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"People have been pawning their jewels and wares for cash for hundreds of years. Pawngo launches Tuesday as a new alternative to the brick-and-mortar pawnshop, targeting a more well-to-do clientele in need of big-ticket loans.\nPawngo lets online denizens use their valuables as collateral to secure short-term loans for up to $250,000 \u2014 and all without leaving the comfort of their own homes. The startup has loaned more than $1.3 million to beta testers prior to its launch.\n\"Our system lets you use the items you already own to get a loan that won\u2019t get you into trouble down the road,\" Pawngo co-founder and CEO Todd Hills says.\nWould-be pawners describe the items they'd like to pawn, upload photos and enter their contact information. Pawngo follows up with a loan offer or estimate for buying the item in a few hours, using real-time and historic pricing data to determine resale value. Should the user accept the offer, he then prints the prepaid FedEx shipping label and sends the item to Pawngo for confirmation. After that, Pawngo wires the funds to the user's bank account.\nThe startup issues what it calls \"short-term, low-interest\" loans \u2014 up to six months at 3% to 6% interest \u2014 from $250 to $100,000. It stores and insures all the items in its care and returns them to the user once the loan is paid off.\nBy taking the pawnshop off the streets and on to the web, Pawngo hopes to lessen the stigma associated with walking into a sketchy pawnshop. The idea would appeal to an audience who would otherwise avoid pawning their collectables. \nPawngo comes from Lightbank, the investment vehicle of Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, and online pawnbroker Internet Pawn. It recently raised $2.3 million in funding across Series A and B rounds."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/06/07/pawngo/>