On Tuesday, marketplace lender CommonBond announced that it closed over $275 million in separate warehouse line funding from Barclays, Macquarie Capital, and others. The new capital provides additional lending capacity for CommonBond to support the company’s rapidly-growing student lending business.
The new funding takes CommonBond past $625 million in total funding to date, across both equity and lending capital. Morgan Edwards, CFO of CommonBond, stated:
“We are pleased that two of the world’s leading financial institutions have committed capital to fund our growing platform and welcome them to our banking lineup. Stable capital is the foundation of our business and fosters expansion to benefit more customers across the country.”
Brian Foley, Managing Director at Macquarie, explained: “We are excited to partner with
“We are excited to partner with CommonBond, one of the leaders in consumer marketplace lending. The company stands out for their high quality underwriting, strong technology platform and innovative approach to student lending.”
In addition to the new lending capital, CommonBond revealed that it is continuing to grow its capital markets team and capabilities by hiring Beth Starr as Vice President and Head of Capital Markets. Starr brings significant experience across financial services, including capital markets, ABS research, and institutional sales. Starr was Managing Director at Jefferies and Lehman Brothers, and worked at Merrill Lynch early in her career. At Lehman Brothers, she was instrumental in establishing several of the firm’s fixed income businesses,
Starr was Managing Director at Jefferies and Lehman Brothers, and worked at Merrill Lynch early in her career. At Lehman Brothers, she was instrumental in establishing several of the firm’s fixed income businesses, including ABS, CLOs and structured credit. Starr is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. She shared:
“CommonBond is at the forefront of disrupting consumer finance, and I’m excited to be joining the team. CommonBond’s growth has been impressive, and I look forward to helping the company grow and diversify its funding sources, as it continues to scale.”
CommonBond has doubled its team to over 60 employees in the last three months, and expects to surpass 100 employees in the coming months. CommonBond CEO, David Klein, added:
“At CommonBond, we’re creating a company built to last. Our approach to underwriting, application of technology and uncompromising focus on people are cornerstones of our business. With this new funding, and the new additions to the team, we are well-positioned to ‘wow’ even more customers in 2016 and beyond.”