SAN FRANCISCO, April 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LendingClub
Corporation (NYSE: LC), America's largest online credit
marketplace connecting borrowers and investors; Opportunity Fund,
the country's leading nonprofit small business lender; and Funding
Circle, the leading small business loan platform in the United States1, today announced
a collaboration designed to substantially increase small business
owners' access to transparent, affordable and responsible
credit.
Beginning this month, LendingClub will connect applicants
looking for a small business loan on its platform to Opportunity
Fund and Funding Circle. Opportunity Fund will leverage
LendingClub's technology to provide an online application
experience with prequalified offers to underserved small businesses
before applying its established relationship-based lending model to
fund and service loans. Funding Circle will apply its leading
proprietary credit assessment process to fund fast and affordable
loans to established, creditworthy businesses. This alliance
is intended to expand efficient access to affordable credit to a
broader range of small businesses.
"With partners like Opportunity Fund and Funding Circle, we're
creating an ecosystem where LendingClub's members can take
advantage of additional services from trusted providers that can
help them generate more savings," said Scott Sanborn, CEO of LendingClub. "This enables
us to both deliver greater value to our applicants and capture a
new revenue stream for LendingClub, while further simplifying our
business and setting the stage for more partnerships and
innovations for Club Members."
"Our relationship with LendingClub is a crucial component of our
ambitious new strategic plan2 to grow our lending from
13 to 45 states and lend $1.2 billion
by 2023 in responsible, affordable capital to women, people of
color, immigrants and other underserved entrepreneurs seeking to
build a better life for themselves and their families," said
Opportunity Fund CEO Luz Urrutia.
"By combining LendingClub's leading credit technology with
Opportunity Fund's mission-based, high-touch lending model, we hope
to dramatically expand access to affordable and responsible capital
to underserved small business owners across the country."
"This collaboration solidifies our strategy of growing Funding
Circle's presence in the United
States by working with partners who share our commitment to
helping small businesses thrive," said Bernardo Martinez, US Managing Director, Funding
Circle. "We're proud to have helped more than 12,000 US small
businesses access more than $2
billion in financing to date, enabling us to become the
largest online small business loans provider in the United States. This relationship with
LendingClub will play a key role in accelerating our growth as well
as increasing access to affordably priced capital for businesses
whose credit needs remain unmet by the traditional financial
system."
To better serve the millions of Club Members looking to improve
their financial health, LendingClub is opening up its platform to
include integrated offers from trusted partners. In 2018, the
company received more than 14 million applications but facilitated
loans to a small fraction of them. The integration with
Opportunity Fund increases accessibility and fairness for harder to
underwrite small businesses, while the arrangement with Funding
Circle simultaneously expands near frictionless access to low cost
credit for more established businesses.
This relationship between Opportunity Fund and LendingClub
builds on a pilot program launched in 2016, a first between an
online lender and a non-profit Community Development Financial
Institution (CDFI). Together, the companies have increased access
to capital for disadvantaged small business owners through an
online platform that delivers funding quickly to those who may have
been shut out by the traditional financial system, mostly
businesses owned by minorities, women, and immigrant entrepreneurs
– all with impressive repayment rates.
The arrangement between all three companies accelerates
LendingClub's strategy to offer a multi-sided platform to members
with a wider range of benefits that save them money and enhances
its mission to improve the financial health of its customers
through increased access to transparent, affordable and responsible
credit.
As three co-creators of the Small Business Borrowers' Bill of
Rights and founding members of the Responsible Business Lending
Coalition, the three organizations have long worked together to
promote access to responsible, transparent credit for small
businesses. This collaboration is expected to help thousands of
small businesses grow, create jobs and vitalize economies across
the country.
About LendingClub
LendingClub (NYSE:LC) was founded to transform the banking system
to make credit more affordable and investing more rewarding. Today,
LendingClub's online credit marketplace connects borrowers and
investors to deliver more efficient and affordable access to
credit. LendingClub's technology platform creates cost
efficiencies, which are passed onto borrowers as savings in the
form of lower rates and to investors in the form of risk-adjusted
returns. LendingClub is based in San
Francisco, California. All loans are made by federally
regulated issuing bank partners.
About Opportunity Fund
Opportunity Fund, the nation's leading nonprofit small
business lender, believes small dollar loans help hard-working
entrepreneurs make lasting change in their own lives and build
stronger communities by growing businesses and creating jobs.
Opportunity Fund's community of donors and investors is focused on
creating an inclusive financial system that empowers women,
immigrant, and minority small business owners. Our strategy
combines microloans for small business owners and new markets tax
credit investments in high-impact community infrastructure
projects. Since 1994, Opportunity Fund has deployed more than
$750 million and helped thousands of
entrepreneurs invest in their futures. The organization has
committed to lending an additional $1.2
billion to small business owners across the country and
investing $174 million in community
real estate projects by 2023.
About Funding Circle
Funding Circle (LSE: FCH) is a global small business loans
platform, connecting businesses who want to borrow with investors
who want to lend in the UK, US, Germany and the
Netherlands. Since launching in 2010, investors across
Funding Circle's geographies - including more than 90,000 retail
investors, banks, asset management companies, insurance companies,
government-backed entities and funds - have lent more than
$9.5 billion to over 65,000
businesses globally. Funding Circle is a member of the FTSE 250
Index.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements
above, including statements regarding the expected timing and
benefits of the described collaboration are "forward-looking
statements." Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking
statements include the ability to operationalize the described
collaboration, reaction to the described collaboration and those
factors set forth in the section titled "Risk Factors" in
LendingClub's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and
Annual Report on Form 10-K, each as filed with the SEC. Actual
results or events could differ materially from the plans,
intentions and expectations disclosed in forward-looking
statements, and you should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. We do not assume any obligation to
update any forward-looking statements, except as required by
law.
CONTACTS
LendingClub
For Investors: IR@lendingclub.com
Media Contact: Press@lendingclub.com
Opportunity Fund
Media Contact: Conan Knoll
conan@emcstrategies.com, 831-524-6764
Funding Circle
Media Contact: Connor Murphy connor.murphy@fundingcircle.com,
415-745-0971
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1 Based on Funding Circle loans
outstanding for the United States, OC&C analysis and
estimates.
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2
www.opportunityfund.org/strategicplan
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SOURCE LendingClub Corporation