Prêt d’Union Raises 31M EUR

pretdunion-logo-2015French p2p lending marketplace Prêt d’Union has announced a capital increase of 31 million EUR subscribed by new investors, including Eurazeo and Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, as well as its historical shareholders. The total funding since its commercial launch in December 2011 has thus to €50 million. This new fundraising will be used to accelerate its international launch, scheduled for early 2016. Alongside its founders, employees and business angels, Prêt d’Union welcomes Eurazeo as a new shareholder, which joins a solid consortium comprising Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Schibsted (shareholder in France of the Leboncoin.fr website), AG2R La Mondiale, Weber Investissements (holding company of the founders of Financière de l’Echiquier) and Kima Ventures, the investment fund of Xavier Niel and Jérémie Berrebi.

Prêt d’Union is currently the first and only internet peer-to-peer lender to be certified as a ‘credit institution and investment service provider’ by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (French Prudential Supervisory Authority).

‘With loans of €200 million granted in just over 3 years, we have achieved a lending rate of 15 million EUR per month or an average monthly growth rate of 6%. This new fundraising, which was widely oversubscribed, marks a new growth phase for Prêt d’Union. It will enable us to commence our European expansion and pursue our growth in France, through numerous hirings, the launch of innovative technology projects, mainly involving Big Data, and ongoing investments in customer experience”, explained Geoffroy Guigou and Charles Egly, Prêt d’Union co-CEOs.

International P2P Lending Platforms – Loan Volumes May 2015

The following table lists the loan originations for May. The top four UK services volumes are close together, with Wellesley catching up. I added two new platforms. I do monitor development of p2p lending figures for many markets. Since I already have most of the data on file I can publish statistics on the monthly loan originations for selected p2p lending services.
Investors living in markets with no or limited choice of local p2p lending services can check this list of marketplaces open to international investors.

P2P Lending Volume 05/2015
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in May 2015. Source: own research
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the sake of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.
*Prosper and Lending Club no longer publish origination data for the most recent month

Notice to p2p lending services not listed: Continue reading

Interview with Patrick de Nonneville, COO of Lendix

What is Lendix about?

Lendix is an online marketplace for business loans, enabling investors to lend directly to prime small and medium sized enterprises. We started operating in France, making our first loans in April 2015. We’ve made 1.5M EUR of loans in our first month, and are on track for a similar number in May.We lend from 30,000 EUR to 1,000,000 EUR for 18 to 60 months with rates varying from 4% to 9%.

What are the three main advantages for investors?

We offer access to a largely untapped and high quality market, with low defaults and low prepayments. We have the same information as the banks via our Banque de France database membership. Last but not least, we charge no fees to lenders.

Patrick de NonnevilleWhat are the three main advantages for borrowers?

We’re fast, easy and transparent:

– we make offers in 7 business days and our docs are written in plain French

– we guarantee the funding of all the loans we put on the platform

– we require no personal guarantees from the company directors

What ROI can investors expect?

5.5% to 6%.

How did you start Lendix? Is the company funded with venture capital?

Lendix was founded by Olivier Goy in Q3 2014.

France was one of the first countries to lift the legal uncertainties around crowdlending and we saw an opportunity to plug the funding gap that micro and small businesses suffer from. There is a vast amount of capital available to lend, but small businesses find that dealing with banks has become so painful and distracting that they effectively don’t even start the process. Our aim is to surprise borrowers with how painless it is to get a loan.

The company’s shareholders (apart from its leadership) includes a VC, Partech Ventures. Olivier has a long standing relationship with Partech, having worked there himself, and having had Partech has one of the shareholders of the Private Equity company he founded in 2001.

We also have a bank, an asset manager, a family office and a large corporate amongst our backers.

An important point is that Olivier, myself and the other main shareholders of Lendix have skin in the game: we have committed money to our institutional vehicle and lend to every company that comes on the platform, under the same conditions as all the other lenders. Continue reading

International P2P Lending Marketplaces – Loan Volumes April 2015

In the chart below are the loan originations for April. I do monitor development of p2p lending figures for many markets. Since I already have most of the data on file I can publish statistics on the monthly loan originations for selected p2p lending services.
Investors living in markets with no or limited choice of local p2p lending services can check this list of marketplaces open to international investors.

P2P Lending volume 05/2015
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in April 2015. Source: own research
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the sake of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.
*Prosper and Lending Club no longer publish origination data for the most recent month

Notice to p2p lending services not listed: Continue reading

International P2P Lending Sites – Loan Volumes March 2015

In March Lendinvest reported a surge in loan originations and had an exceptional month with more volume originated than Ratesetter or Funding Circle. I do monitor development of p2p lending figures for many markets. Since I already have most of the data on file I can publish statistics on the monthly loan originations for selected p2p lending services.
Investors living in markets with no or limited choice of local p2p lending services can check this list of marketplaces open to international investors.

p2p-lending-volume-03-2015
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in March 2015. Source: own research
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the sake of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.
*Prosper and Lending Club no longer publish origination data for the most recent month

Notice to p2p lending services not listed: Continue reading

International P2P Lending Services – Loan Volumes February 2015

As February was a shorter month, loan originations fell compared to January with some exceptions. Ratesetter and Funding Circle are in a neck-and-neck race for largest volume figure this month. Prosper and Lending Club no longer publish origination data for the most recent month.  I added two more services. I do monitor development of p2p lending figures for many markets. Since I already have most of the data on file I can publish statistics on the monthly loan originations for selected p2p lending services.
Investors living in markets with no or limited choice of local p2p lending services can check this list of marketplaces open to international investors.

P2P Lending Volume 02/2015
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in February 2015. Source: own research
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the sake of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.

Notice to p2p lending services not listed: Continue reading