SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--May 24, 2007--Prosper (www.prosper.com), America's first people-to-people lending marketplace, today unveiled its Fantasy Banker application at Facebook's f8 event. Prosper built Fantasy Banker using Facebook Platform, a development system that enables companies to integrate with Facebook and gain access to its 24 million users.
"Facebook Platform creates an ecosystem for developers to build applications that deeply integrate into Facebook and use its social graph," said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. "By enabling developers to make applications within Facebook, we're working together to create a better utility for millions of people."
"The fact that 50 percent of Facebook's millions of users return to the site everyday is indicative of the enormous distribution potential for applications like Fantasy Banker and companies like Prosper that are highly relevant to people's lives," said John Witchel, Prosper co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. "Combine the loyalty of Facebook users with the trusted Facebook Platform and you have the perfect environment for people to learn about consumer finance in a way that is interactive and entertaining."
"Fantasy Banker is Prosper's competitive twist on HOT or NOT(R)," said Jonathan Russell, Prosper engineer and principal developer of Fantasy Banker. "It's a socially engaging and financially educational way for friends on Facebook to get acquainted with person-to-person lending by betting on whether real-life Prosper loan listings will 'fund or not.'"
To play Fantasy Banker, users simply install the application (https://apps.facebook.com/fantasybanker/) on their Facebook profile. Once installed, a mini scoreboard appears with a list of Fantasy Banker playing friends. Each player starts with 100 points to bet on real-life, real-time loan listings on Prosper.com. When the listings players pick get funded, they earn points. If their picks don't fund, they lose their bet and points wagered. The "banker" with the most points wins.
About Prosper
Prosper (www.prosper.com), America's first people-to-people lending marketplace, was created to make consumer lending more financially and socially rewarding for everyone. Prosper's membership consists of approximately 300,000 people from across the country. Since launching in February 2006, over $60 million in loans have been funded in the marketplace.
The way Prosper works is intuitive to people who have used eBay. Instead of listing and bidding on items, people list and bid on loans using Prosper's online auction platform. People who want to lend on Prosper set the minimum interest rate they are willing to earn and bid in increments of $50 to $25,000 on loan listings they select. In addition to criteria commonly used by institutional lenders, such as
credit scores and histories, people who lend can consider borrowers' personal stories and group affiliations. Groups on Prosper are critical to bringing people together for the common goal of borrowing at better rates. People who want to borrow on Prosper create loan listings for up to $25,000 and set the maximum rate they are willing to pay a lender. Then the auction begins as people who lend bid down the interest rate. Once the auction ends, Prosper takes the bids with the lowest rates and combines them into one simple loan to the borrower. Prosper handles all on-going loan administration tasks including loan repayment and collections on behalf of the matched borrowers and lenders.
Prosper was co-founded by Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-LOAN, and John Witchel, technology entrepreneur. Backed by Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, Fidelity Ventures, and Omidyar Network, Prosper has raised approximately $20 million. Prosper's marketplace platform is patent pending.
Facebook(R) is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.
HOT or NOT(R) is a registered trademark of Eight Days, Inc.
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