Company: SoFi, San Francisco, CA
Company Description: SoFi is reinventing consumer finance for the better. SoFi is a leader in marketplace lending, with over $2 Billion in loans issued to date. We help early stage professionals accelerate their success with student loan refinancing, mortgages, mortgage refinancing, and personal loans.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Startup of the Year - Consumer Services Industries

Nomination Title: SoFi, Inc. (Social Finance)

Tell the story about what this nominated organization has achieved since January 1, 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Begin this section with the date since January 1, 2013 on which this organization began operations.

SoFi (short for Social Finance) is a leader in marketplace lending and the largest provider of student loan refinancing. Founder, Chairman and CEO of SoFi Mike Cagney and SoFi are transforming financial services for early stage professionals with student loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, and MBA loans.

Cagney’s first venture-backed wealth management software company, Finaplex, was acquired. Cagney then founded Cabezon Investment Group, a global macro hedge fund that manages money from family offices. In 2010, Cagney took a Sloan Fellowship at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and met Ian Brady who had been “the point person” for ”Social” at Fidelity Investments. After much research, Cagney decided that Social means three things: transparency, accountability, and local.

One of his hedge fund investors was interested in starting a company that would fix the banking industry. Cagney noticed that traditional banking is opaque and increasingly global, the opposite of social to me. And he figured out that a good place to start a Social banking alternative was in the $1 trillion student loan market.

Cagney knew that thanks to government regulation, the rate on student loans is the same regardless of the risk of default. By combining Social and student lending at test group at Stanford’s GSB, He arranged for 40 alumni to each contribute about $50,000 to a pool of money that would make $2 million worth of loans to 100 students. SoFi lent the money to those students, with much less risk of default, at lower rates. Cagney then targeted colleges and universities where alumni were eager to engage in this kind of relationship with students and the business was born.

• By completely changing the way student loans are refinanced, SoFi has revolutionized the student loan industry.
• No application or origination fees.
• No pre-payment penalties.
• Flexible rates and an average member savings of $11K.

SoFi has been trusted to fund over $2 billion in loans to date.

Unlike traditional lenders, SoFi’s proprietary underwriting approach takes into account merit and employment history to offer unique credit products our members won't find elsewhere. SoFi offers individual and institutional investors the ability to create positive social impact on the communities they care about while earning compelling rates of return.

In 2014, SoFi hit the ground running…
Building on its success with student loan refinancing, SoFi now offers innovative mortgage options for high quality borrowers seeking both high and low down payment purchase and refinancing options. Highlights include:
• Competitive rates for purchasing or refinancing your home.
• More for your money – as little as 10% down on loans up to $5M.
• Greater flexibility – rates for up to 50% down on loans up to $5M.
• Painless prequalification – find your rate online instantly at SoFi.com
• Fast financing – loans generally close within 21 days.
• No application, origination or other lender fees.

Since launching mortgages in October 2014, SoFi has more than tripled its presence to 22 states and the District of Columbia.

In 2015 SoFi…
… launched a first-of-its-kind mobile mortgage experience. The launch marks a significant step in SoFi’s 2015 plans to bring the entire mortgage experience online for the modern home buyer – from prequalification to closing. For the innovation, Mike Cagney was Named LendIt 2015 Innovator of the Year
… started offering personal loans in 45 states and the District of Columbia. As the only personal loan designed to meet the needs of early career professionals, SoFi offers borrowers an alternative to high interest rate credit cards to reduce existing credit card debt or make a major purchase.
…started offering Parent Loans as an affordable alternative to both private and Federal Parent PLUS Loans for parents financing their children’s college education.

SoFi was recently named one of Forbes magazine "Next Billion Dollar Startups." and The Wall Street Journal ranked SoFi in its "Billion Dollar Start Up Club"

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of this organization since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

• SoFi (short for Social Finance) is a leader in marketplace lending and the largest provider of student loan refinancing. Founder, Chairman and CEO of SoFi Mike Cagney and SoFi are transforming financial services for early stage professionals with student loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, and MBA loans.
• By completely changing the way student loans are refinanced, SoFi has revolutionized the student loan industry.
• No application or origination fees.
• No pre-payment penalties.
• Flexible rates and an average member savings of $11K.
• SoFi has funded over $2 billion in loans to date.
• Since launching mortgages in October 2014, SoFi more than tripled its presence to 22 states and the District of Columbia.
• In 2015 SoFi launched a first-of-its-kind mobile mortgage experience, and started offering personal loans and Parent Loans
• SoFi was named one of Forbes magazine "Next Billion Dollar Startups."

Of the following measures of success, which ONE do you want the judges to most appreciate about your organization's story of achievement since the beginning of 2014?

Overall Innovation