Lending Club Named to Forbes' America's Most Promising Companies List

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Lending Club (http://www.lendingclub.com), the leading platform for investing in and obtaining personal loans, today announced it has been named to Forbes' America's Most Promising Companies list. Lending Club ranks No. 20 on the list of 100 privately held companies, and is one of just three financial companies included on this year's list.

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"We are honored to be recognized alongside up-and-coming companies like SecondMarket, Box.net and Evernote as one of America's Most Promising Companies," said Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche. "This has been a stellar year for Lending Club, as creditworthy borrowers and individual and institutional investors alike continue to recognize the value we provide. We feel that our inclusion on Forbes' list is further evidence of the impact we are making on the financial industry and our future growth potential."

Forbes' list of America's Most Promising Companies features 100 privately held up-and-comers with compelling business models, strong management teams, notable customers, strategic partners and precious investment capital.

To sharpen its search, Forbes teamed up with CB Insights, a Manhattan-based data firm that tracks investment in high-growth private companies. With $650,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation, CB has developed complex software called Mosaic that mines myriad online sources (from press releases and social networks to job boards and court filings) to come up with one, algorithmically derived score that measures a private company's health. Forbes married Mosaic's data-crunching with old-fashioned reporting to assemble a list of rising stars with bright growth prospects. To view the complete the list, please visit www.forbes.com/ampc.

Lending Club's inclusion on Forbes' list comes at the end of a strong year for the four-year-old company. Lending Club has originated over $430 million in loans through the platform and paid investors more than $36 million in interest(i). Other 2011 highlights for Lending Club include adding Union Square Ventures as an equity investor and partner, the Conservative Credit Fund welcoming Peter J. Thomson as an anchor investor and recognition by the World Economic Forum as a 2012 Technology Pioneer.

By focusing on prime and super-prime quality borrowers, Lending Club has established a four-year, $430 million track record in which Prime Consumer Notes generated 17 consecutive quarters of positive returns and average annual returns of 5.5 percent to 12 percent depending on loan grades.(ii)  

About Lending Club

Lending Club brings together investors and prime borrowers, utilizing technology and innovation to reduce the cost of traditional lending in order to provide borrowers with better rates and investors with better returns. Founded in 2006 and based in San Francisco, CA, Lending Club has been recognized for its results and innovation by the Harvard Business Review and Dow Jones, was named one of Forbes' America's Most Promising Companies in 2011 and recognized as a 2012 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. More information is available at: http://www.lendingclub.com.

Additional information about Lending Club is available in the prospectus for Lending Club's notes, which can be obtained on Lending Club's website at https://www.lendingclub.com/info/prospectus.action.

Information in this press release is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Some of the statements in this above are "forward-looking statements." The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. The Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Currently only residents of the following states may invest in Lending Club notes: CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, KY (accredited investors), LA, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NH, NV, NY, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, or WY.

(i) As of December 2, 2011

(ii) Past performance is no guarantee of future results; investments may lose value.

SOURCE Lending Club

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