Firm has been providing working capital financing for small and medium size businesses (SME) for three years; reported working capital funding of approximately $200 million in 2016 and estimates total funding through 2017 to reach $700 million; firm primarily lends to retail, IT services, business services, media and entertainment, engineering and construction through its flexible working capital financing and Flex Credit product which offers revolving business credit lines of up to $100,000. Source
Lending Club and Prosper were the first and for a long time the only online lending platforms available to retail investors; recently companies have leveraged Regulation A+ in order to open offerings across real estate and small business lending to retail investors; Lend Academy outlines additional companies open to retail investors including: Fundrise, RealtyMogul.com, Groundfloor and StreetShares. Source
Offering products to retail investors is something a lot of online platforms have struggled with as they look for diverse funding sources; the panel at LendIt USA 2017 entitled: New Models of Raising Debt and Equity Funding: eREITs & More with Kendall Davis of Fundrise, Jilliene Helman of RealtyMogul.com and moderator Mesh Lakhani of Mark 2 Capital discussed one of these retail options; panelists focused on how they source deals, inbound versus outbound sales teams, and how you must learn to be selective when looking at dealflow; the eREIT is a good portfolio addition for investors, it is long term and lacks volatility; panelists also discussed their thoughts on the new Trump administration and future innovative ideas for their platforms. Source
The New York Department of Financial Services continues to thoroughly investigate the business practices of online lenders; a proposal is in process that would require increased regulation for online lenders; specifically new regulations would be instituted for all lenders making personal loans of $25,000 or less and business loans of $50,000 or less and would also apply to online lenders involved in soliciting loans and buying loans. Source
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released its fintech charter in March; many state regulators oppose the charter saying the OCC doesn't have the authority to offer the charter and that the charter is dangerous, unnecessary and violates state sovereignty; Brian Knight from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University discusses these arguments and how state legislation may evolve with the introduction and debate of the fintech charter. Source
Online real estate lending platform PeerStreet has partnered with Wealthfront; PeerStreet will integrate with Wealthfront's Path offering; the integration has been facilitated by Quovo and will allow PeerStreet customers to view their PeerStreet investments holistically within their entire Wealthfront investment portfolio. Source
Jon Stein first looks to the past of investing in stocks with significant milestones such as the introduction of index funds, trade automation and decreasing trading costs leading to the ability to be easily diversified; thus old models of charging people to trade or to be diversified don't work; looking at the current and future trends Jon discusses that investors are now more responsible than ever for their own retirement and need advice; Jon Stein shares how Betterment is providing financial advice to more people; the company manages over $8 billion in assets and has 240,000 customers. Source
Clarity Services is a leading alternative credit data provider; the firm has published a new report titled, "2017 Subprime Lending Trends Insights into Consumers and the Industry" which analyzes alternative credit data from the firm's database of approximately 60 million unique consumer identities; provides details on consumer trends and the financial behavior of this market group. Source
Patrick McHenry is one of the most proactive advocates for fintech in Congress; at LendIt USA 2017 he provided his insight from Congress on fintech and also spoke with Lend Academy in their podcast; his views are framing many of Washington D.C.'s legislative debates and his legislation, the Financial Services Innovation Act of 2016 (HR 6118), could be a significant factor helping to support future fintech innovation in the US. Source
John Battelle, founder of Newco, talks with SoFi's Mike Cagney about the firm and its business growth; Cagney talks about the firm's customer commitment and the support customers receive over traditional banks; also reports on the verticals it has expanded to since starting the business with student loans; additionally Cagney provides some metrics on the business including that the company has $1 billion in equity on its balance sheet, $6 billion of lending capacity, $9.5 billion in loans for 2017 and estimates $18 to $20 billion in loan originations for 2018. Source