Argon Secures $75,000,000 in Growth Capital

BURR RIDGE, Ill., May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Argon, a leading provider of online consumer loans, today announced that it has successfully raised a total of $81 million from investors, highlighted most recently by a $75 million debt facility from a credit hedge fund. The financing will enable Argon to accelerate its growth in originating near-prime and prime consumer loans through its proprietary online platform.

Raviv Wolfe, CEO and co-founder, stated, "This financing represents a significant demonstration of confidence from our partners and ensures that we are well-positioned to continue to execute on our growth strategy. The demand of the consumer has outgrown the ability of the commercial banking industry, and opportunistic lenders that attract and retain these clients will find great success in this new marketplace." Argon offers a range of products that target discerning online borrowers who look for a fair price, speed of funding and a superior client experience. "Our collective background in the mortgage industry gives us a unique and valuable perspective on credit pitfalls and managing risk;" says Gary Zumski, CRO and co-founder, "Pairing collective knowledge from our days in the mortgage industry, along with our dedication to Big Data and deep analytics, enables us to drive innovative solutions to our clientele."   

The dedication to Big Data is just one way Argon is diversifying its portfolio of services. Decisioning as a Service (DaaS), specifically the commercialization of Argon's machine learning algorithms, is being developed to revolutionize the way credit is evaluated for the entire industry. Says Wolfe, "The most critical part of handling Big Data is performing the bulk of your analysis and computation close to the data, however being able to produce rapid risk decisions in a few microseconds. That activity coexists with continuous analysis of our universe of data to identify patterns of risk, fraud, consumption and other consumer profile points."

The most recent debt capital infusion was provided by Princeton Alternative Funding ("PAF"). "We are excited for the opportunity to work with one of the industry's rising stars, exclaimed Bob Farrell, President, "Argon Credit represents everything we are looking for in today's lenders." Additionally, PAF Partner and Chief Portfolio Underwriter Alonzo Primus commented "Argon's unique underwriting platform should allow it to continue to grow in a controlled manner with regard to risk as it deploys the additional growth capital."

Argon was represented by Bruce Goldstein, Managing Partner of Alhambra Circle Partners ("ACP") of Miami, Florida. Discussing ACP's involvement, Wolfe added "Bruce is a consummate professional, and his industry insight proved instrumental in executing the financing." Argon will use the capital to stimulate national expansion of the product pipeline, grow its loan portfolio and accelerate innovation in its proprietary machine learning algorithms. ACP was the sole advisor and exclusive banker to the company.

About Argon

Argon (Argon Credit, LLC) was created to increase consumer liquidity by offering unsecured online installment loans. Having recently celebrated its one year anniversary, Argon offers people a safe and easy way to acquire loans at competitive rates. Argon has committed to providing world-class client services and leveraging bleeding edge technology to provide the consumer the convenience of applying online 24/7/365, and experience none of the lengthy processes and uncertainty associated with traditional lending institutions. Using Big Data and advanced machine-learning, Argon leverages a distinctive artificial intelligence (dubbed Ai, or Argon Intelligence) algorithm that is a revolutionary analytical and sociological approach to providing competitive rates on an individual basis. This intelligent technology analyzes thousands of data points in less than 100 milliseconds in order to create an avatar of the client, truly personalizing the lending experience in the online marketplace. The approach creates an online consumer persona, essentially using the data points as the DNA of the client and allowing a customized experience for each applicant.    

Argon has quickly grown its staff to 20 and anticipates over 100 employees by year's end. For more information, please visit www.ArgonCredit.com

About Princeton

Princeton Alternative Funding, LLC (PAF) is the general partner and manager of the Princeton Alternative Income Fund. The Fund is an investment vehicle crafted for the purpose of funding businesses that make consumer loans. PAF has an exclusive partnership with MicroBilt Corporation, the leader for analyzing non-prime risk, world class analytics and monitoring capabilities to the underwriting process. For more information, please visit www.princetonalternativefunding.com

About Alhambra Circle Partners

Alhambra Circle Partners, LLC ("ACP") provides investment banking and advisory services with a particular emphasis within the specialty finance and financial payments sectors. The company provides a thoughtful and methodical approach to each client's individual circumstances. Our unique experience combining banking, operating and investing within specialty finance and commercial banking, allows us to best carry out a rational and pragmatic approach to capital raising and M&A. Our perspective, and that which our clients' expect from us, require that we operate both as trusted advisor and as a natural extension of the management team, which in combination, best balances and leverages the clients' typically limited internal resources.  For more information, please visit www.alhambracirclepartners.com

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SOURCE Argon