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CommonBond is a marketplace lending platform that lowers the cost of student loans for borrowers and provides financial returns to investors. The company refinances graduate and undergraduate student loans for graduates of over 2,000 universities, saving the average borrower over $14,000 over the life of the loan. CommonBond also provides in-school loans to current MBA students at 20 programs in the United States. The company, which launched nationally in September 2013, is on track to fund or refinance more than $500 million in student loans by the end of 2015. ==Company Background and Overview== CommonBond was founded in November 2011 by David Klein, Michael Taormina, and Jessup Shean, who met at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School MBA program. The impetus for initiating the company was the founders' frustration with the lack of affordable loan options to fund their own graduate school education.〔 For their business proposal, the trio was accepted to the highly selective Wharton Venture Initiation Program, which serves as a start-up incubator. After deciding to pilot their model at Wharton, the group focused on fundraising during the summer of 2012. By the company's launch in November 2012, CommonBond had raised $3.5 million; $2.5 million had been invested by Wharton alumni and another $1 million of seed funding was provided by a Wharton alumnus in return for a stake in the company.〔 CommonBond's first fund lent to 40 MBA students and recent graduates at Wharton. CommonBond expanded to 20 MBA programs across the country in September 2013, after announcing it had raised over $100 million in equity and debt financing from investors including Tribeca Venture Partners and The Social+Capital Partnership, as well as industry veterans Vikram Pandit (former CEO of Citigroup), Thomas Glocer (former CEO of Thomson Reuters), and Tom Kalaris (former Vice Chairman of Barclays). In March 2014, CommonBond expanded its student loan refinancing and consolidation programs to graduates of law, medical, and engineering programs across the U.S., in addition to MBA programs. In February 2015, CommonBond expanded its student loan refinancing program to a total of 14 graduate degree programs including MBAs, JDs, MDs, Engineers, Optometrists, Masters of Finance, Masters of Real Estate, Masters of Accounting, Physician Assistants, Veterinarians, Dentists, Healthcare Administrators, Masters of Public Policy, Pharmacists, and Nurses (Advanced Practice degrees). At that time, the company also announced a financing partnership with Nelnet (NYSE: NNI). Nelnet committed $150 million to fund CommonBond loan volume and also made an equity investment in the company. This partnership marked the first time a public financial services company had invested in a student loan marketplace. CommonBond completed its first securitization of student loans in June 2015. With an investment-grade rating from Moody's of 'Baa2' and DBRS of 'A (high),' the company securitized approximately $100 million of student loan assets. The transaction marked the first time Moody’s has issued an investment-grade rating for a first-time-issuing marketplace lending platform.〔 In July 2015, the company announced the hiring of 25-year finance industry veteran Morgan Edwards as CFO. In September 2015, CommonBond raised $35 million in Series B funding from August Capital, Nyca Partners, and Victory Park Capital, in a round led by August Capital. Shortly thereafter, the company announced the expansion of its student loan refinancing program to graduates of over 2,000 universities at the graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as the introduction of its Parent PLUS Loan refinancing program.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「CommonBond」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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