Nebula Merges with Open Lending, Forming a New Publicly Traded Company

Nebula Merges with Open Lending, Forming a New Publicly Traded Company

Lending solutions provider Open Lending has agreed to merge with Nebula Acquisition Corporation, an acquisition company sponsored by True Wind Capital.

The merger will take place via an acquisition in which, once finalized, Nebula will purchase Open Lending and form a new Delaware holding company called Open Lending Corporation. The new entity will be publicly-traded on NASDAQ with an estimated value of $1.3 billion.

Members of Open Lending’s executive team– John Flynn, cofounder, president, and CEO; and Ross Jessup, cofounder, CFO, and COO– will lead the new company. Flynn commented that there is “significant runway” for new growth, considering Open Lending’s existing banking relationships and “untapped opportunities” with new partnerships.

Open Lending was founded in 2000 and offers automated lending solutions to banks, specializing in automotive lending. Ultimately, Open Lending helps banks offer near-prime borrowers more attractive borrowing rates without changing the risk profile for the bank. In 2019, Open Lending facilitated more than $1.7 billion in automotive loans for 275+ financial institutions.

“Open Lending’s ability to demonstrate consistent organic growth and high levels of profitability represents an exciting investment opportunity within the risk-based analytics ecosystem,” said Adam Clammer, Nebula co-CEO and founding partner of True Wind. “John and his team have developed a highly-scalable technology platform that helps hard working consumers get into a new or used car at the best rate possible. We look forward to partnering with Open Lending’s management team and Bregal at this exciting inflection point in the company’s growth.”

B-North Lands $2.6 Million Ahead of Launch

B-North Lands $2.6 Million Ahead of Launch

E.U.-based alternative lending company B-North announced this week it landed $2.6 million (£2 million) in new funding. The investment comes as part of crowdfunding efforts via Crowdcube and Growthfunders.

Combined with the $5.5 million (£4.2 million) the company has already raised, today’s round brings B-North’s total funding to just over $8 million, according to FSTech. The company will use the new capital to increase its workforce and boost its infrastructure.

While B-North has yet to launch, the company plans to do so in “mid-2020.” Taking a step in that direction, last month B-North partnered with Newcastle Strategic Solutions, which will provide a deposit-taking solution for the new lender.

While there are multiple alternative lending companies in the fintech sector, B-North aims to differentiate itself by lending up to 10x faster than incumbent players, placing core banking functions closer to the customer, and tapping its commercial finance broker channels for distribution. Much of this will be accomplished through “lending pods,” as the company calls them, which will launch across Manchester in the second half of this year.

B-North was founded in 2015. Jonathan Thompson is co-founder and CEO.