Orchard Platform and Mainspring Funding Announce Partnership to Further Extend the Reach and Benefit of Marketplace Lending

Orchard Platform Is First Technology Partner to Bring Mainspring Funding Into Online Lending


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Feb 10, 2015) - Orchard Platform, an analytics and investment platform focused on the global marketplace lending market, has announced a partnership with Mainspring Funding, a leading provider of aggregation and sales of small business loans. Through this partnership, institutional investors using Orchard will have access to loan portfolios and single loans originated by Mainspring Funding.

Founded in 2013, Orchard has quickly established itself as the platform of choice for institutional investors and loan originators in the rapidly expanding marketplace lending space. One of Mainspring Funding's core originating companies was founded in 2009 and today produces small and mid-ticket equipment finance. The equipment finance industry -- marked by traditional lending practices -- is an $827 billion a year industry. Mainspring Funding makes an unprecedented move by embracing Orchard as a technology partner and online lending for new types of loan distribution to investors.

"Our objective is to make the origination and purchase of small business loans more efficient," said Rob Snow, Chief Credit Officer and Co-Founder of Mainspring Funding. "The marketplace model is advantageous to us from a scale, diversification and speed perspective and Orchard helps us bridge the technology gap. Mainspring Funding currently has millions in loans that Orchard can instantly expose to investors, which used to take days."

"We're really excited about partnering with Mainspring Funding and bringing them onto Orchard's platform," said Matt Burton, CEO and Co-Founder of Orchard. "This is a great example of how the next generation of credit is spinning up around the world as more traditional businesses are able to leverage technology and tap into new funding sources, and institutional investors find a new asset class."

"We believe Orchard's partnership with Mainspring Funding is a milestone for marketplace lending," said David Snitkof, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Orchard. "The technology that powers Orchard's marketplace is expected to allow Mainspring Funding to distribute its loans to a large and diverse group of institutional investors in a scalable and data-driven way."

"Marketplace lending continues to grow and Orchard is at the center of the movement," said Burton. "The marriage of data and technology, and its impact on the allocation of credit has made a positive impression on small businesses and individuals on a global scale. Orchard is helping provide reach for investors and expand product offerings for originators, and we believe there will only be more upside as the industry moves ahead."

This partnership -- and others like it -- demonstrates the continued growth and maturation of marketplace lending, a market expected to grow to more than $1 trillion over the coming decade. Orchard is the latest development in the funding and distribution of loans, enhancing the speed and efficiency of lending, and more importantly, increasing access to credit and reducing borrowing costs for small businesses and consumers.

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About Orchard Platform
Orchard Platform is an investment and analytics platform that is leading the future of the credit industry. Orchard supports the new marketplace for loans by providing technical and operational efficiencies to help institutional investors and loan originators to connect and transact. Founded in New York City in 2013, Orchard focuses on building the systems and infrastructure that will allow marketplace lending to grow into a global financial market. Orchard enables institutional investors to scale their investment in the space by providing investment strategy, real-time execution and reporting, premier analytics, and transparent access to supply. Orchard helps originators expand the credit landscape by connecting them to a diverse set of capital providers and enables them to focus on making loans and giving borrowers more choices.

Orchard Platform Advisors, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser, and is also recognized as a clear thought leader in the space and publishes a blog on its website exploring analytical and technical topics related to lending, and runs the monthly Marketplace Lending Meetup.

About Mainspring Funding
Mainspring Funding is a wholly owned subsidiary of Buttonwood Capital Management, a specialty finance platform established by the principals of Carillon Capital LLC -- a boutique investment bank and strategic advisor focused on specialty finance, asset management and technology specialty finance -- and the principals affiliated with the Los Angeles based private equity fund, Triton Pacific Capital Partners.

Mainspring Funding is a funding platform designed to drive origination and distribution of small business loans for affiliate lending partners. Mainspring Funding's team maintains expertise in loan origination, asset management and loan trading, and focuses on the expansion and development of the company's business lines. Blue Bridge Financial, an affiliate lender founded in 2008, is an equipment finance and working capital lending company. Blue Bridge originated over $60M in loans in 2014 and anticipates originating over $150M loans in 2015 due to the rollout of multiple creative lending programs designed by its team.

Contact Information:

PR Contact:
Nadia Gonzalez
Marketing (at) orchardplatform (dot) com