US-based alternative lending platform Social Finance (SoFi) plans to launch an initial public offering this year that could raise up to $500m at a $3.5bn valuation, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
SoFi intends to confidentially file for the IPO in the second quarter of 2015, with the flotation to go ahead in the second half of the year, according to people with knowledge of the matter, though the timing will depend on market conditions.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are being lined up as underwriters for the offering, which would provide exits to investors including social networking company Renren.
The company began life in 2011 as a peer-to-peer lending platform for students and graduates at Stanford University before expanding to alternative loans for all students, as well as into other areas such as mortgages and personal loans.
SoFi has raised about $780m in debt and equity, including $200m in a series D round backed by Third Point, Wellington Management Company and Institutional Venture Partners last month that valued it at about $1.3bn.
Other investors in the company include DCM, Peter Thiel, Wicklow Capital and Baseline Ventures. Renren invested in both SoFi’s $77.2m series B round in 2012 and its $80m series C round in April 2014.