Prosper raising $13.3 – $15.8M round for peer-to-peer lending market

Peer-to-peer lending market Prosper is in the midst of raising a $13.3 – $15.8 million fourth round of funding, the company announced today.

The company’s lending market currently has nearly a million members, and so far, those members have funded 32,000 loans totaling more than $193 million. The company said it has signed a letter of intent with new and existing investors to raise the round, which is expected to close by April 15.

To date, the San Francisco-based company has raised $43 million. According to Deutsche Bank Research, Prosper is the largest peer-to-peer lending marketplace. Gartner forecasts this industry will grow to $5 billion in outstanding loans by 2013. In February, Prosper said the average borrower credit score was 724 and that 40 percent of loans are going to borrowers with credit scores of 760 or higher. Borrowers generally use Prosper to consolidate their loans. Users have posted requests for $1.8 billion in loans.

Prosper announced in November that it had raised $1 million in a third round. Before that, Prosper raised $41 million in two prior rounds. That last round was noteworthy, though, because the money came from Nigel W. Morris, co-founder of Capital One, a major credit card and banking company.

Competitor Lending Club raised $12 million in March, 2009, and has raised more than $22 million in all.