SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prosper (www.Prosper.com), a leading peer-to-peer financing platform, today announced that Aaron Vermut has been named Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Additionally, Ron Suber will step into the role of President, and former CEO Stephan Vermut will continue to take an active role in the company as Executive Chairman.
“This is a time of extraordinary growth for Prosper as well as the entire peer-to-peer finance industry. There are no better people to lead this company into the future than Aaron and Ron,” said Stephan Vermut. “I’m excited about what we have accomplished in a short time, as well as the enormous opportunity ahead of us. As Executive Chairman, I will continue to be closely involved in the company and its strategic direction.”
Aaron joined Prosper as President in March 2013, following the announcement of Stephan Vermut as CEO and a $20 million investment in Prosper Marketplace from Sequoia Capital. In a year since joining, Aaron has spearheaded major initiatives at the company that have helped fuel growth, including establishing protection for all the Prosper platform's lenders regardless of size; improving the platform's borrower experience and the technology infrastructure; hiring a new chief product officer in order to create a product-centric organization focused on innovation; and scaling Prosper's customer service operations to better meet the needs of the platform.
"Over the past year, we've made important changes to the business, including recapitalizing Prosper Marketplace, restructuring its board, and forming a strong management team with deep industry experience," said Aaron Vermut. “As a product-focused organization, we’ll focus on borrower service and experience moving forward. We are extremely optimistic about our growth and expect loan originations to continue to increase as the year goes on.”
In January 2014, Prosper reported its largest month ever in loan originations at $67 million. This was up from $9 million in loans a year ago when the new management team took over. Over $357 million in loans were originated through the Prosper platform in 2013, a 133% increase over 2012 and a 376% increase over 2011.
Much of this growth is attributed to an increase in the number of institutional lenders putting money on the platform. As Head of Global Institutional Sales, Ron Suber developed and executed a strategy that attracted a record number of investors to the Prosper platform over the past year. In his new role as President, Ron will expand his focus to educating consumers about the opportunity to refinance high credit-card debt or fund large purchases with a peer-to-peer loan, as well as continue to be a spokesperson for both Prosper and the industry.
"Peer-to-peer lending is the biggest disruption to the financial industry that we've seen in decades," said Ron Suber. "Millions of consumers are unaware that they can quickly get their finances in order or get the money they need to start a small business or fund a large purchase within a matter of days at a lower interest rate than they currently pay. This presents a huge opportunity for us."
About Prosper
Prosper Funding LLC ("Prosper") owns a leading peer-to-peer financing platform to invest and borrow money (the "Prosper platform"). The Prosper platform connects people who want to invest money with people who want to borrow money. On the Prosper platform, borrowers list loan requests between $2,000 and $35,000, and retail and institutional lenders invest as little as $25 in each loan listing they select. Institutional investors can also elect to participate in the Whole Loan Program. Over the past six years, more than $900 million in personal loans have originated through the Prosper platform. The unsecured personal loans are used by Prosper borrowers for a variety of purposes including paying down high interest rate debt and helping with small business funding. Learn more at www.prosper.com. Prosper Marketplace, Inc. is the parent company of Prosper Funding LLC.
