CommonBond

Company background and overview

CommonBond was founded in November 2012 by David Klein, Michael Taormina, and Jessup Shean, who met at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School MBA program. The impetus for initiating the company was the founders' frustration with the lack of affordable loan options to fund their own graduate school education.

For their business proposal, the trio was accepted to the highly selective Wharton Venture Initiation Program, which serves as a start-up incubator. After deciding to pilot their model at Wharton, the group focused on fundraising during the summer of 2012. By the company's launch in November 2012, CommonBond had raised $3.5 million; $2.5 million had been invested by Wharton alumni and another $1 million of seed funding was provided by a Wharton alumnus in return for a stake in the company. CommonBond's first fund lent to 40 MBA students and recent graduates at Wharton.

CommonBond expanded to 20 MBA programs across the country in September 2013, after announcing it had raised over $100 million in equity and debt financing from investors including Tribeca Venture Partners and The Social+Capital Partnership, as well as industry veterans Vikram Pandit (former CEO of Citigroup), Thomas Glocer (former CEO of Thomson Reuters), and Tom Kalaris (former Vice Chairman of Barclays). In March 2014, CommonBond expanded its student loan refinancing and consolidation programs to graduates of law, medical, and engineering programs across the U.S., in addition to MBA programs.

In February 2015, CommonBond expanded its student loan refinancing program to a total of 14 graduate degree programs including MBAs, JDs, MDs, Engineers, Optometrists, Masters of Finance, Masters of Real Estate, Masters of Accounting, Physician Assistants, Veterinarians, Dentists, Healthcare Administrators, Masters of Public Policy, Pharmacists, and Nurses (Advanced Practice degrees). At that time, the company also announced a financing partnership with Nelnet (NYSE: NNI). Nelnet committed $150 million to fund CommonBond loan volume and also made an equity investment in the company. This partnership marked the first time a public financial services company had invested in a student loan marketplace.

CommonBond completed its first securitization of student loans in June 2015. With an investment-grade rating from Moody's of 'Baa2' and DBRS of 'A (high),' the company securitized approximately $100 million of student loan assets. The transaction marked the first time Moody’s has issued an investment-grade rating for a first-time-issuing marketplace lending platform.

In July 2015, the company announced the hiring of 25-year finance industry veteran Morgan Edwards as CFO.

In September 2015, CommonBond raised $35 million in Series B funding from August Capital, Nyca Partners, and Victory Park Capital, in a round led by August Capital. Shortly thereafter, the company announced the expansion of its student loan refinancing program to graduates of over 2,000 universities at the graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as the introduction of its Parent PLUS Loan refinancing program.

Products and services

For student loan refinancing, CommonBond offers nine fixed and variable interest rate products, with terms of 5, 10, 15, or 20 years. Interest rates start at 1.94% APR with autopay for variable rate loans, and at 3.74% APR with autopay for fixed rate loans. CommonBond also offers a student loan industry-first option called the "Hybrid Loan," a 10-year product that "carries a fixed rate initially and a variable rate after a set period of time."

In September 2015, CommonBond introduced a new Parent PLUS loan refinancing program, whereby parents who borrowed federal Parent PLUS loans to finance their children’s undergraduate education can refinance those loans through CommonBond.

For in-school MBA loans, CommonBond offers a 10-year fixed-rate loan at 5.78% APR and a 15-year fixed-rate loan at 6.09% APR.

To expand MBA student loan options for international students pursuing U.S. business education, CommonBond announced a partnership with Prodigy Finance, an international post-graduate student lender, in July 2015. The partnership allows international post-graduate students who come to CommonBond seeking student loan options to secure funding for their business school education in the U.S. through Prodigy Finance, which determines the terms and conditions of the student loans.

According to CommonBond, students and graduates using its platform can benefit from more savings over the course of their loan repayments when compared to traditional funding sources, both public and private. Alongside the financial savings to borrowers, the CommonBond value proposition includes high-touch customer service as well as a community of students, grads, and alumni, which affords opportunities for networking, career development, and mentorship. To assist borrowers who are between jobs, CommonBond offers a service that matches them with consulting opportunities to help them earn money until they find a full-time position.

Social mission

CommonBond is the first company in finance with a "one-for-one" social model similar to that of Toms Shoes and Warby Parker. For every degree fully funded on the CommonBond platform, the company funds the education of a student in need abroad for a full year in partnership with Pencils of Promise. On the local level, CommonBond has partnered with KIPP charter schools and the GLOW Foundation to fund financial literacy programming for under-served neighborhoods across the U.S.

In 2014, the company introduced the CommonBond Social Impact Award to recognize the country's top MBA social entrepreneur. Christine Su, CEO of Summer Technologies, was announced as the winner in 2014. The winner of the $10,000 2015 CommonBond Social Impact Award was Sindhura Sarikonda, an MBA student at Wharton and founder and CEO of anti-trafficking nonprofit Sanlaap North America.