Shares of LendingClub Corp. (LC ) were priced at $15 per share, with the company successfully selling 57.7 million shares at $15.00 apiece in the companys Initial Public Offering this morning. The initial expected range for pricing shares was between $12 and $14 per share, with the final price of $15 per share exceeding expectations. Lending Club Corp. shares begin public trading on the New York Stock Exchange later today.

San Francisco, California based LendingClub Corp. was founded by Renaud Laplanche in 2006 and is the worlds largest peer to peer online lending platform. The companys lending platform allows borrowers to get loans and investors the ability to buy notes backed by payments made on the loans. In the first quarter of 2014, Lending Clubs lending platform generated over $5 billion in loans. The company filed for its Initial Public Offering with U.S. regulators in August of 2014.

Through its proprietary FinTech lending platform technology, the company facilitates peer to peer lending allowing businesses and individuals to make loans reducing the difference between a low return on deposits and high interest rates charged for consumer credit.

Basically, a borrower fills out an online loan application at the companys website. Following an evaluation by LendingClub — which has no impact on the borrowers credit score — an interest rate is determined and the qualified borrower is then presented with a variety of loan offers. On the other side, investors, which include individuals and institutions can select which loans they wish to invest in and earn a monthly return.

The offering was priced late yesterday, with the company selling 50 million shares at the higher $15 price with stock holders selling the remaining 7.7 million shares. The $15 share price gives the company a valuation of $5.4 billion. Lending Club shareholders include Canaan LP, Foundation Capital LP, Morgenthaler Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.

LendingClub reported a net loss of -$23.9 million for the nine months ending on September 30th, versus a profit of $4.4 million for the same period one year ago. Nevertheless, revenue increased to more than double the previous year at $143 million.

Despite the company currently being EBIDTA and GAAP unprofitable, the companys short term profit prospects are more than offset by the potential size of its target market of $882 billion in outstanding revolving consumer credit with many people looking to refinance.

The company states that it is Americas number one credit marketplace… we operate at a lower cost than traditional bank loans and pass the savings on to borrowers in the form of lower rates, and to investors in the form of solid returns. Lending Club claims that it offers its borrowers, average savings of 30% on their interest rates, and investors with steady, strong returns.

This morning will see the stock open on the New York Stock Exchange. Judging from the higher price, which was originally set at $10 to $12 per share and the solid demand for shares, LendingClub stock could see significant upside after the stock begins trading.

Other News About LendingClub

Renaud Laplanche stands to make a bundle on his 14.9 million shares.

Companys phenomenal growth could inspire other online businesses.

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