Peter Renton is already declaring LendIt Europe a success. And it hasn’t started yet.
“It’s a great feeling when people respond like this,” he told Bankless Times from Colorado. “We are always working to meet demand.”
Renton and Jason Jones co-founded the LendIt conferences after deciding the wanted to meet some of the people they did business with online. It wasn’t long before major names in the industry were onside.
Now the conference has a reputation that’s as solid as money in the bank, er, alt-finance sector.
“It’s about sparking ideas and building relationships,” said Renton who is conference chair and emcee. “Thirty seven countries are represented.”
The goal is simple. He wants people to learn and grow. In turn, they’ll build the industry and create an environment for peer-to-peer to survive and thrive.
With London as a backdrop, the flavour is definitely international. But Renton says the agenda caters to everyone from small business owners to banking executives. Everyone is on an equal footing, he added.
“We’re there to network and be inspired and recharge,” he says, noting deals will get done too.
After all, it’s a global industry with China’s peer-to-peer lending community leading the way, followed closely by the U.S., and then Europe.
Renton and Jones host several conferences per year but this is the second annual one in Europe. They have China in their sights too.
It gives Renton plenty to write about on his popular website and speak about at conferences dedicated to the P2P online and lending industries. He is also a co-founder at NSR Invest, an investment and analytics platform that provides access to P2P marketplaces for financial advisors, institutional investors, and individuals.
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