Orchard Launches New Platform: Orchard Deals Matches Global Investors & Originators to Boost Online Lending Market

Orchard Platform has rolled out Deals, operated by Orchard Platform Markets, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary, SEC-registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA and SIPC. Deals is a global market where loan originators may discover low cost financing and institutional investors can connect, evaluate, and move forward with multiple transactions. Orchard says this is the next step in their company’s evolution as they continue to provide vital services to the global online lending industry.

Orchard explains that with Deals, qualified investors gain access to a broad range of new investment opportunities, including pools of seasoned loans, forward flow agreements, and credit facilities—along with all underlying deal data and a vast suite of credit analytics solutions to evaluate each prospective transaction. Originators with pools of loans to sell can list deals and seamlessly share data within this global network, while working with investors who express interest in a deal to conduct due diligence and analysis, and finalize the transaction’s structure and terms.

Bill Ullman who is Orchard’s Chief Commercial Officer will also be the CEO of Orchard Platform Markets, LLC. Ullman stated;

“Whether a transaction involves the sale of a pool of loans, negotiating a credit facility, or arranging and managing forward flow agreements, our platform reduces costs and operational friction for our clients. In short, Orchard is making it faster and less expensive for both sides of the private credit marketplace to find and evaluate opportunities, and move forward on transactions in what has historically been a fragmented, inefficient, and illiquid market.”

Orchard quoted Victor J. Pacheco, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of LendingPoint, who said that finding and securing the lowest cost sources of funding for loans is a continuous process and critical for growth;

“Orchard Platform combines a network of qualified investors with an enterprise suite of credit analytics and data and reporting services, helping us connect with more investors while making it easy to support the relationship at each stage of a transaction,” added Pacheco.

Parris Sanz, CEO of CAN Capital, said the new service will help fulfill his company’s mission of providing effecient access to capital for small business.

“Orchard helped us find the right institutional partner to fund our future as we move forward with the next phase of our company’s growth and reengage with small businesses across America,” said Sanz.

Crowdfund Insider spoke with Matt Burton, CEO and co-founder of Orchard. He explained the feedback from market was they really wanted a better process to connect with potential capital providers. Now Orchard will be able to support these types of transactions thus creating a powerful tool to fund the entire ecosystem  of loan originators. Burton described the service as “removing the friction” in connecting originators and investors.

At platform launch, Deals will host 55 institutional investors with approximately $1.5 trillion in investible assets. At one point last year, Orchard was expected to launch a secondary exchange for loans but Burton said what they have realized is the market really wanted Orchard “to focus on the front end side.”

“Secondary market opportunities is part of this. We are supporting multiple type of transaction types,” said Burton.

As of today, there are 10 originators using Deals looking for $500 million. Orchard expects this number to ramp dramatically in the coming months.

Burton believes Deals is a vital variable for the evolution of the online lending industry.

“Having access to diversified, low cost capital is important for this industry to grow. We can help derive that. We can provide access to a wider group of investors. We also haver a suite of data products that will help manage all of this. Today it is typical for a lender to only work with a handful of capital providers,” said Burton.

Asked about how things are progressing at Orchard, Burton said the past twelve months have been interesting;

“We have seen a thinning of the lending side. While it was not great news to see some of those lenders close their doors what I am seeing are the remaining lenders in the market are growing faster with better models. We are seeing across the board growth in small business, real estate and consumer lending.”

A List of Orchard Platform’s new features has been provided below.

 

• Deals: Global network where pre-qualified loan originators and investors can browse a broad listing of investment opportunities and corresponding data, and utilize Orchard’s enterprise technology to seamlessly exchange information, assess potential transactions, and take the next steps more efficiently.
• Capital Management: Allocation optimization, facility monitoring, and automated borrowing-base reporting offerings to help originators better monitor utilization across multiple capital sources—and manage them with greater precision and insight.
• News & Insights: The most recent industry news, economic data, and Orchard research and commentary to keep originators and investors up-to-date on the latest industry trends and thinking. Although Deals information is only available to pre-qualified institutional investors, Orchard also provides free access to anonymized, aggregated industry data to parties seeking to learn more about the industry, including journalists, researchers, and investors.
• Advanced Analytics: Originators can benchmark origination and performance data against an aggregated and anonymized peer group, and quickly analyze any data set under multiple scenarios, to gain deeper insights into their loan books and funding channels. Investors can also take advantage of scenario testing, data visualization, and benchmarking tools to gain actionable portfolio and market intelligence.
• High-Quality Data Services: Data integrations with Orchard help originators improve the quality of their data, and streamline the process for client reporting.