Mohamed El-Erian is backing a startup powered by a former dating website scientist and chaired by an ex-CEO of a credit card giant.

Tracy Alloway of the Financial Times reports that the ex-CEO of Newport Beach, California-based bond fund giant Pimco is investing in a company on the other side of fixed income investing. The pub reports that El-Erian is the lead investor in a $12-million equity round for Costa Mesa-based Payoff. Payoff is a peer-to-peer (P2P) lender, with a behavioral finance twist.

Behavioral finance is a familiar subject at Pimco sibling Allianz Global Investors, which launched its own behavioral finance center several years ago. El-Erian left Pimco in March, after which he has been advising the board of Pimco parent Allianz on global economic matters and working on a book.

The FT reports that Payoff founder and CEO Scott Saunders met El-Erian two years ago through El-Erian's now-famous daughter's drama class. Joe Saunders, former CEO of Visa, is Payoff's chairman, and Galen Buckwalter, a scientist who helped develop eHarmony's engine, is also on board at payoff. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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