Prosper in joint venture with SBI Holdings for Prosper Japan
In a press release Monday, Prosper announced a joint venture with Japan-based SBI Holdings to expand the Prosper brand into the Japanese and other Asian markets through SBI Prosper. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Hayato Kameta has been picked to become CEO of Prosper Japan. Regulatory and technical integration hurdles remain before the site can be opened to the public. No word was given on when the new site might launch.
SBI is a spin-off of Softbank, the Japanese investment behemoth from Web 1.0 days, and has made a business of running copycats of American web sites such as E*TRADE, Morningstar, and InsWeb. Chris Larsen, CEO of Prosper, orchestrated a similar Japanese joint venture with SBI for his previous company, E-LOAN.
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