Industry News
Funding Circle Co-Founder & Managing Director James Meekings to Step Down
August 8, 2019
Funding Circle’s lackluster business performance has led to a casualty. Co-founder James Meekings, who serves as Managing Director of the UK Business (the company’s primary market), will be transitioning to a non-executive role on the UK board in Q3. He will no longer be MD, the company announced.
Lisa Jacobs, Funding Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer, will take over leadership of the UK business, the company subsequently disclosed.
Funding Circle went public less than 1 year ago on the London Stock Exchange. Since then the share price has plummeted by 75%.
The company has been busy trying to correct course through various maneuvers, one of which has been to cut CEO Samir Desai’s annual compensation.
Fox Corp / Credible Deal – What’s Online Lending Got To Do With TV Broadcasting?
August 5, 2019
On Sunday Fox Corp announced it had agreed a deal to buy a majority share of 67% in Credible, a San Francisco-based online lending platform that is publicly traded in Australia.
Credible, which was valued at $397 million by Fox, provides credit checks for mortgages, personal loans, and student loans; gathers the information yielded; and presents prequalified rates and refinancing options to customers, which they can click-through to. In addition to an investment of $265 million for their stake, Fox Corp will allocate an additional $75 million to cover Credible’s operating costs for the next two years.
The news may come as odd to many familiar with some of the media company’s biggest subsidiaries, such as Fox News, 21st Century Fox, and Fox Sports, but it is the second such investment to be made since Fox Corp sold the majority of its television and film assets to Disney for $71 billion in 2017. May saw Fox acquire 4.99% of Stars Group, an online sports betting site, for $236 million.
The move could be viewed as an attempt to enhance how current financial content is delivered through Fox Corp’s channels. With access to a pool of data that covers information relating to large swathes of credit ratings, loan approval speed, and financing priorities, Fox Business Network would be better positioned to deliver analysis. The Wall Street Journal, which shares a parent company with Fox Corp, News Corp, noted that Fox executives will be able to use Credible’s data in the digital avenues of its local television stations.
Lachlan Murdoch, who was made Chairman and CEO of Fox Corp when his father Rupert stood down earlier this year, said in a statement that “The acquisition of Credible underscores Fox Corporation’s innovative digital strategy that emphasizes direct interactions with our consumers to provide services they want and expand their engagement with us across platforms.” While in return, Credible will “benefit from our audience reach and scale, will drive strategic growth, further develop our brand verticals and deepen consumer relationships.”
A fate that Credible founder and CEO Stephen Dash appears to be content with, stating that “Fox Corporation’s record of innovation and focus on audience engagement will further enhance Credible’s position as a leading consumer finance marketplace in the United States, creating opportunities for organic growth and the expansion of the Credible platform. Credible’s industry-leading user experience, combined with FOX, will provide greater impact and scale for consumers.”
But not everyone with a stake in Credible is convinced by the decision, as Bell Potter analyst Damian Williamson has claimed. “Premature is the word to describe how some minority shareholders see the transaction … This company is operating in a very large market and has the potential to do really well.”
Regardless, the deal comes after months of negotiations, which were initially secured in May, only to go through an on-again-off-again phase until recently. While signed off by both Credible and Fox Corp, the sale won’t be confirmed until the Australian Securities Exchange approves the transaction.
Representing the first of its kind in acquisitions, the Fox Corp-Credible deal is an anomaly within the industry, being the pioneer case of a broadcasting company foraying into alternative finance – a field notedly uncovered by vast portions of the media.
Maria Vullo Joins Emigrant Bank
July 31, 2019
Maria Vullo, who served as the Superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) from 2016 to February 2019, has been elected to Emigrant Bank’s Board of Directors. As well as this, Vullo will be joining Emigrant’s holding company, New York Private Bank & Trust (NYPB&T).
The move comes five months after the end of Vullo’s tenure at NYDFS, a role which she was nominated for by Governor Andrew Cuomo. In the period proceeding this, Vullo took up the role of Regulator in Residence at Fintech Innovation Lab’s Partnership Fund for New York City. Here she offered mentorship to enterprise technology companies.
Having been a partner at the international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP prior to her time with NYDFS, Vullo is versed in civil, regulatory, and criminal issues, as well as securities, banking, insurance, real estate and other financial subjects.
Her tenure as NYDFS Superintendent was noted for its regulations on cybersecurity, transaction monitoring and life insurance. However it was not without hiccups and conflict, as one hearing on online lending saw her display both a distaste for alternative finance and a seeming misunderstanding of how interest rates within the industry are calculated. And upon the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) proposal to establish a fintech charter that would grant bank-like powers to non-banks, Vullo opposed the rule in a letter, instead favoring state regulation over federal, claiming that such a charter could risk a financial crisis as well as endanger New York state’s sovereignty.
“Her depth of experience in financial services regulation and operations will greatly enhance our ability to provide innovative services to a range of customers in the markets we serve,” said Howard P. Milstein, Chairman, President, and CEO of NYPB&T, “She will be a great addition to our Board.”
Chase Ends Partnership With OnDeck, OnDeck Stock Tanks On Bucket of Mixed News
July 29, 2019
The market didn’t take too kindly to OnDeck’s Q2 earnings announcement on Monday. The stock price set a new all time intraday low of $3.01, down 24% from Friday’s close.
First, JPM Chase ended their partnership with OnDeck, the company said, bringing a 3-year relationship to a close. “We can’t speak for Chase and their change in priorities,” OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow said during the Q&A with analysts. “I don’t think it was specific to us.”
It was subsequently revealed that the relationship was never a significant moneymaker for their business to begin with. “On a standalone basis, it was a positive contributor,” the company said, but that it was “not a contributor to the bottom line profit.”
Breslow called the Chase deal a one-off that had some costs involved with it, but that they were optimistic about other deals with banks through their subsidiary ODX. “We do believe the drivers of this are not some fundamental readout on the ODX model,” he explained. “Again, we had a product that performs very well from an underwriting perspective. Customers loved it. We can’t speculate on why Chase made this particular decision. We just know it was specific to them.”
OnDeck also announced plans to pursue a bank charter and believed that the timing was right. Although they were “far along in [their] thinking,” they had not actually applied for a charter and they left the door open to possibly acquiring a chartered bank to achieve that goal. “I think the next logical milestone would be to look for some kind of either application for such a charter, but we’re not prepared to talk about a timeframe over which that would occur,” the company said.
Originations shrank to $592M, down from $636M in the previous quarter. “We do expect a return to sequential originations growth in the third quarter,” Breslow said.
The company also plans to buy back up to $50 million worth of stock to boost the share price.
PayPal Begins Offering Business Loans in Canada
July 28, 2019
PayPal has extended its popular working capital business loan program to Canada, according to company CEO Dan Schulman.
“This quarter, we began offering our PayPal business loan product to PayPal merchants in Canada, allowing them to access financing to build and sustain their businesses,” he said during the Q2 conference call. “This follows the expansion of our business financing solutions to Germany in Q4 2018 and in Mexico earlier this year in partnership with Mexican lending platform Konfio.”
deBanked ranked PayPal as the leading alternative small business finance company by originations in 2018. They are followed by OnDeck, Kabbage, Square, and Amazon.
Become: The Who, What, and Why of a Rebrand
July 23, 2019Last week Lending Express rebranded to Become. Founded in 2016, the company, which educates businesses looking for loans on how to appear more attractive to funders, was spearheaded by CEO Eden Amirav in Australia originally, with an eventual expansion to the US. Three years in, the company has over 50 lending partners across its two markets, a record of having facilitated over $150 million in funding, and more than 150,000 members on their platforms. As indicators of progress go, these are far from undesirable. So, when things were going so well, what led Amirav to decide to rebrand?
In short, the company had evolved into something different from what it was in 2016, and its name, logo, and stylized website fonts had to reflect that. Thus, Lending Express became Become.
Gone are many of the aesthetic features of Lending Express, replaced with fresher counterparts, but beyond the brand, much of the company has remained. Amirav, the ex-pro gamer who was national champion of Israel in Warcraft 3 when he was a teenager, is still around; their AI-powered funding odds calculator, LendingScore, continues to be used; and their offices in both the US and Israel remain open.
Rather than being hoarded remnants of times past, what Become has brought with it from Lending Express were deemed necessary by Amirav when discussing what was required to execute the rebrand. Explaining that before planning for the future of the rebrand even begun, Lending Express worked for months to comprehensively take stock of itself, and Amirav noted that all hands were needed and the entire company pitched in. Whether it was ensuring that URL links which once directed people to Lending Express now went to Become, or the drafting up of the new name, much of the work that went into the business’s metamorphosis came from within the company. Of course, Become specializes is helping small businesses get approved for loans, so not everything could be done by themselves, which is where a marketing firm came in to aid them with the crafting of the company’s new image.
As to the motives of the rebrand, the brief explanation given above doesn’t cut it. A blog post on Become’s website explains the origins of both names. With Lending Express having a ‘do-what-it-say-on-the-tin’ aspect to it, Become is much more abstract in how it reflects the company. Noting that Become originates from both within the company and without, Amirav explains the name owes itself to Lending Express’s development into a “no human-touch, all-tech based” company, following LendingScore’s creation; as well as the business’s ability to help its customers achieve their goals, enabling them to become what they wish.
Rebranding comes at a massive financial cost, with no guarantee of an immediate large payout upon launch, but as Amirav asserted, the switch to Become was necessary in his long-term plan for the company, as the “stress [of the rebrand] is offset by the goal of where they want to go.” “We’re well equipped with people, resources, and vision,” Amirav went on to say, and as well as this, he believes in the importance of a strong brand, regardless of industry, claiming that it “becomes a power to work with.”
And with their new logo and four-tone color palette sure to catch eyes, perhaps Amirav’s gamble will pay off. For now, he’s content with his rebrand going public, the continued business of Become, and the “shareholders [being] happy.”
CAN Capital Hired a New CFO: Here’s His Take On The Company
July 23, 2019
The last 12 months have seen plenty of developments within the offices of CAN Capital. September witnessed the announcement of a new credit facility of $287 million with Varadero Capital. January brought news of the hiring of a new CEO. And now, completing the hat trick is CAN’s employment of John McNeill as its CFO.
Coming from years of experience in finance, with firms such as Ocwen Financial and Zume, McNeill is stepping into his role with an optimism normally reserved for those at the offset of a new business. Saying that due to recent restructuring, new hirings, and CAN’s re-evaluation of its position in the market over the previous two years, McNeill believes that the company “feels like it’s a nimble startup.” Albeit a startup that has been in the industry for over 20 years.
Founded in 1998 by a small business owner who struggled to be approved for a business loan, CAN has been cemented as a legacy figure within the alternative finance industry. Having persevered through the ’08 crash as well as other economic hiccups over the past two decades, CAN is uniquely positioned in that it has 20 years worth of experience and data, not to mention the personnel who have stuck around to become veterans as well, to guide them through the current moment of market saturation.
And it is the synergy between these two aspects of CAN, the new and the old, that initially drew McNeill to the company. The opportunity to work alongside people who have decades of experience in the market, as well as those who have only been there a few months longer than himself, led McNeill to view CAN as an anomaly, where it’s “like being the new guy, but with all of the tools of historical experience.”
This freshness tempered by lessons learned in the past is also attributed by McNeill to CAN’s CEO, Edward J. Siciliano, who’s worked in commercial financing, sales, marketing, and operations for over 30 years; and who has aimed to expand operations, both technologically and geographically, since his taking up of the role.
McNeill believes that there continues to be plenty of the market left to expand into, saying there’s “still a lot of opportunities to make money and to help secure funding for businesses across America.”
Breakout Capital is BACK
July 17, 2019
SecurCapital Corp has acquired the lending business of Breakout Capital Finance.
Breakout was founded in 2015 by Carl Fairbank, a former investment banker, and quickly made a splash in the burgeoning small business lending industry. The company has raised significant capital and is a principal member of Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA), a trade group that among other things, created SMART Box, a uniform loan disclosure meant to enhance transparency across the industry.
Earlier this year, however, the company suspended originations.
But that’s poised to change. The deal with SecurCapital, a supply chain and financial service provider headquartered in California, means that Breakout is on track to resume originations as early as next week, according to the company. And there’s other changes afoot.
Tim Buzby, who previously served as the company’s CFO is now the President & CEO. Buzby is well primed for the job. He’s a former CEO of Farmer Mac, a company he spent 17 years with.
Carl Fairbank, who previously served as CEO of the lending business, will provide strategic guidance during the transition, the company reports. He will no longer have a day-to-day role.
“After four years as Founder and CEO of Breakout Capital Finance, this transaction begins the next chapter of Breakout Capital’s lending business,” Fairbank is quoted as saying in a company announcement. “SecurCapital is also committed to the proliferation of best practices to drive change in the broader market. I believe Breakout Capital, in partnership with SecurCapital, is now well positioned for substantial growth, especially with its commitment to FactorAdvantage.”
Fairbank is reportedly shifting his focus toward driving innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain.
Breakout Capital has also hired McLean Wilson, former CEO of Charleston Capital (fka Drift Capital Partners), an asset manager in the SME space, and former CEO of inFactor, a factoring company, as Chief Credit Officer.
In an interview with Breakout’s new CEO Tim Buzby and VP Jay Bhatt (who has been with the company since the very beginning), they said that the company’s risk criteria and credit box will remain the same as it was previously, with potential to even expand it down the road. The company pressing the originations pause button from approximately February to July, therefore, shouldn’t be interpreted as a weakness of the company’s business model. Rather the acquisition and changes should suggest the opposite.
Steve Russell, CEO of SecurCapital, commented, “We’re delighted to have found a highly respected team and innovative business model in the small business finance space. I share the founder’s vision of the massive potential of the FactorAdvantage lending solution and believe we now have the platform and capital to rapidly grow this industry-changing product. We couldn’t have found a better business to complement SecurCapital’s strategic vision for empowering small businesses.”
Two SecurCapital executives have also been placed on Breakout’s board of directors.
Buzby confirmed that operations will resume as normal. The business address and business name will remain the same with one notable difference; That being that the name has been shortened from Breakout Capital Finance to Breakout Capital. It’s also now being operated by a subsidiary of SecurCapital.
