Prosper
Fintech / lendingUSA
New to Unitard
βοΈ Markdown
PeakΒ $1.9 BillionToday
-71%
from peak
- π¦Became a unicornAug 2015
- πPeak valuation$1.9 Billion β15
- πBecame a UnitardSep 2017
- πΈLast valuation~$551M
Current status
Private Β· ~$550M
The rise & fall
6 moments Β· 2005β2024The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2005
2005
Founded β America's first P2P lender
Chris Larsen's marketplace matches borrowers with ordinary people willing to fund their loans.
Wikipedia
Aug 2015
Aug 2015
The peak: a $1.9B unicorn$1.9B
At the top of the online-lending boom, Prosper's valuation touches $1.9B β unicorn status and high-water mark in one.
Finovate
2016
2016
The online-lending winter
Loan buyers pull back across the sector, volumes shrink, and Prosper cuts staff to ride it out.
Recode
Sep 2017
Sep 2017
Down round: $550M
A new round slashes the valuation about 71% from peak β out of the unicorn club.
Recode
2018β24
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2018β24
In the years after the reset, Glassdoor reviews described a long belt-tightening: employees recounted a suspended 401(k) match and paused bonuses, periodic layoffs that left roles unfilled and workloads piling onto those who stayed, and steady departures of long-tenured staff as leadership bore down on costs.
π¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Prosper is a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that reached a roughly $1.9B private valuation in 2015. After loan-volume and demand setbacks across the online-lending sector, it raised a down round in 2017 that slashed its valuation to about $550M (~-71% from peak), removing it from the unicorn club.
Source: Finovate/Recode; 2017 down round to $550M
Founders & leadership
- Chris Larsenco-founder & CEO (had already co-founded E-Loan; later co-founded Ripple)No public profile matched
- John Witchelco-founder & CTO (built America's first peer-to-peer lending marketplace)
Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-21. See our methodology.
