Orchard Adds New Layer to Platform

Orchard has announced that it has partnered with Duff & Phelps in order to broaden its offerings.

Duff & Phelps is the premier global valuation and corporate finance advisor

This will allow users of Orchard’s site to accurately view their online lending portfolios and obtain independent fair values and return performance metrics on their investments.

Orchard may have spotted a gap in the market. It is increasingly important for platforms to increase transparency as investors need to understand their investments, and associated risks. But this is often difficult for retail investors to conduct themselves. Orchard’s partnership will add a new layer of data intelligence, as clients will have the ability to view Duff & Phelps valuation and portfolio return analyses alongside their portfolio on the Orchard website. 

Matt Burton, CEO of Orchard, has commented:

"One of the challenges in any emerging marketplace environment is the issue of data standardization. Our partnership with Duff & Phelps will help by providing a view into valuation data that is consistent across loan originators and individual loans. This creates significant operational efficiency for institutional investors and will allow them to focus on their investment strategy."

Noah Gottdiener, Duff & Phelps CEO, explained:

"We're excited to be able to provide our analytical insight tools to the institutional investors on the Orchard Platform. The growing interest from these large investors is a clear sign that marketplace lending has arrived."

This layer of infrastructure should enable the sector to continue its upward growth trajectory. Orchard is already on the road to becoming established as a critical part of the alternative finance ecosystem – a claim it cemented last month with a $12 million Series A funding round.

Burton added:

"The marketplace lending space is on a great growth trajectory and the new tools and infrastructure that are quickly coming on line will certainly fuel this growth."