Two of the biggest successes of 2014
perfectly characterise this diversity in
the market. On one hand, First Data,
a provider of payment processing
services founded in 1971, raised
$3.5 billion2
in private equity led
by KKR. On the other hand we have
a true ‘new wave fintech’ poster
child, Lending Club, the peer-to-peer
lending platform founded in 2006 that
raised $865 million on the New York
Stock Exchange, valuing its business
at $8.5 billion and hitting the record
for the biggest US tech IPO of 2014.