SocietyOne, Australia’s pioneering and leading marketplace lender, has celebrated its sixth anniversary of operations as total lending since inception approaches $500 million.
After making its first loan in August 2012, SocietyOne has now helped more than 20,000 customers thanks to more than $480 million provided by its investor funders.
Based on current lending volumes, SocietyOne expects to achieve $500 million in total lending in September – making it the first marketplace lender to achieve this milestone.
Since the beginning of 2016, total lending has grown nearly 6 times and SocietyOne’s loan book now totals over $220 million, up from $41 million at the start of 2016.
“The last 12 months have represented another year of growth, transformation and progress” said interim CEO Mark Jones.
“We have seen continued growth in lending with more than $150 million originated since our fifth birthday. Lending growth, combined with an improvement in margins and disciplined cost management, has translated to a strong improvement in SocietyOne’s financial performance. At the same time, we have continued to transform and simplify our business to focus on our core marketplace lending activities.”
“SocietyOne’s vision is ‘to be Australia’s leading, most trusted, lending marketplace’ and our mission is to achieve this by ‘providing a better deal for borrowers and lenders, one brilliant funding moment at a time’.”
“We have made good progress over the past year towards our vision and goals.” Among many highlights, Mr Jones noted the:
- successful completion of the strategic investor capital raise in January 2018;
- strengthening of the leadership team ranks with the appointment of Simon Farrell as Chief Technology Officer and Ross Horsburgh as Chief Credit Officer;
- expansion of our distribution reach with the development of a new personal loan offering available through mortgage brokers;
- successful implementation of systems and credit processes to ensure readiness for Comprehensive Credit Reporting; and
- continued recognition for excellence and innovation through numerous industry awards. Most recently, SocietyOne was recognised in The Australian Financial Review Top 100 Most Innovative Companies List for 2018. “We have come a long way over the past 6 years and our success could not have been achieved without the collective effort of our hardworking and passionate team here at SocietyOne, and the backing of our Board, shareholders and key business partners” said Mr Jones.
“SocietyOne has been at the forefront of ‘fintech’ disruption of the financial services industry in Australia for 6 years. We have a real commitment to customer-first innovation and everything we do is guided by our values of being Transparent; Imaginative; Empowering; One Team; and Connected” said Mr Jones.
Looking ahead to the next 6 months, SocietyOne will be focusing on making further improvements to the customer experience; continuing to build its brand profile; developing new solutions for investor funders; broadening out its broker solution and developing new strategic partnerships; and further investing in its technology capabilities and platforms.
“With more than $60 million in committed investor funding at present, and continued interest from a number of institutions, we are in a strong position to further grow lending over the remainder of the year.”
“The next 6 months will be another exciting period of growth and innovation” said Mr Jones. While there is a lot of work to do, the momentum in the business is really pleasing. By the end of 2018, we will be well positioned for the next phase of growth. We remain on track to achieve operating breakeven by March 2019.”
