lending-marketplace
(4)
Hearth sells the roof. Then it answers the phone.
The contractor software company puts monthly payments beside the price of a repair. Its next bet is that the sale also needs someone to pick up, follow up, and finish the paperwork.
The franchise loan that learned to travel
ApplePie Capital began by matching franchise loans with investors. Its more useful trick now is helping operators choose the kind of debt that lets the next store open without starving the last one.
The App That Turned Payday Loans Into a Neighborly Favor
SoLo Funds built a lending marketplace with no interest and no mandatory fees, betting that strangers would rather help strangers than let a payday lender do it. Two million users later, the model is either a fix for broken small-dollar credit or a regulatory magnet - and the founders keep insisting it is the first.
Caribou Financial, Inc.
Caribou is a Denver-based auto fintech that helps drivers cut the cost of owning their car. Through a digital platform, it connects car owners with a network of credit unions and community banks to refinance their auto loans, typically saving customers over $100 a month, and pairs that with an auto insurance marketplace and vehicle protection products. Founded in 2016 as MotoRefi and rebranded to Caribou in 2021, the company reached unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation after a $115 million Series C round led by Goldman Sachs in 2022.