- Business Financing
- Litigation Finance
Percent Review -- Invest in Private Credit
Percent aggregates private-credit investments from a range of originators offering small-business, crypto, venture loans, litigation finance and more, including international debt investments. Low minimums.
Percent
- Founded: 2018
- Investment Types: Business Financing and Litigation Finance
- Minimum Investment: $500
- Advertised Returns: 10-15%
- Must be accredited
Pros
- Relatively quick payback times
- Blended Note option offers easy diversification
- Low investment minimums
- Low fees
Cons
- Sometimes there are no active offerings available
- Only open to accredited investors
Overview
This Percent Review will help you learn more about Percent's investment offerings, including how the alternative investments on Percent are structured, and what your potential returns might be. You can read more about the criteria we use to review investment platforms here.
Percent is an online alternative investment platform offering investors the opportunity to invest in a range of “private credit” investments from more than 25 different originators. New York based Percent was founded in 2018 (and until 2021 was known as Cadence), “on the belief that investing in alternative investments should be more transparent, more accessible, and more liquid than ever before,” according to the company.
To power their investment offerings, Percent has built a software platform connecting borrowers, underwriters, and of course investors. Percent’s stated goal is to bring the kind of transparency and market efficiency underlying public debt markets to private debt (a $7 trillion market).
Types of investments Percent offers
The investments available on Percent are primarily short-term private debt offerings across a range of sectors and debt types, including:
- Receivables financing
- Consumer loans
- Small-business financing
- Crypto-collateralized loans
- Venture loans
- Litigation finance
Notably, offerings on Percent often include exposure to international private debt investments (such as small business loans in Latin America).
In addition to individual offerings, Percent also offers a “Blended Note” which provides exposure to multiple offerings with a single investment.
What do you get when investing with Percent?
Investors on Percent receive unsecured promissory notes. Prospective investors should be sure to review the specific offering details to understand the debt structure and characteristics of the borrower(s). Investors should note that even if there is underlying collateral for the debt, individual investors do not have a specific claim on that collateral.
How does Percent make money?
Percent does not currently charge any direct fees to investors, and there are no fees charged on uninvested cash deposits sitting in your FDIC-insured Percent investment account. Percent primarily makes money by charging fees to borrowers, though they will soon begin to collect 10% of the stated interest rate on investments prior to making distributions to investors. According to Percent, the fees will “go into allowing Percent to offer investors more investment products beyond our current offerings, and add advanced features like third-party collateral verification.”
Potential returns and cashflow
Details and returns vary by offering, but target returns are typically 10-15% annualized, with an overall weighted average of 14.43% as of this writing (May 2022). Percent helpfully reports the weighted average APY for each of the originators they work with.
Most investments are short-term (usually around 9 months, but in some cases as short as 1 month or as long as several years), with monthly payments providing ongoing cash flow.
Percent publishes a very helpful overview of performance to date on their website.
Breadth of offerings on Percent
Percent has funded nearly 300 offerings to date, raising $559M in financing with 274 repaid and 6 defaults (representing a 1.82% default rate). At the time of this writing there is one open investment opportunity, but there are usually several offerings open at any given time (prospective investors should note the deals usually fill up quickly).
To help investors avoid missing out on new offerings, Percent recently announced changes to their investment process
Regulatory framework
Percent curates a network of loan originators, with detailed performance data available for each (you must be registered as an investor to view). According to Percent:
Percent employs a rigorous vetting process for selecting partner originators. Originators must have a reputable management team, proven experience in the underlying asset classes, a track record of successful investments, and stringent due diligence and underwriting standards.
Percent currently offers investments only to accredited investors under SEC Reg D.
This review was first published on 09 May 2022.
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