of three times the return on assets of the firm as a whole at 3%; as Goldman Sachs progresses further with its retail business expansion, investors will be watching the retail business contribution overall which could help to cover some of its recent shortcomings and give it an edge over its competitors. Source
Online franchise business lender ApplePie Capital has announced the acquisition of Funding Solutions, LLC and the appointment of Ronald Feldman as chief development officer; Funding Solutions is a six-person franchise loan consulting firm based in Michigan and will help business and product development for the firm; supporting ApplePie Capital's brand portfolio and product strategy, Ronald Feldman will also bring significant franchise market experience from roles at FranData, Franchise America Finance and The Siegel Financial Group. Source
Edward Jones has announced a multi-year partnership with St. Louis based venture fund SixThirty; SixThirty invests in eight to 10 fintech startups annually with each startup receiving an investment of up to $100,000 along with support from a business development program that includes mentoring and networking; Edward Jones will be involved in numerous aspects of the venture fund's investing and Frank LaQuinta, a general partner with Edward Jones, will join SixThirty's investment committee. Source
China Rapid Finance has filed for an IPO in the US; it will be the fifth online lender to trade on a public US exchange and the second Chinese online lender to list in the US; Lend Academy provides more details on China Rapid Finance and the IPO in their article; the firm is hoping to raise $100 million from the IPO; it is a peer-to-peer lender matching borrowers with investors and does not lend from its balance sheet; the platform targets underserved consumers and uses thousands of data points from alternative data sources including information on work history, payments, e-commerce, telco, search and social data for its credit underwriting. Source
Unison offers a unique solution to help homebuyers purchase their home; company provides up to half of the down payment to purchase a home and stands to benefit if the home value increases; product is available in 13 states with 8 lenders and the company is close to one thousand deals completed with an anticipated three thousand additional deals in 2017; chairman and co-CEO Thomas Sponholtz answers other questions about the platform from Crowdfund Insider. Source
Fifth Third Bank will expand its partnership with Accion US Network which provides access to a network of small businesses; the initiative will focus on increased lending for underserved small businesses in Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio; the effort is also an extension of the bank's five-year, $30 billion Community Commitment and will utilize $10 billion allocated to small business lending, product innovation and enhanced underwriting and fulfillment for this alternative lending channel. Source
US online lender Affirm has announced its 1 millionth consumer installment loan; the platform works with Cross River Bank for loan originations and partners with retailers to offer its credit financing solution; the firm is managed by Pay Pal co-founder Max Levchin and has also announced it will be moving its San Francisco headquarters to 650 California Street with 86,225 square feet of office space for the growing company. Source
In a letter to the board at OnDeck, Marathon Partners has outlined changes they want to see enacted; Marathon believes OnDeck has put a premium on growing their originations instead of getting costs under control and growing shareholder value; additionally they have been disappointed with OnDeck's corporate governance and executive compensation practices; the private equity firm recommends the lender cut costs to get them under control and seek the sale of the company to a stable partner. Source
David Kimball became Prosper's CEO in 2016 after serving as CFO for the firm; in February the firm signed a deal with a consortium of investors committing a potential $5 billion in loan investments for the platform over the next two years; Kimball talks about the firm's business, his perspective on fintech and his experiences as CFO and CEO. Source