New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/14/2013 --borro, the leading personal asset lender, today announces it has appointed Nigel Morris as chairman effective immediately. Morris – best known as the co-founder of Capital One Financial Corporation – joins borro to lead the business through its next phase of development. The appointment has been made to support borro’s accelerated growth in both the US and UK markets and to help nurture its development as the leading online lending marketplace for luxury personal assets.
Morris is currently the managing partner of QED Investors, a direct investment management fund based in Alexandria, Virginia that focuses on high-growth companies. He also works in an advisory capacity with global investment firm General Atlantic Partners and international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman; alongside serving on the board of numerous for profit companies, including Red Ventures, Media Math and online payments provider Braintree. Nigel is active in the non-profit world sitting on boards of the London Business School and The Brookings Institution.
In his role, Morris will work with borro’s existing board of directors led by CEO and founder Paul Aitken. The board includes non-executive directors; Dan Ciporin, General Partner of Canaan Partners; Paul Gratton, the former CEO of Egg; Tim Levene, founder of Augmentum Capital; and Ben Tompkins, general partner at Eden Ventures.
Commenting on the appointment, Paul Aitken, CEO and founder of borro, said: “Nigel Morris is a perfect choice for role of chairman at borro. He brings a wealth of experience from years at the helm of fast growing online businesses in the financial services and online payments space. We are excited about the future of borro as we develop into a lending marketplace for luxury personal assets and I’m delighted to have Nigel on board.”
Nigel Morris, chairman of borro, added: “borro is at a critical point as it accelerates its growth in the US and embraces state-of-the-art on-line marketing capability. I’m excited to be part of this stage in borro’s growth.”
Launched in the UK in 2008 and in the US in January 2012, borro has defined a new category of lending – ‘Personal Asset Lending’ – in the process. With an average loan value of $10,000, borro focuses on providing liquidity from luxury personal assets.
In October 2012 borro raised $58 million to accelerate rapid growth in both the US and UK. It initially announced a $26 million fundraising round from a venture capital consortium led by tech investment giant Canaan Partners, a global venture capital firm with over $3 billion under management (general parter Dan Ciporin now sits on the borro board of directors as a non-executive director). Ribbit Capital also invested in the round, and previous investors Augmentum Capital, Eden Ventures, and Rockridge participated as well. borro then also announced a new $32 million lending facility through Octopus Investments to meet customer demand.
About borro
borro is a personal asset lender which offers small business owners, entrepreneurs and high-net worth individuals liquidity against luxury personal assets including luxury watches, jewelry, prestige and classic cars, fine art and antiques. Loan values are determined by expert appraisers with over 100 years of combined experience from the top auction houses. With borro there are no credit checks and money is received within 24 hours. The service can be completed online, or in-person and borro will lend $1,000 to $1,000,000 depending on the asset.
For more information contact:
Gibbs & Soell, 212-697-2600
Kyle Kuhnel: kkuhnel@gibbs-soell.com
Katie Timinsky: ktiminsky@gibbs-soell.com
Caroline Gennaro: cgennaro@gibbs-soell.com
borro Appoints Capital One Co-Founder Nigel Morris as Chairman
- Morris will lead borro through next phase of development in online lending and its future as a lending marketplace for luxury personal assets - New chairman will support accelerated growth in both US and UK