TechCrunch highlights the growth of online lenders and gives guidance on where it expects the industry to go in 2016. The article predicts more IPOs, M&A and new entrants from established tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.
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.