HBCUHiphop com FAMU based social neomedia and investment group create web 2 venture capital via fundable org and prosper com for HBCU student investors!
Released on = April 17, 2007, 4:23 pm
Press Release Author = HBCUEntrepreneurs.com
Industry = Financial
Press Release Summary = HBCUHiphop.com FAMU based social neomedia & investment group create web 2.0 venture capital via fundable.org & prosper.com for HBCU student investors!
Press Release Body = http://business.newsforge.com/business/05/07/07/1330241.shtml Fundable.org helps open source projects find support Friday July 08, 2005 (01:26 PM GMT) By: Tina Gasperson Fundable.org is a new service that allows people who need funds to connect with those who are willing to contribute. Co-founder John Pratt isn\'t sure where the idea came from, but he and partner Louis Helm have been working on it day and night since the inspiration hit them in January, 2005.
The concept, while unique, is quite simple. Anyone who has a product or service to sell, or needs monetary support for a charitable cause, or who wants to organize a group purchase, posts their requirement on Fundable.org. They specify the number of contributors needed and the amount of money required from each. They also specify a deadline by which to raise the needed capital. Fundable.org holds all contributions until the total amount requested is received, or the deadline is reached. If, by the deadline, the amount contributed is less than the required amount, the project is scrapped and the contributors receive a full refund.
Fundable.org leaves it up to the project initiator to make sure all the contributors are satisfied. \"You can\'t really make sure someone is going to do what they\'re supposed to do,\" Pratt says. \"We\'re working on a feedback system, but for now we let people post a link to their eBay profile and ratings, thereby implementing a degree of trustworthiness.\" Fundable.org receives a 4% fee for transactions over $1,000, and Pratt says they have future plans to implement other fee structures. \"We work all day, every day on this,\" he says. \"It\'s a full time thing.\" Of course, Pratt and Helm could always place a request for funds on Fundable.org.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060213_147523.htm Prosper: The eBay of Loans? E-Loan co-founder Chris Larsen\'s online marketplace matches lenders and borrowers. Banks and \"payday\" outfits alike will be watching closely. A decade ago, when Chris Larsen co-founded online loan broker E-Loan, he purposely took aim at traditional mortgage lenders, many of which he thought deceived borrowers and charged too much. Now, he intends to shake up a whole new swath of the financial services business. With Prosper Marketplace, a San Francisco startup he\'s launching Feb. 13, Larsen aims to carve out a new business -- this time by doing a number on check-cashing \"payday\" lenders that charge usurious interest rates. Essentially, Larsen hopes to create an eBay (EBAY)-style loan marketplace. Prosper matches people who need small loans, but can\'t get them from traditional banks, with willing lenders. Says Larsen: \"We let people on both sides, borrowers and lenders, participate in the credit marketplace directly.\"
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/30/prospercom-to-announce-milestones-tuesday/ Prosper.com To Announce Milestones Tuesday Michael Arrington On Tuesday Prosper.com, a person-to-person lending site that launched in February, will announce a couple of fairly significant milestones: 100,000 members and $20 million in funded loans. They reached both milestones faster than UK-based competitor Zopa, which was recently named a Business 2.0 "Disruptor." Prosper allows members to request loans of up to $25,000 (the average funded loan is $5,000), and then other members offer to fund the loan at various interest rates. Prosper breaks the loan up into multiple pieces to distribute risk, and then funds from the lenders offering the most attractive interest rates. Over 4,000 loans have been funded since the site launched in February 2006. Prosper earns revenue by taking 1% of the loan amount in fees from the borrower up front, and charging a 0.5% yearly loan maintenance fee to lenders.
2022
