Borro Raises More Capital to Expand, Art & Antiques 45% of Loan Book

 

British loan company, Borro, has raised more capital from some of its seed investors to expand geographically and the depth of its loan book. This story from Tech Crunch offers some details on their business and a reminder of the growing business of asset-backed loans on art and antiques:

Borro is “just shy of breakeven”, with revenues growing at a rate of about 80% annually. Last year, the company made slightly under $20 million in sales on $75 million in loans. It is currently on a runrate of $100 million for this year, with total assets under management in 2014 exceeding $200 million.

Aitken tells me that around around 45% of the goods put up as collateral against loans on its platform are fine art and antiques, with another 40% jewellery and watches, 7-8% is classic cars and the balance is handbags and fine wines. Currently the average value of objects is around $50,000 but looks like it is coming down somewhat to around $45,000 as the business grows. Typical money payouts range from $5,000 to $2,000,000.

Borro Gets $19M From Rocket Internet, OurCrowd To Expand Its Online Pawnshop For Luxury Goods  (TechCrunch)