Consumer demographics are changing with more volatile income, and less interest and access to traditional banking products; LendUp has been working to provide a broader array of solutions for an underserved demographic of consumers and the fintech company has reported a number of successes; it has originated over $1 billion from more than 3.3 million loans; success for the company has come from offering innovative and diverse solutions paired with educational support; examples include graduated credit products that help customers migrate from a $250 emergency loan to a $1,000 installment loan to a $300-$500 low-balance credit card; the firm has integrated initiatives that improve credit availability for on time payments and credit management classes, also reporting $55 million in savings for customers. Source
While trying to raise money for their robotics and AI startup Trevor McFredries found an issue that he wanted to change, all investors were white men; he, along with his colleague Sara DeCou, stated they would not accept money unless the investors had a woman or a person of color in a senior position; 400 tech entrepreneurs have banded together to form a coalition called Founders of Change to make real progress on diversity; the group is inspired by the broader movement to make businesses more diverse and include more voices as the old ways of investing need to change. Source.
OnDeck Capital beat earnings estimates and missed revenue estimates for the second quarter; revenue was $86.85 million, increasing 25% from the comparable quarter; earnings per share were $0.02, increasing from -$0.20 in the second quarter of 2016; loan originations decreased from $589.7 million in the second quarter of 2016 to $464.4 million in the second quarter of 2017; company reported success in acceleration to profitability; expanded online lending partnership with JPMorgan for up to four years; deBanked provides their perspective on the earnings release. Source
Cross River Bank is looking at new opportunities in business payments; Ben Isaacson of Cross River Bank stated, “Payroll is predominantly set up for traditional salary, ‘regular’ employees. There’s a real opportunity to innovate on that front; businesses can change how their employees get paid to be more consistent with how they’re working.”; they are also looking at how they can better improve payments to suppliers for their customers; Cross River Bank currently works with some of the biggest names in fintech and prides itself as being a technology-first bank. Source
Goldman Sachs has been busy acquiring companies to boost its consumer facing business; they now have expertise across consumer lending, small business lending and real estate; Lend Academy shares their latest acquisitions, including the acquisition of Final, a credit card startup; it seems as though credit cards was the missing piece and it's possible Goldman Sachs will enter the credit card business. Source