TechCrunch highlights the growth of online lenders and gives guidance on where it expects the industry to go in 2016. The jury is a bit out on P2P with a lot of negative pressure due to the public market performance of Lending Club. 2016 will be a crucial year!
Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending became one of the hottest industries in fintech — or any other any industry — in 2015. Companies raised large venture rounds, investors found unicorns and there were even a couple of IPOs. Will 2016 continue this trend, or will the P2P lending bubble finally pop?Here are some of the highlights of 2015: Lending Club went public in December 2014 at a $9 billion valuation; stock traded as high as $24 in 2015, with a market cap around $15 billion. OnDeck went public at $20 in December 2014, and traded as high as $28, with a market cap around $1.8 billion. Prosper raised $165 million at a $1.9 billion valuation (April 2015). Funding Circle raised $150 million around a $1 billion valuation (April 2015). Avant raised a $325 million round around a $2 billion valuation (September 2015)
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