Blackmoon has secured $2.5 million in equity funding from Target Global, A&NN Group, Flint Capital and several private investors; company provides a technology platform for institutional investment in loans from balance sheet marketplace lenders; will use the funds for technology development and further expansion in the US. Source
P2P ISAs launched one year ago and have now been introduced by eight P2P platforms; industry participants are slightly disappointed by the offerings which have not gained significant traction; the slow start appears to be a factor of the platforms authorized, with the largest P2P platforms still awaiting authorization; it seems the lack of authorization for the region's largest platforms is delaying interest in the investment accounts from both individual investors and financial advisers. Source
Daimler Financial Services plans to invest 'double-digit' millions of euros in AutoGravity's vehicle financing platform; the investment will support Daimler's digital services financing portfolio; in January AutoGravity's app was launched in 46 states and it has now reported over 150,000 app downloads; it currently provides consumers with four auto financing offers. Source
India's CoinTribe has partnered with SMERA Ratings to incorporate a new rating system for its online business lending services; through the partnership CoinTribe will gain access to SMERA's ratings database for micro, small and medium size businesses; CoinTribe plans to integrate the ratings information with its current credit underwriting system for enhanced analytics on business credit loans. Source
Increased home prices combined with available capital are supporting renewed interest in house flipping; the number of investors buying and selling a house within a few months has increased to the highest level since 2007; current investors are reporting an average profit of approximately $61,000; big banks are now more interested in financing real estate lending for house flipping deals and more online lending platforms are facilitating these investments; real estate crowdfunding companies seeing increased activity from house flipping customers include 5 Arch Funding, LendingHome Corp., Asset Avenue, Groundfloor Finance and Anchor Loans. Source
Since 2008 home equity has rebounded as the economy has recovered; since 2012 housing equity has increased by $7 trillion; despite the borrowing opportunity, home equity lending has yet to return to its pre-crisis levels; data from the New York Federal Reserve outlines current borrowing trends and factors that are now influencing home equity borrowing. Source
UK marketplace lender Landbay has lowered its borrowing rates and fees in an effort to refresh its offerings for buy-to-rent property borrowers; rates for a two-year fixed term loan will now start at 3.39% and rates on a five-year fixed term loan will start at 3.59%; arrangement fees have also been reduced to 1.5% from 1.75%; the firm has also made some changes to its approval criteria; Paul Brett, managing director of intermediaries at Landbay had the following comments: "We are constantly listening to our intermediary partners and to the requirements of the market. Our rates have been reduced across the board to ensure we remain competitive whilst our criteria enables us to serve a wide range of specialist borrowers seeking a fast decision." Source
Funding Circle and Zopa both discussed the rationale for becoming a bank at the AltFi Europe Summit; Funding Circle's Samir Desai talked about three ways online lenders are collaborating with banks and said, "We at Funding Circle have no plans to launch a bank."; comparatively, Zopa is taking the opposite approach and Jaidev Janardana discussed the firm's bank expansion, noting that the firm will be focusing on savings deposit accounts and will be using deposits to fund loans. Source
Real estate P2P lending platform Octopus Choice has received full authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK; the FCA approval now allows it to begin the process for offering innovative finance individual savings accounts (IFISAs) for investors; the firm has been in business for nine months; it currently provides secured loans to residential property borrowers. Source
ApplePie Capital has built a dynamic marketplace lending platform with a range of high net worth and institutional investors focused on business lending for franchises; Lend Academy talks with ApplePie Capital CEO Denise Thomas in their podcast; the podcast provides in-depth details on platform loan terms for franchisees; Denise Thomas also gives insight into the small business franchise market and talks about recent capital investments for the platform. Source