Zopa Taps Industry Veteran as Global CEO; Adds $12.9 Million in Funding

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zopa, the world’s first online marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow money, announced today that Douglas H. Dolton, formerly CEO of Chela Education Financing, has joined the company as Global CEO. In addition, Zopa has secured additional investment of $12.9 million from its venture backers, in a Series C round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

A seasoned entrepreneur in unsecured lending

Douglas Dolton combines 30 years of consumer financial services experience with a track record of building successful, high-growth businesses. In three years under Dolton’s leadership, San Francisco-based Chela Education Financing grew to become one of the premier student loan companies in the country. It was successfully sold to Nelnet, the second-largest student loan company in the U.S. Prior to Chela, as CEO of Servus Financial Corporation in Herndon, Virginia, he built Servus into a state-of-the-art originator and servicer of high-quality consumer loans, with numerous clients including Apple Computer, Microsoft, and Bank One. At Servus, he was responsible for annual loan volume growth of 38 percent for seven years. Servus was successfully sold to Wells Fargo Bank in 2000.

“Zopa is the most innovative concept I’ve seen in my 13 years of being involved in loan businesses,” said Dolton. “I expect it to be the fastest-growing company I’ve ever led, because of its outstanding consumer proposition: amazing rates on financial products, and a strong, safe person-to-person connection that promises to change the way U.S. consumers think about money.”

“Doug brings vast experience and impressive leadership skills to Zopa at a crucial time in the company’s evolution,” said Phillip Riese, Chairman of Zopa. “Our UK peer-to-peer business is now well-established and growing rapidly and we are poised to launch in the US, an even larger opportunity for the company. Doug’s leadership combined with the new funding and the experience of our teams in the UK and the U.S. will allow us to accelerate our growth. We are thrilled to have him on board.”

About the investment

The additional investment of $12.9 million, which raises Zopa’s total capital to $34 million, is an internal round among Zopa’s venture backers: Benchmark Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Wellington Partners. This Series C investment will fund the launch of Zopa in the U.S., the continued development and growth of operations in the United Kingdom, and expansion globally.

“We are very happy to lead on this third round of funding,” said Rob Stavis of Bessemer Venture Partners. “Zopa is an innovative and exciting business with a spectacular future ahead of it – quite a rarity in the personal finance sector and much more akin to other consumer internet businesses we have invested in like Skype. Zopa now has two excellent years under its belt in the UK and is growing in momentum, demonstrating that the model works well. Expanding into the U.S. is the next logical step.”

About Zopa

Zopa is the online marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow money. Lenders get great returns and borrowers get low-cost loans. With no bank in the middle, both parties get better rates.

Zopa makes money human again - lenders can see where their money's going and borrowers can see where their money's coming from.

Zopa was voted “Internet innovation of the Year” at the CNet Technology Awards in 2006, and was recently named by Business 2.0 as 1 of 11 “disruptor” companies that will transform the financial services industry.

Since launching in the United Kingdom in March 2005, over 135,000 members have joined Zopa and enjoyed access to market-leading rates on investments and loans.

Visit us at www.zopa.com and see why.