A significant byproduct of the acquisition by Lending Club of Springstone was the additional funding raised from T. Rowe Price Group, Wellington Management, BlackRock and Sands Capital was the valuation placed on the company. Lending Club is today worth $3.75 billion. This represents a 63% increase versus the last valuation from this past November.
With revenue growing rapidly and the growing consumer acceptance of peer to peer lending as a viable and economically efficient alternative to banks – many industry observers expect the astronomical growth rate to continue.
Lending Club was founded in 2007. Since that time the company has facilitated more than $4 billion in loans paying more than $300 million to investors. With an IPO on the horizon it will be interesting to see what the underwriters value the company at but most likely the most recent investors have made a savvy investment.
