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A Plus for P2P Lending: Investors to Buy Up to $5 Billion in Loans on Prosper

A Plus for P2P Lending: Investors to Buy Up to $5 Billion in Loans on Prosper

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The rumors from last August are true. P2P lending giant Prosper announced a deal in which a group of institutional investors has agreed to purchase up to $5 billion in loans on the San Francisco-based company’s platform over the next 24 months. Investors include affiliates of New Residential Investment Corp., Jefferies Group and Third Point, and an entity of which Soros Fund Management serves as principal investment manager.

To further vest the interest of the investors in Prosper, the group will earn equity in the company based on the amount of loans they purchase. Additionally, warehouse financing of up to $1 billion will be provided by lenders including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

“We’re very pleased to be working with this consortium of investors, and believe they will be great long-term partners as we continue to build a large-scale business,” said David Kimball, CEO, Prosper Marketplace. “This deal gives us the funding stability and additional capital markets expertise we need to continue to grow our marketplace and achieve profitability in 2017.”

Despite growing pains brought on in 2016*, Prosper has seen positive growth since mid-2016. Since July, monthly loan originations have climbed “steadily.” That progress has continued into 2017– the company reported an estimated net return of 7.86% for January. As for plans for the rest of this year, the company hopes to onboard banks and other institutional investors to the platform.

Founded in 2005, Prosper presented at FinovateSpring 2009 as well as the inaugural Finovate in 2007.


*The P2P lending industry has been scrutinized since last year, when Lending Club CEO was forced to resign and prosper laid off 28% of its workforce. Additionally, Prosper suffered a 12% drop in lending volume in Q1 of 2016.