The sharing economy comes to banking

A start-up some are calling the Airbnb of capital is bringing a Silicon Valley idea to Wall Street

Image: Risk.net montage

Eleven years ago, two entrepreneurs in San Francisco unlocked a new source of income – renting beds to conference delegates who couldn’t find a hotel room. The early returns were modest, but the idea of renting unused beds – and later other things – took off. Airbnb today is worth around $30 billion.

Now, the sharing idea has found a niche on Wall Street.

“We’re envisioning a world where the largest banks will use the market at large as their balance sheet,” says Gil Mandelzis, founder and