union square ventures

Funding Circle Raises 100M US$ from Accel and further VCs

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Funding Circle raised 100 million US$ of equity capital in a round led by Accel Partners. The round also included other existing investors Baillie Gifford, DST Global, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Rocket Internet, Sands Capital Ventures, Temasek and Union Square Ventures.

The company will use the funding to continue to consolidate its position, as well as to continue to invest in technology and talent.

Measured by new origination volume during the last months Funding Circle is the largest p2p lending marketplace in the UK. The company is also present in the US and in continental Europe. Last week the British Business Bank committed to lend 40 million GBP to British SMEs through Funding Circle.

Funding Circle has now raised 373 million US$ in equity capital. The previous round was a 150M US$ in 2015 round led by DST Capital.

Auxmoney Raises Series D from Seven Ventures

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Auxmoney Logo 2016Auxmoney, one of the oldest German p2p lending marketplaces, has completed a Series D round with Seven Ventures as lead investor. The specifics were not disclosed, only that Seven Ventures along with Index Ventures, Union Square Ventures und Foundation Capital invested a double digit million Euro amount. Seven Ventures is the investment arm of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, which operates large TV channels in Germany.

Raffael Johnen, co-founder and CEO of Auxmoney stated: „The partnership with ProSiebenSat1 is an important milestone on our path to change the public awareness for p2p lending in Germany. We will make a big step towards our goal to enable access to loans for more people. The raised capital and the better access to TV advertising will help us to make p2p lending part of everyday life of millions of people.” (original quote in German; own translation)

Auxmoney trippled loan volume in 2015 compared to 2014.  As of January 31st, 2016, according to numbers on file with P2P-Banking.com, the company had originated 441 million EUR in loans since launch, with a monthly loan origination volume of 10.6M for the last month on file (January 2016).

Auxmoney management
Auxmoney management

German P2P Lending Service Auxmoney Raises 16M US$ Series B

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German p2p lending service Auxmoney completed a 16M US$ series B round, financed by Foundation Capital, joined by Partech Ventures and Scott Bommer, alongside existing backers Index Ventures and Union Square Venture. Index Ventures and Union Squre Ventures already invested in the Series A in the end of 2012.

Auxmoney was founded in 2007, and has originated 94.4 million EUR in p2p loans since.

The proceeds will be used for auxmoney’s ambitious expansion plans, by further enhancing the Düsseldorf-based lending and investment platform and expanding the company’s 60-strong team.

auxmoney CEO and co-founder Raffael Johnen said the investment marked a tipping-point for peer-to-peer lending in Germany, with the market set to go mainstream. “We are about to witness a major shift in consumer behaviour towards peer-to-peer loans. As clear market leader in Germany, auxmoney is right at the forefront of this development,” he said. “With our new partners on board, we are ready to turn crowdlending into an integral and mainstream element of Germany’s consumer finance landscape.”

Funding Circle Raises 37M US$ – Will Merge With Endurance Lending Network

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UK p2p lending service Funding Circle which facilitates loans to businesses has raised 37 million US$. Funding Circle, launched in 2010, has raised a total of 58 million US$ venture capital now. The series C funding round was led by new investor Accel Partners, with participation from Ribbit Capital (another new investor) and Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures.

Funding Circle also announced that it will merge with smaller US service Endurance Lending Network. Launched in 2011, the Endurance Lending Network has carved out a niche working with fast food joint franchisees but is not releasing its loan volumes, although they are understood to be considerably lower than Funding Circle’s. Funding Circle says that, combined with its back-end technology platform, Endurance’s established team of around 15 employees with experience of the US market will help it crack America.  The entire Endurance team will stay on at the firm, which will re-brand as Funding Circle as it targets what the Small Business Administration estimates is a $100 billion funding shortfall in the US economy.

In the US, the model will be modified says Samir Desai, CEO of unding Circle: lending will only be open to accredited investors. This is partly because of regulatory issues.

This is a very big step as it is the first merger of large p2p lending service and at the same time the first international merger. Funding Circle will be able to target a huge market.

Source: press release (via Techcrunch, Venturebeat)

Auxmoney Raised 12M from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures

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As reported earlier German p2p lending service Auxmoney completed a series A round in the end of 2012. Today the company disclosed that Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures participated in that round and invested 12 million US$. Together they hold 21,8% of the Auxmoney ownership.

Both VC have made previous investments in p2p lending companies. Union Square Ventures invested in Lending Club and Funding Circle. Index Ventures invested in Funding Circle.

CEO Raffael Johnen told P2P-Banking.com: “We are happy to have won Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures as investors. Both have comprehensive experience with online marketplaces nad their expertise will help us to accomplish our plans to grow”. Johnen plans to use the raised amount to continue development of the technology. Furthermore he want to increase the staff (currently about 30). Main goal of Aumxoney is the growth of the loan volume.