Prosper has raised 20 million US$ from Sequoia Capital. Prosper also announced it has appointed Stephan Vermut as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors. Prospers management team is undergoing change after several persons left in December (e.g. David Silverman, Larry Cheng, Jeffrey Jacobs). The SEC recently approved Prospers new ProsperFunding LLC, a legal structure set up to offer bankruptcy protection for investors in the event of an bankruptcy of Prosper Marketplace Inc.
(Sources: press release & other)
I’d venture that the ProsperFunding LLC was set up in order to attract institutional assets. Most individuals aren’t savvy enough to understand the nuance in bankruptcy proceedings, or understand their risk from such an event. They’ve got to catch up to LendingClub and getting more institutions onto the platform is their only game.