SoFi-from Loan Company to $5-Billion FS

Financial advisor Frank Cardia is the managing director of Iron Edge VC, a company that facilitates late-stage, pre-IPO investments in promising private companies. One of the companies that Frank Cardia and his team are watching is Social Finance (SoFi).

SoFi was founded in 2011 by four Stanford Business School alumni to address the flawed student loan system. They started by matching 100 students with 40 Stanford alumni willing to finance their education at reasonable terms. This first batch of loans averaged $20,000. Over time, SoFi expanded its student loan program, and in four years, it was the country’s largest provider of student loans.

Today, nearly a decade after SoFi was founded, the company offers members opportunities to access home mortgages, refinance mortgages, get personal loans, and buy fractional shares in listed public companies. SoFi also offers financial advice, insurance, cash management, and planned budgeting.

Powered by its mission to guide members on a path to fiscal responsibility, SoFi boasts a membership of more than a million. The company has disbursed $45 billion in loans and is valued at approximately $5 billion.

Palantir Public Listing Generates

Throughout Frank Cardia’s career in financial services, he has facilitated more than $1 billion in venture capital funding. Today, Frank Cardia is the managing director of Iron Edge VC, where he matches investors with late-stage, pre-IPO companies that show great promise for appreciation. One of the company’s successful matches is Palantir.

Iron Edge VC expressed great confidence in Palantir long before the company decided to go public. Iron Edge VC featured Palantir in the Iron Edge newsletter, and as late as June 2020 was offering investors the opportunity to purchase shares of Palantir in the private markets for $6. Private shares were plentiful, but demand was not strong since most people did not know about the data company.

Things changed in July 2020 when Palantir decided to go public. After filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, early investors and employees stopped selling shares in the private markets, hoping for a bigger payout in the IPO. This withdrawal catapulted the demand for shares in the private markets, driving prices to a high of $10.

When Palantir went public in October 2020, shares reached a high of $15.90 before settling to $15.30. Investors who bought the company’s private shares at $6 are now sitting on capital gains of over 175 percent. Iron Edge VC is proud to have facilitated such an impressive return on investment.