BizSugar.com › Raising Capital › Peer-to-peer lending gaining steam

Make way for peer-to-peer lending - where anyone with Web access can be a banker and small business owners are finding a new way to raise cash. The industry is still in its infancy, but has been catching fire as major players enter the market. The UK's Zopa - considered the grand-daddy of the niche - launched its U.S. operations in December, California-based Lending Club debuted on social networking giant Facebook in May, and billionaire Richard Branson relaunched Circle Lending as Virgin Money USA in October.