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Aura Closes $35 Million Social Bond Issuance Led by 400 CapitalAura, a mission-driven financial technology company that offers affordable loans to hard-working families, today completed a $35 million private social bond issuance led by structured credit asset management firm 400 Capital Management. This latest social bond will finance the origination of more than 21,000 affordable, small-dollar loans as part of Aura's commitment to injecting capital into low-income communities across America. Aura has issued $275 million in social bonds through its proprietary platform in 2019 and $526 million since the platform was launched in 2017. In total, the program has supported Aura's ability to make more than 383,000 loans to borrowers with thin-or-no credit files and average incomes of $36,000 per year. "We're proud of 400 Capital's continued investment in our social bond program," said James Gutierrez, CEO and Founder of Aura. "Their participation is a clear vote of confidence in our underwriting and innovative distribution platform. This latest investment will help Aura serve more working families at a time when demand for affordable loans continues o grow." Millions of working families in America lack access to safe and affordable loans and are vulnerable to predatory lenders. Working with investors like 400 Capital, Aura is able to provide borrowers with affordable loans that have saved them from paying hundreds of millions of dollars in additional fees and interest by avoiding predatory options. About 400 Capital Management 400 Capital Management is a structured credit asset management firm offering qualified investors access to a broad range of investment opportunities and innovative solutions across global structured credit markets. The Firm was founded in 2008 by credit market veteran Chris Hentemann. Along with partners Alex Cha, Todd Leih and Bill Sanders (News - Alert), Chris and the team have been investing and trading in structured credit markets for over 26 years on average. About Aura Aura is a technology-powered Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides small, affordable loans to working families in America. Aura's mission is to build financially healthy low-income communities by providing empowering financial services to America's 66 million underbanked and unbanked. Aura has pioneered a cloud-based lending technology that enables trusted local businesses to submit credit applications for centralized review and approval by its proprietary scoring algorithms. Currently available in 1,250 locations across California, Texas, Illinois and Arizona, Aura has provided hundreds of thousands of credit-building, responsible loans to low-income households since launching in 2014. Aura was founded in 2012 by James Gutierrez, Kevin Kang, and Randy Wong. All three founders helped create and scale Oportun, a CDFI and one of Time Magazine's Top 50 Most Genius (News - Alert) Companies in 2018. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191017005248/en/ |
