Participated · Equity · Nov 2021

Valon is a vertically integrated mortgage servicing platform that delivers an end-to-end modern servicing software for mortgage servicers and homeowners. The company says its platform drives superior operational efficiency and meaningful operating margin improvements for both Valon and its clients. Valon has grown 400% year-over-year and now services over $65 billion in mortgages, making it a top 15 U.S. subservicer. It has launched new consumer businesses in property insurance and property tax appeals and reports a refinance recapture rate consistently above the industry average. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate product development, double down on technology, expand market presence, and increase consumer cross-sell to potentially double or triple the total addressable market for mortgage servicers. Valon was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in New York City. Valon operates a tech-enabled residential mortgage servicing platform designed to give borrowers an intuitive, self-service interface supported by expert customer service. Its software automates servicing requirements such as disclosures, loss mitigation and payoff to increase borrower engagement and reduce costs. The company plans to use new funding to hire, build a loan originations and property insurance business, and pursue potential strategic acquisitions. Valon has secured approvals from government-sponsored enterprises (including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA) to service federally backed loans and is the first fintech mortgage servicer approved by all GSEs. The company expects to service approximately 20,000+ consumers and $6 billion in mortgages by year end. Founded in 2019, Valon operates in 49 states and has grown its headcount to about 100 employees (two locations: New York and Tempe, AZ), with plans to expand to 200 by 2022. Valon operates a cloud-native, borrower-oriented mortgage servicing platform built on Google Cloud that offers self-service capabilities for homeowners and real-time API feeds for lenders. The company claims its vertically integrated technology can cut servicing costs by up to 50% and emphasizes security features like encryption and intrusion detection. Valon was founded in June 2019 by Andrew Wang, Eric Chiang and Jon Hsu and currently operates in 49 states, expecting to add New York this year. Management says the business went from no contracts to $10 billion in mortgages committed to be serviced within a year. The platform targets antiquated incumbents by replacing clumsy websites and call centers with a mobile-first, software-driven servicing experience. Valon plans to use new capital to triple headcount to about 100 and to acquire additional mortgage servicing rights (MSR) contracts.

Participated · Debt Financing · Feb 2017

Prosper Marketplace operates a peer-to-peer lending platform and offers a broad product mix including personal loans, a credit card, home equity products, and investment offerings. The company reported strong recent growth, facilitating over $1 billion of personal loan originations in the third quarter (more than 2x year‑over‑year growth). Prosper now has over 150,000 customers for its credit card product, which launched last December, and recently introduced a fixed‑rate home equity loan that complements its existing home equity line of credit. The business says it has helped 1.5 million people to date. Management intends to use new capital to accelerate investments across its products and expand its reach as a financial technology platform. The company frames itself as purpose‑driven and positioned to scale over the coming years. Prosper Marketplace operates an online consumer lending platform that connects borrowers seeking fixed-rate, fixed-term personal loans with individual and institutional investors. Borrowers use the platform for debt consolidation and large purchases, while investors access consumer credit investment opportunities under Prosper’s data-driven underwriting model. Prosper reported monthly loan originations have grown steadily since July 2016 and an estimated net return on January 2017 production of 7.86%. The company has originated over $8 billion in personal loans to date and is focused on diversifying its investor base by bringing new banks and institutional investors onto the platform. Management said the recent deal provides funding stability and capital markets expertise as Prosper aims to grow the marketplace and achieve profitability in 2017. Prosper is a leading US peer-to-peer lending marketplace connecting individual investors with borrowers. The company received a $13 million investment from Russian fund Target Ventures, as reported by Rusbase. The financing was Target Ventures' first U.S. investment and coincided with the fund opening a San Francisco office to manage its U.S. activities. To run those U.S. activities Target Ventures appointed Andrey Kazakov, a former general partner at Foresight Ventures. The article does not provide operating metrics or detailed use of proceeds for Prosper. The report frames the deal within Target Ventures' broader strategy of investing in digital consumer companies abroad. Prosper Marketplace operates an online marketplace for consumer credit that connects people who want to borrow money with people who want to invest. The platform offers a digital application experience intended to simplify unsecured personal loans and reduce wait times compared with traditional channels. Over the past six years more than $3 billion in personal loans have originated through the Prosper platform. The company reported a record quarter with nearly $600 million in loans originated, up 200% year-over-year. The new funding is intended to support continued growth, expansion and the development of a national brand as Prosper builds new products and services for borrowers and investors. Prosper is headquartered in San Francisco and is the parent company of Prosper Funding LLC. Prosper.com operates a U.S. peer-to-peer marketplace connecting individual borrowers and lenders for consumer credit. Launched in 2006, the company was halted by the SEC in 2008 and relaunched in 2009 after resolving registration issues. Under CEO Aaron Vermut and his team, Prosper has focused on product improvements and attracting new lenders and borrowers. Monthly platform originations grew from $9 million in January 2013 to over $100 million in April 2013, and Prosper crossed $1 billion in cumulative loans with plans to hit $2 billion this year. Loan originations grew over 400% year-over-year and were up 30% month-over-month; at the end of April Prosper had a 35% share of the online consumer peer-to-peer lending marketplace. The company says it will remain focused on the consumer credit market and has no plans for an IPO at this time.