Prosper

Prosper launched America's first peer-to-peer lending marketplace in 2005 and by 2008 was the largest of its kind in the country. Today it is a broader consumer-credit platform: unsecured personal loans for debt consolidation, home improvement, medical and dental, vehicle, business and education borrowing, home equity loans and lines of credit, and the Prosper Card, an unsecured credit card. The marketplace side remains, with individual and institutional investors funding loans and able to hold them in an IRA. It says it has served nearly 2.5 million customers since inception. Founded in 2005 by Chris Larsen and John Witchel, it is headquartered at 221 Main Street in San Francisco.