Lend Academy Podcast

John Donovan has been involved in online lending since the very early days. He joined Lending Club in January of 2007, before they had even launched, staying there through 2012. Since then he has been an advisor to many platforms, he spent some time at Circleback Lending and late last year joined Bizfi as CEO […] The post Podcast 93: John Donovan of Bizfi appeared first on Lend Academy.

Combatting fraud is top of mind for every online lending platform. When you are essentially giving away money it is absolutely critical that you identify bad actors before they are able to obtain a loan. Thankfully, there are companies out there that are readily able to help. My next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is […] The post Podcast 92: Frank Teruel of Threatmetrix appeared first on Lend Academy.

One of the more interesting companies in our space is Lenddo. They are a unique company in that they are truly global, operating in 20 countries around the world with their headquarters in Singapore. They don’t make loans themselves, at least not anymore. They license their proprietary software to financial institutions in developing countries to […] The post Podcast 91: Jeff Stewart of Lenddo appeared first on Lend Academy.

As many of you know LendIt USA 2017 is right around the corner and at this time every year I like to bring my good friend and partner, Jason Jones, on to the Lend Academy Podcast. Jason gives his perspective on where the industry is at today and how LendIt is going to address the latest […] The post Podcast 90: Jason Jones of LendIt appeared first on Lend Academy.

In many ways SoFi has become the leading company in all of fintech at least in this country. They raised $1 billion in Q3 of 2015, the largest equity round ever in our industry by a considerable margin. Since then they have continued to add new products, break records and execute flawlessly. The architect of this […] The post Podcast 89: Mike Cagney of SoFi appeared first on Lend Academy.

Many Lend Academy Podcast listeners are early adopters of alternative investment ideas. With that in mind we have a different kind of guest on this episode of the show. Hardeep Walia is the founder and CEO of Motif Investing. They have nothing to do with online lending, instead they have a unique kind of offering […] The post Podcast 88: Hardeep Walia of Motif Investing appeared first on Lend Academy.

Prospect Capital Corporation is a publicly traded BDC (NASDAQ: PSEC) with a market cap of around $3 billion as of this writing. They are a leading provider of private debt and private equity to middle-market companies in the United States. A few years ago they began investing in loans originated by marketplace lending platforms and they now have a […] The post Podcast 87: Christopher Johnson of Prospect Capital appeared first on Lend Academy.

ApplePie Capital has honed in on a target market that virtually no one is focusing on in marketplace lending: franchise financing. They have signed up a number of major brands, helping franchisees with the financing to start a new franchise business. My next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Denise Thomas, the CEO and founder […] The post Podcast 86: Denise Thomas of ApplePie Capital appeared first on Lend Academy.

SmartBiz Loans does one thing and they do it very well: SBA loans for small businesses. This singular focus has meant they have been able to make impressive inroads very quickly – becoming the largest provider of SBA loans under $350,000 in less than four years. Our first guest for 2017 on the Lend Academy […] The post Podcast 85: Evan Singer of SmartBiz appeared first on Lend Academy.

A company that has flown somewhat under the radar but has already achieved significant success is MoneyLion. They are part of a new breed of online lenders that see themselves as far more than a transaction-based business, they want to provide real value to their customers beyond a loan. The final Lend Academy Podcast guest […] The post Podcast 84: Diwakar Choubey of MoneyLion appeared first on Lend Academy.

I first mentioned Money360 on Lend Academy way back in 2010. Back then they made an initial foray into marketplace lending but the timing was not right. Four years later they relaunched the company and have had much more success the second time around. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Evan Gentry, the […] The post Podcast 83: Evan Gentry of Money360 appeared first on Lend Academy.

There are not many companies in online lending that are doing something truly unique but I think we can put Able Lending into this category. While they offer small business term loans they have a unique twist that can lower the cost of lending for the borrower. They invite their borrowers to raise a portion of […] The post Podcast 82: Will Davis of Able Lending appeared first on Lend Academy.

The real estate crowdfunding space is quite competitive today but not many companies, particularly those less than two years old, are making a profit. Sharestates launched in February 2015 and have been profitable now for over a year. My guest on this edition of the Lend Academy Podcast is Allen Shayanfekr, the CEO and co-founder of […] The post Podcast 81: Allen Shayanfekr of Sharestates appeared first on Lend Academy.

We have never featured anyone from Canada on the podcast but there has been a lot happening north of the border this year. Leading the way is Borrowell, a consumer marketplace lender that is been in business for about two years now. But in those two years they have accomplished a lot. My guest today […] The post Podcast 80: Andrew Graham of Borrowell appeared first on Lend Academy.

Most of the guests on this podcast work for companies that are less than 10 years old, many less than five. But our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast co-founded his company in 1996. Steve Bisbee is the President and CEO of eOriginal, a title he has held for 20 years. As their name […] The post Podcast 79: Steve Bisbee of eOriginal appeared first on Lend Academy.

In developed countries such as the UK and Australia many people find loans through an intermediary. This is where an independent website gathers information from various lenders and helps the borrower make an informed choice on their loan. In this country while we do have some companies offering this service no one has gone to the […] The post Podcast 78: Stephen Dash of Credible appeared first on Lend Academy.

The Marketplace Lending Association (MLA) launched in April of this year with three members: Lending Club, Prosper and Funding Circle. There have been many other initiatives that have launched in the past year but the MLA is the first one to have hired a full time person in Washington DC. In the latest edition of the Lend Academy […] The post Podcast 77: Nat Hoopes of the Marketplace Lending Association appeared first on Lend Academy.

Lending Club has endured some very public challenges this year as we all know. But the company has rebounded from the lows they experienced after the resignation of the founder, Renaud Laplanche, and they are building again for the future. The new CEO, Scott Sanborn, has rebuilt his executive team with many new faces from traditional financial […] The post Podcast 76: Scott Sanborn of Lending Club appeared first on Lend Academy.

The UK was the country that invented peer to peer lending. And London is considered to be one of the top fintech hubs on the planet. One of the leading sectors of fintech is peer to peer lending and Mike Baliman, the creator of the London Fintech Podcast, has been following along very closely. Mike has a […] The post Podcast 75: Mike Baliman of the London Fintech Podcast appeared first on Lend Academy.

Many years ago Brendan Ross was a Registered Investment Advisor and he was the first such person to invest his clients money in marketplace lending. Then back in 2012 he pivoted and started the first fund dedicated to high yield small business loans creating Direct Lending Investments in the process. I was an early investor […] The post Podcast 74: Brendan Ross of Direct Lending Investments appeared first on Lend Academy.