Thursday, May 2, 2013

Google Buys Into Lending Club With $125M Secondary Investment

Mountain View-based Google is taking a $125M, secondary stake in online peer-to-peer lending marketplace Lending Club. Google is purchasing the shares from Lending Club's existing investors. David Lawee of Google joins LendingClub's board as part of the investment. Lending Club's prior investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Morgan Stanley, Foundation Capital, Canaan Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures, and Morgenthaler Ventures. The firm did not say which of its investors sold their stake to Google. The investment values Lending Club at $1.55 billion.