Tag: Online Lending

Lenders, Keepers: An Investor’s Guide to the Online Lending Opportunity

Lenders, Keepers: An Investor’s Guide to the Online Lending Opportunity

Jan 1, 2015 | ,

Something old, something new, something borrowed… is a big opportunity in the online lending market.    In December 2014, investors with a keen eye on the world of fintech witnessed history in the making. First, Lending Club, an online peer-to-peer lending marketplace for unsecured consumer debt, began trading on the NYSE and within the month, had a valuation of over $9 billion. OnDeck, a web-based small business lender, followed suit with their IPO on December 17th, with a valuation at $1.5 billion. Shortly after, KPMG released its recent ranking of the best, most disruptive financial service tech companies. Not surprisingly, Lending Club and OnDeck ranked high in their 50 Best Fintech Innovators Report, at #6 and #7, respectively. That’s just the beginning of the story; there are a lot of reasons why the relatively young online lending industry heated up at the end of 2014 and will power investment opportunities through 2015. Before we go any further, let’s take a step back and understand what today’s online lending market fully entails. The Good, the Big, and the Ugly: A...

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8 Israeli Tech Trends, 8 Crazy Nights 2014: Online Lending (1/8)

8 Israeli Tech Trends, 8 Crazy Nights 2014: Online Lending (1/8)

Dec 17, 2014 | , ,

As Israel observes Hanukkah – a celebration of the light among the darkness – it’s time to highlight the tech trends creating sparks within the Startup Nation. Note, these trends are based on our deal flow – what our team sees on the ground. Trend 1/8: Online Lending How a trend is born:  According to estimates, lending institutions generate $870+ billion each year in fees and interest from over $3.2 trillion in lending. The lending industry is larger than the automobile and airline industries combined! Here’s the issue: the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, when consumers and small businesses needed access to credit more than ever, many banks stopped offering loans and lines of credit. The combination of this liquidity crunch, new bank regulations and increased dissatisfaction with the quality and cost of banking services resulted in significant friction in the traditional lending industry and set the stage for the emergence of one of the hottest sectors of innovation in the world today: alternative finance and online lending. Who’s who:  In Israel, not only are companies aiming to build the online lending...

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