It was only a month ago when we broke the news that Ron Suber was stepping down as Prosper’s President to pursue what he stated as a ‘rewirement’. Today, it was announced that Ron is joining the multi-lender marketplace Credible as Executive Vice-Chairman and member of the board of the directors.
Ron Suber was not only involved in rebuilding Prosper for a number of years but as many people already know he has been an active investor in fintech companies, investing in 21 companies. Credible is a company he has been involved with since 2015, having originally invested in the company’s Series A and Series B rounds and acting in an advisory role.
Stephen Dash is the founder and CEO of Credible and was interviewed on the Lend Academy podcast late last year. Dash built Credible in the United States after seeing successful multi-lender marketplaces in Australia, his home country. What makes them unique is their deep integrations with their lending partners. The company started as a marketplace for student loans, but has since expanded into personal loans.
The press release announcing the addition of Ron Suber to the team also mentioned that Credible was piloting a credit card marketplace. When we spoke to Dash he said that the site, which launched today, is version 1 of the credit card offering. Credible has always focused on user experience and helping customers get the best product for them so it will be interesting to see how this product develops over time. Credible already has a large customer base so it can be expected that adding personalized offers is on the product roadmap. According to Dash 90% of their existing audience has at least one credit card. Through the first half of 2017, over 80,000 people have been qualified for loan offers through Credible which provides a sense of scale of the business today.
Peter Renton spoke with Ron yesterday about his involvement with Credible. Ron shared that he will be “leaning in” with some of the companies where he has invested. He has participated in both equity rounds at Credible and he really wants to help the company however he can. He will not be an employee at Credible, he will be Executive Vice Chairman and Ron expects this role will involve about one day per week.
Ron still firmly believes in helping with EAU (education, awareness and understanding) of our industry and he continues to help spread the word in this way. He has also organized his new entity Rewire LLC that will support his new initiatives during his “rewirement”.
Stephen Dash told us that Ron will be helpful in a broad range of activities related to the business whether it be fundraising, strategic decisions or helping the team as the company scales. Dash noted that despite the headwinds many online lenders have experienced, Credible’s marketplace continues to grow and Ron will help in navigating the growth they expect going forward.
Conclusion
Given Ron’s role in fintech he sees many companies that come across his desk and the fact that he’s taking a more active role says a lot about his confidence in Credible’s business. Credible’s business model is very different than some of the other aggregator sites and they are certainly one to watch in this space.
