LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC) will have a new rival in 2017 when Credify launches.
The LendingClub Corp rival is made up of previous LC employees. This includes former CEO Renaud Laplanche and several other executives that were ousted in May of this year. It plans to offer loans to users across the internet. It also expects to generate $50 million in revenue in 2017.
Renaud Laplanche wasn’t even gone from LendingClub Corp for a month being setting up Credify. It was incorporated in Delaware on May 31. Over the summer, the company opened offices in San Francisco. It also started registering with states to do business in them, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Renaud Laplanche is able to start a direct competitor to LendingClub Corp due to not signing a noncompete agreement with it. He is using his own money, and money from outside investors, to fund Credify.
It was previously though that Renaud Laplanche wanted to take LendingClub Corp private. He was reportedly in talks with several private-equity firms to do so. However, nothing ever came from these rumors as no bid for LC was made.
LendingClub Corp was founded by ousted CEO Renaud Laplanche in 2006. The company ran into trouble earlier this year due to a decline in the loan business. Shortly after this, several scandals were discovered. Laplanche was connected to some of them and this was why he was fired. Laplanche is still being investigated over these scandals by United States regulators.
LC stock was down 4% as of Noon Thursday.
