Prosper.com Continues Rapid Growth, Strengthens Leadership
March 15 2012 - 5:09PM
Marketwired
Prosper.com, a peer-to-peer lending marketplace for personal loans
and investments, announced today that its rapid growth has
continued through early 2012 and concurrently, the company has made
several leadership changes and additions to better serve the
quickly expanding P2P lending market. Chris Larsen has moved from
the role of CEO and Chairman to serve exclusively as Chairman. The
company also announced that Dawn Lepore, who previously served as
CEO and chairman of drugstore.com and vice chairman of The Charles
Schwab Corporation, would serve as interim CEO. Prosper also
announced that private equity investor and 23-year veteran of
Goldman Sachs, Eric Schwartz, would join the board.
"As Prosper continues to achieve incredible growth, now is the
time to embrace the next phase of the company's evolution," said
Larsen. "As Chairman, I look forward to working closely with the
executive team to build a truly innovative consumer credit
company."
The company reported nearly 200% annual growth in loans
originated through its platform in 2011 and February loan
originations increased 290% from the same period last year.
Increased borrower and investor demand for affordable financing
alternatives and higher returns have helped fuel gains at the P2P
lending pioneer. Since its inception, the company has facilitated
the funding of more than $314 million in P2P consumer loans.
"The P2P lending industry is at a pivotal point in its
development and Prosper.com, with its exceptional management team
and industry-leading credit risk model, is uniquely positioned to
move this category forward and provide borrowers and investors with
a better, more efficient lending alternative," said Lepore. At
Schwab, Lepore served on Schwab's Executive Committee. She
currently holds seats on the boards of eBay and Coupons.com, and
previously served on the boards of Wal-Mart and The New York
Times.
Mr. Schwartz was formerly co-head of asset management at Goldman
Sachs and held a number of senior executive positions at the
company, including as a member of the investment bank's Management
Committee.
"I am excited to be investing in and joining the board of such
an innovative company," said Schwartz. "The Prosper.com marketplace
is increasingly serving as a mainstream financial instrument for
consumers and investors because of the simple value proposition it
offers to both sides of the marketplace: access to fairly priced
credit and attractive, risk-adjusted investor returns."
For more information on P2P lending, visit www.Prosper.com.
Notes offered by Prospectus.
About Prosper Prosper Marketplace Inc., a
peer-to-peer lending marketplace that brings together creditworthy
borrowers with individual and institutional investors, allows
people to invest in each other in a way that is financially and
socially rewarding. Individual and institutional investors invest
in minimum increments of $25 on loan listings they select. In
addition to credit scores, ratings and histories, investors can
consider borrowers' personal loan descriptions, endorsements from
friends, and community affiliations. Prosper handles the servicing
of the loan on behalf of the matched borrowers and investors.
Prosper was co-founded by Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-LOAN.
Prosper has raised $83.85 million in venture capital and is backed
by financial and technology luminaries including, Tim Draper of
Draper Fisher Jurvetson; David Silverman of Crosslink Capital,
Accel Partners; CompuCredit; Omidyar Network; Capital One
Co-founder Nigel Morris of QED Investors; Court Coursey of
TomorrowVentures; Larry Cheng of Volition Capital.
Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine
Prosper Press Contact: Laurie Azzano 415.786.3317
laurie@cosmo-pr.com