David Klein – CommonBond CEO and Co-Founder – praised his new investors:
“We're thrilled to welcome some of the best investors in fintech today to the CommonBond team”.
“We're fortunate to have found investors who share our vision as we scale the business and continue to build a strong and lasting customer-centric fintech company.”
As part of the deal, a representative of August Capital will join CommonBond’s board of directors. Tripp Jones, the man tasked with the role, commented on the success of CommonBond to date:
“In just two years at national scale and with a lean team, CommonBond has established itself as a leader in marketplace lending”.
“CommonBond’s growth has been impressive, and we look forward to supporting the company as it continues to scale.”
Mr Jones is not wrong. CommonBond experienced 600% year on year growth in the first half of 2015 and is on track to have originated $500M by the end of 2015. The platform has suggested that it will likely hit the much-vaunted $1bn mark in 2016.
Brian Hirsch – CommonBond’s first external Board Director – remarked:
“CommonBond has a track record of exponential growth, strong leadership, and a maniacal focus on their customer”
“We’re very excited to see CommonBond continue to make waves in the space and serve consumers better than any other company in finance today.”
As these gaudy growth numbers suggest, this is not the first piece of news to emerge from the CommonBond platform this year. In February, the platform launched its “Investor Marketplace”, where qualified investors could trade student loans. In June, the company completed its inaugural securitization – rated as investment grade by both DBRS and Moody’s. In July, CommonBond announced Morgan Edwards as its new CFO. Coming from 25 years of experience at Macquarie Bank, Morgan Stanley and the like, Mr Edwards brought significant experience to the company– not to forget CommonBond’srecent partnership with Prodigy Finance. With its latest announcement, CommonBond has now added some serious financial firepower to its armoury.
The market leader in this space – SoFi – recently raised a staggering $1bn. The round reportedly valued the student lender at $4bn. Moreover, SoFi is now over the £3bn mark in cumulative lending volume. With this in mind, CommonBond may have some way to go. However, looking at the broader picture, the sector is certainly growing at a staggering rate and CommonBond – with is latest announcement – looks well placed to take full advantage.
