February 4, 2016 @ 6:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), which regulates the banking and non-banking sector, is working with the Ministry of Communications and Information to bring out regulations governing online startup companies offering financial services, popularly referred to as fintech, reported DealStreetAsia. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy (US$890B).  The new regulation will… Read More

February 4, 2016 @ 5:03 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Fintech opportunities are percolating in southeast Asia. Earlier this week, the Silicon-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, closed a $920 M fund capital to invest majorly in Indian startups along with South East Asian companies.  With the reserve bank actively studying peer lending, this part of the globe… Read More

February 4, 2016 @ 4:42 am By Erin Hobey  |  

During the past two years, eight companies in Index Ventures’ portfolio went public, including Pure Storage, King, Just Eat and Hortonworks, while many others expanded significantly, including Funding Circle,Adyen, BlaBlaCar, Deliveroo, Slack and Sonos. Seven out of 10 Index’s investments originated at Seed or Series… Read More

February 4, 2016 @ 4:16 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, an American direct commercial real estate lender, today unveiled ALEX (Arbor LoanExpress), an online loan origination platform. Developed for direct borrowers, brokers and correspondent lenders, ALEX is designed to streamline and organize the multifamily lending process, helping clients easily and efficiently obtain market-leading… Read More

February 2, 2016 @ 6:13 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Capital Cell is the first European equity crowdfunding platform specializing in biotech and  life sciences startups and companies.  Capital Cell links with entrepreneurs seeking funding with investors who want to invest their money in projects with a high growth potential. To date the Barcelona-based equity crowdfunding platform founded in 2015… Read More

February 2, 2016 @ 5:18 am By Erin Hobey  |  

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has agreed to acquire nearly $1 billion worth of personal loans arranged by LendingClub Corp., people familiar with the deal reported Nasdaq’s Telis Demos. The portfolio, worth just over $900 million and comprising loans made to consumers with an average FICO… Read More

February 2, 2016 @ 5:04 am By Erin Hobey  |  

OCBC Bank has launched a fintech co-working space and innovation unit in Singapore and its first accelerator program to identify and collaborate with innovative startups. The 2,400-square foot Open Vault at OCBC has been established to help drive the development of new products and business models… Read More

February 2, 2016 @ 4:44 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Creditnation.in, a lending platform which combines credit advisory, analytics, process automation and last-mile connectivity, has announced that it has raised angel round funding for an undisclosed amount.  The platforms deals primarily in credit cards, loan against property, housing, personal, auto and business loans, and have already partnered… Read More

February 2, 2016 @ 4:27 am By Erin Hobey  |  

FinTech Sandbox, a nonprofit that helps FinTech startups access data and build great products, today announced a new data sourcing agreement with the global news company, The Associated Press. The AP will provide FinTech Sandbox residents with access to AP’s financial, business and political news… Read More

January 28, 2016 @ 5:56 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Berlin-based startup LUUV is returning to the crowd after completing two successful crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo and Kickstarter which garnered over €360.000 in pre-orders to date, from more than 60 countries. solidLUUV was awarded with the “ISPO Product of the Year” Award 2015/2016. In addition, the jury of CES (Consumer Electronics Show)… Read More

January 28, 2016 @ 5:09 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Award winning UK startup Wriggle seeks to fill empty seats for the dine out sector, by offering local food and drink venues access to its discounting tool. The platform’s functionality is simple – local businesses reactively reduce the price of their products to reach Wriggle customers who, in a couple of… Read More

January 28, 2016 @ 4:38 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Santander InnoVentures, the $100 million fintech venture capital fund of Santander Group, in partnership with Onevest, a leader in the startup ecosystem operating CoFoundersLab and 1000 Angels, today announced Cambridge Blockchain as the winner of its Distributed Ledger (DL) Challenge. Massachusetts based Cambridge Blockchain was among… Read More

January 28, 2016 @ 4:15 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Partner Susan Su announced 500 Startups Batch 16 on the fund’s blog, celebrating the largest accelerator cohort in 500 Startups history with 53 companies in total. Batch 16 presents five major industry themes, including FinTech, Digital Health, ViceTech, HR/workforce development and SportsTech.  To date, 500 Startups has invested in well over 500 companies, over 1500… Read More

January 26, 2016 @ 10:56 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Deloitte Digital (Africa) acquired the fintech services business Jinja Interactive, according to IT Online. The acquisition of Cape Town-based Jinja Interactive will boost Deloitte Digital’s growing value chain of digital expertise, particularly in digital financial services and fintech innovation.   “We’re very happy to have the… Read More

January 26, 2016 @ 7:16 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Swedish fintech investor NFT Ventures is launching a second fund targeting startups in Finland through a partnership with local broadcaster MTV. MTV, owned by the Swedish media conglomerate Bonnier Group, has reportedly invested 150 million krona ($17.5 million) into the fund and will also ensure “nation-wide media… Read More

January 26, 2016 @ 7:03 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Start-up ENIO wants to promote electric cars with the help of a crowd solution in partnership with Companisto. The demand for charging stations is also rising as more powerful electronic vehicles are arriving on the market. As a consequence, drivers need to know where the nearest… Read More

January 21, 2016 @ 6:02 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Capitalia, represented in NASDAQ Riga stock exchange, is the leading alternative financing provider for small and medium enterprises in Latvia and Lithuania.  This January Capitalia  obtained necessary permits to broaden its services to the Estonian market. Citing the current financial conditions that cause banks to be more cautious when financing… Read More

January 21, 2016 @ 5:43 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Moody’s Investors Service avers that the development of domestic securitization markets will help India and China achieve their common goal of building inclusive financial systems that will ultimately bring affordable credit to the underprivileged segments of their societies and which are usually excluded from the conventional banking… Read More

January 21, 2016 @ 5:17 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Koinify, a crowdfunding platform for cryptocurrency projects, will cease operating website and data custody operations, essentially deleting all wallets and coin holdings of users who participated in campaigns and did not move their coins elsewhere. “Following previous notice, please note that Koinify site is officially shutting… Read More

January 21, 2016 @ 4:49 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Online lender Elevate Credit Inc. has postponed its initial public stock offering due to difficult market conditions, reported the Wall Street Journal. The firm was slated to price its initial public stock offering Thursday. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Elevate Credit makes unsecured personal loans to subprime borrowers. In 2014, Elevate was spun out… Read More