CommonBond Secures $275m Warehouse Funding Line

A short update on the student lending platform CommonBond, which has secured a $275m of debt capital.

The separate warehouse line funding comes courtesy of Barclays, Macquarie Capital and others. The student-focused marketplace lending platform CommonBond is operating in much the same space at SoFi – which recently smashed through the $6bn mark in cumulative lending. A great deal of funding will be needed to keep pace. This most recent fundraise takes CommonBond up to around $625m in debt and equity capital raised to date.

The $275m has been specifically designated as lending capital, although we suspect that the loans that it goes towards funding will ultimately be securitised. CommonBond securitised $100m of student loans assets in June 2015. That deal received ratings of Baa2 from Moody’s and A (high) from DBRS.

Brian Foley, Managing Director at Macquarie, commented:

“We are excited to partner with CommonBond, one of the leaders in consumer marketplace lending. The company stands out for their high quality underwriting, strong technology platform and innovative approach to student lending.”

CommonBond’s securitisation activities look set to continue. The platform has just appointed Beth Starr as Vice President and Head of Capital Markets. Starr previously served as a Managing Director at Jefferies and Lehman Brothers – where she was mostly involved in capital markets, ABS research and institutional sales. The new recruit said of the platform:

“CommonBond's growth has been impressive, and I look forward to helping the company grow and diversify its funding sources, as it continues to scale.”

CommonBond’s growth may also be measured in headcount. The company has doubled its team to over 60 employees over the past 3 months. Look out for further growth and more in the way of securitisation going forward.