SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire -02/02/12)- Prosper.com, a peer-to-peer lending marketplace for personal loans and investments, announced today that it has funded more than $300 million in P2P consumer loans since inception. The company also announced that it funded a record $10.8 million in loans in January alone. This latest monthly milestone continues a streak of 12 consecutive months of record growth, a 178% year-over-year increase in personal loans funded.

"Our record growth is a true testament to our category-best seasoned returns for lenders," said Chris Larsen, Prosper's chief executive officer and co-founder. "Investors are turning to us for our high-yield returns and our transparent, trusted marketplace. We look forward to continued growth in 2012."

Highlights for January 2012 include:

Record monthly origination volumes of $10.8 million; 14% monthly growth in originations from December 2011; 11.4% compound monthly growth rate over the last 12 months; Borrower listings increased 30%; Growth achieved while maintaining strong risk return metrics: average credit score of 724(2) and estimated loss of 5.69%(1) while delivering a 10.46%(1) ROI.

Prosper is the only P2P lender to report seasoned and audited returns. Seasoned returns are a more conservative and accurate indicator of returns, reflecting a loan or portfolio of loans that has matured enough for the performance to have stabilized. This return is thought to more accurately reflect the true underlying return of the asset.

Prosper contracted Ashland & Partners to conduct a comprehensive audit of its individual loans and operational infrastructure. The independent audit represents a first in P2P lending, setting the stage for full transparency and return on investment (ROI) verification. Ashland examined a specified Schedule of Performance for the Prosper All Rated Notes by Vintage Month Performance Record for the period July 1, 2009 through September 30, 2011.

Debt consolidation, home improvement and small business-related loans remain the leading loan categories on Prosper.com. To learn more about Prosper's lender returns and competitive personal loans, visit http://www.prosper.com.

About Prosper
Prosper Marketplace Inc., a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that brings together creditworthy borrowers with individual and institutional investors, allows people to invest in each other in a way that is financially and socially rewarding. Individual and institutional investors invest in minimum increments of $25 on loan listings they select. In addition to credit scores, ratings and histories, investors can consider borrowers' personal loan descriptions, endorsements from friends, and community affiliations. Prosper handles the servicing of the loan on behalf of the matched borrowers and investors. Prosper was co-founded by Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-LOAN. Prosper has raised $83.85 million in venture capital and is backed by financial and technology luminaries including, Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson; David Silverman of Crosslink Capital, Accel Partners; CompuCredit; Omidyar Network; Capital One Co-founder Nigel Morris of QED Investors; Court Coursey of TomorrowVentures; Larry Cheng of Volition Capital.

Notes offered by Prospectus.

(1) Seasoned Return and annual loss rate calculations represent historical performance data for the Borrower Payment Dependent Notes ("Notes") issued and sold by Prosper since July 15, 2009. To be included in the calculations, Notes must be associated with a borrower loan originated more than 10 months ago; these calculations use loans originated through February 28, 2011. Our research shows that Prosper Note returns historically have shown increased stability after they've reached ten months of age. For that reason, we provide "Seasoned Returns", defined as the Return for Notes aged 10 months or more. To calculate the Return, all payments received on borrower loans, net of principal repayment, credit losses, and servicing costs for such loans, are aggregated and then divided by the average daily amount of aggregate outstanding principal. To annualize this cumulative return, it is divided by the dollar-weighted average age of the loans in days and then multiplied by 365. Returns have been audited by a 3rd party for all data through September 30, 2011. Seasoned Return is not necessarily indicative of the future performance on any Notes. The annual loss rate represents the actual losses on Notes. To calculate the annual loss rate, the net credit losses corresponding to eligible Notes are aggregated then divided by the average daily amount of aggregate outstanding principal for such loans. To annualize this rate, the cumulative number is divided by the dollar-weighted average age of the loans in days and then multiplied by 365. The forecast loss rate represents the Estimated Annual Loss Rates we provided for the borrower listings corresponding to the Notes included in the calculation of annual loss rate. All calculations were made as of December 31, 2011.

(2) Average Experian Scorex PLUS credit score of loans originated on the platform from July 15, 2009 through January 31, 2012. The average is weighted by the originated dollar amount of the loan.

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Prosper.com Funds More Than $300 Million in P2P Personal Loans