The funds raised will be used to help improve the platform, which is focused on helping to identify and match suitable borrowers with the right lending platform. Improving the supply side infrastructure of the P2P lending marketplaces.
Ian Rosen, CEO & co-founder of EVEN Financial, commented:
"Lending platforms today are confronted with huge hurdles in obtaining the right borrowers. Platforms are using a variety of marketing tactics to attract borrowers, but end up discarding most borrower leads during the qualification process. Our platform works to match borrowers with the most compatible lending platform at the lowest possible cost."
EVEN Financial will help marketplace lending platforms, like Prosper, gain access to more borrowers, who are well matched in terms of credit risk and who are appropriate for the platform in terms of what products they need.
Ron Suber, president of Prosper, added:
"New platforms like EVEN are a huge step forward for the Marketplace Lending industry. By giving access to vetted borrower leads, EVEN Financial serves as a perfect complement to lending platforms as it allows us to focus on pricing, credit, risk, underwriting and loan funding."
There are over 100 marketplace lenders in the US, but the development on the supply side has been somewhat slower. It still remains difficult for lenders to find the right borrowers and for borrowers to find the right loan originator for their financial needs. Rosen has also highlighted that at the moment investor demand is higher than supply in the sector and so borrowers should be getting a very good deal. This is something that EVEN can help with.
EVEN’s team has a wealth of relevant experience. CEO Ian Rosen was former GM at MarketWatch, CPO Jarid Maged was a former senior product executive at Admeld/ Google, and the CTO Phill Rosen, was a co-founder at Orchard. And Matt Burton is among EVEN’s advisors.
Brendan Dickinson, principal at Canaan Partners, who will be joining the Board, also weighed in:
"As the demand for P2P finance rapidly grows, we see a huge opportunity to capitalize on the supply-side of the ecosystem. Canaan has seen great success investing in other innovative FinTech marketplaces like Lending Club and Orchard, so we're thrilled to be backing EVEN Financial as they accelerate the disruption of traditional finance."
The company is very similar to the UK website, The Funding Centre. This website is focused on the borrowers, pointing them to the platform that will be best for their financing needs. Orchard platform in the US provides support for investors in the P2P space with analytics and investment software. But the ecosystem around the marketplace lending space needs to keep pace with the flows of money into the alternative finance sector and that is something we are starting to see.
