On August 23, LendingClub announced that they were about to close a Series A round of venture capital funding for $10.2 million from Norwest Venture Partners and Canaan Partners. This first round of venture capital follows a $2 million round of angel investments to date.

Along with the funding, LendingClub announced that Jeff Crowe (Norwest Venture Partners) and Dan Ciporin (Canaan Partners, former CEO of Shopping.com) would be joining LendingClub’s board of directors.

To date, LendingClub’s growth has been slower than the other major US P2P lending firm, Prosper. In the approximately 3 months since launch, LendingClub has facilitated more than $750,000 in loans between individuals. In the first 3 months since their launch in Feb 2006, Prosper had arranged $3.4 million in loans between individuals. As of today, Prosper lenders have funded over $84 million in loans.

LendingClub has a long road ahead of it, and is relying on Facebook and other social networks (college alumni groups, employers, unions) to provide that elusive combination of community, accountability, and privacy that every P2P lender is looking for.

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