Canadian peer-to-peer loan start-up CommunityLend has secured $2.5 million in funding and rounded out its management team in advance of a live launch slated for Q1 2008.
CommunityLend co-founders Michael Garrity and Colin Henderson have been joined by former BMO man Roger Couldrey as chief operating officer, lead applications developer Jeffrey Hardy, general counsel Sandra Stephenson and Equifax veteran Karel Volenik in the risk management role.
The board of directors include Barry Campbell, a former parliamentary secretary to the Canadian Minister of Finance, as chairman, Jim Jones, the CEO of GMAC Residential Capital, and Barry Evans of Sandwich Ventures.
The company says the private placing round was raised from a mix of individuals and institutions from the US, Canada, and the UK.
CommunityLend is launching at an opportune time, with the sub-prime crisis hitting traditional bank lenders, and amid a rash of similar social lending start-ups south of the border. These include UK pioneer Zopa, which is teaming with credit unions for the launch of its US operations.
In an e-mail circular announcing the latest developments, CommunityLend states: "Our primary areas of effort at the moment are focused on completing the necessary regulatory work, market planning and vendor integrations. We have forged many partnerships which, as we get closer to launch, we look forward to announcing."