Prosper.com adds 1 and 5 year loan terms. So far only 3 year loans were available on the p2p lending platform.
Prosper
Prosper Asks to Be Regulated Like a Bank
A Bloomberg article reports that Prosper seeks to be regulated like a bank in order to avoid the jurisdiction of the SEC.
Trust, Reputation and Community Aspects of P2P Lending
One of the biggest challenges for a new internet startup to offer an innovative financial service is to gain the trust of its potential customers. Consumers approach new concepts with legitimate caution.
The book ‘P2P Kredite – Marktplätze für Privatkredite im Internet‘ examines how p2p lending services can address the uncertainties and what measures can be used to build trust. After a short introduction of how p2p lending works and a look at Cashare, Smava, Zopa and Prosper the author covers the aspects credibility, safety, reputation, guarantee, sanctions, information and communication. Fabian Blaesi also describes how community features can help.
In an empirical study the importance of several factors for the perception and acceptance of p2p lending services by lenders is quantified.
The book is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and Amazon.co.jp.
Valuation Of Prosper Shares by VCs Dropped in Series D Round
Fred’s blog has an analysis of the financial data of the series D funding round Prosper Marketplace recently completed. The analysis shows that the valuation by the VCs per share issued dropped from 9.69 US$ per share in round C (June 2007) to 0.72 US$ per share in round D.
Prosper Raises 14.7 million US$ Series D Funding
Prosper Marketplace Inc., has successfully closed a the new funding round, which it announced two weeks ago. Prosper receives 14.7 million US$ from new investors Tomorrow Ventures and CompuCredit Holdings and existing investors Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Omidyar Network, QED Investors and Volition Capital. TomorrowVentures is the investment vehicle for Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Prosper Raising $13.3 to $15.8M Round
Peer to Peer lending service Prosper is raising it’s fourth funding round. The company announced it is raising between 13.3 and 15.8 million US$. Prosper expects the deal to be closed by April 15th and says a LOI has been signed with new and existing investors.