A homeowner buying a new roof or kitchen could apply for a loan on the contractor's phone and get a decision in seconds. That was GreenSky. Partner banks funded the loans, and GreenSky ran the technology and collected fees. When it filed to go public in 2018, fintech lenders were popular with investors. GreenSky was one of the most profitable among them, and it kept the loans off its own books.

Leave the Lending to Banks

David Zalik founded GreenSky in Atlanta in 2006. He had already built and sold a software business. He saw home improvement contractors losing sales when customers could not pay up front. His bet was to give merchants a simple financing tool and leave the lending itself to banks. That kept the loans off GreenSky's books, so the company could grow fast with little capital.

Below the Offering Price

GreenSky priced at $23 a share in May 2018, and the stock fell soon after. Investors worried about rising funding costs and the company's reliance on a few bank partners. Shares traded far below the offering price for most of its public life. In 2022 Goldman Sachs bought GreenSky for about $2.2 billion to grow its consumer lending business. The next year Goldman agreed to sell it.

Cover: Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières), Vincent van Gogh. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an open spring sky over the river.