Daric, A New Peer To Peer Lending Platform, Will Go Live Next Week

Daric, A New Peer To Peer Lending Platform, Will Go Live Next Week

Nov 23rd 2013, 19:00, by Billy Gallagher

Daric, a new peer to peer
lending platform, will launch next week as a place for individuals
and small businesses to obtain loans, and a place for lenders to
see up to 9-10% returns on their investments. Individuals will be
able to apply for a loan up to $35,000 and small businesses can
apply for a loan up to $50,000 on Daric. According to an
SEC filing, the company will offer up to $10 million on
the platform, which will compete with Lending Club and other peer to peer lending services. The company was co-founded

by Greg
Ryan, Vasant
Ramachandran, and Cooper
Dawson. Dawson notes that Daric hopes to differentiate
itself with a great user experience, as other financial services
companies haven't focused on design much. He explains that users
don't have to upload any documents to Daric, and can make an
account, apply, and (if approved) receive a loan in just a few
hours, instead of weeks.

Ramachandran tells me the company wants to focus on
the positives of a person's accounts: the income, cash flows, and
the ability to pay back a loan, instead of looking at traditional
frameworks like credit lines, delinquencies, and credit
scores.

Daric raised an angel round of
funding in January 2012 from Goldcrest Investments; Dick
Kovacevich, former CEO of Wells Fargo; Jennifer Johnson, COO of
Franklin Templeton Investments; and others.

Ryan,
whose father was an early employee at Goldman Sachs, says his
"fundamentally different approach is that this is a technology
play." He believes Daric can leverage big data and be much more
efficient and cost effective than a traditional bank by using
computer algorithms.

Daric will go
live on Wednesday, November 27, barring any unforeseen regulatory
issues.