May 19, 2015 @ 11:37 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Ideas Britain, a mobile platform wherein people submit an idea in less than a minute and compete for support, expert advice and real world commercial backing, has chosen Crowdcube to power its next phase of growth. Aiming to raise £300,000 on Crowdcube, Ideas Britain has already secured over… Read More

May 18, 2015 @ 8:03 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Peer-to-peer lending pioneer Zopa today announced a partnership with leading challenger bank, Metro Bank, to lend funds through Zopa’s online marketplace.This innovative deal is the first of its kind in the UK and a clear signal that some parts of the UK banking sector are embracing… Read More

May 18, 2015 @ 9:55 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Following a successful Seedrs round last Spring, London-based Octer (formerly called Shareight) has returned to Seedrs to raise a second round of funding. The company, previously known as Shareight, raised £600,000 in just 24 hours on Seedrs back in May 2014.  The campaign seeks raise £700,000, in exchange… Read More

May 18, 2015 @ 9:18 am By Erin Hobey  |  

That most people keep their mobiles with them at all times is not a surprise.  As one might expect, the mobile market is enormous and growing rapidly. Gartner, a leading information technology research and advisory company, has estimated that there will be 20 billion connected mobile… Read More

May 18, 2015 @ 8:42 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Blue & Green Tomorrow, the fastest-growing sustainable lifestyle magazine in the UK, and GreenWise Business, the independent UK green business-to-business (B2B) online news and information publisher, are merging to create the leading online independent publishing powerhouse dedicated to consumers, businesses and investors that want to live,… Read More

May 18, 2015 @ 8:13 am By Erin Hobey  |  

“We are pleased to report the first revenues following the successful launch of Symbid, The Funding Network™ in March. This represents a major step forward in our commitment to creating long-term value for shareholders through an innovative service offering for start-ups and small businesses. Following… Read More

May 15, 2015 @ 10:58 am By Erin Hobey  |  

“The [SyndicateRoom] model was a result of my experience. I was working with business angels when equity crowdfunding appeared. I loved the idea of a wider group getting access to investment in early stage companies, but I didn’t like how it was being done, and… Read More

May 15, 2015 @ 9:07 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Something to smile about… According to a Fundable brief, Smyle has raised $300K on its private fundraise.  The Smyle app connects with Dropbox, Amazon Drive and Google Cloud Services for it one-stop shop for photo and video capturing, organizing, sharing, and storing.   Daily problems the Smyle… Read More

May 15, 2015 @ 8:27 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Glass full: London wine bar Vini Italiani  has raised over £308,215 on its Seedrs  equity crowdfunding campaign with its equity offering of 11.63%.  Funding will be used to continue the brand’s undivided focus on Italian wines with the goal that Vini Italiani will be recognised and identified as the… Read More

May 14, 2015 @ 12:18 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

With its elevator pitch of “Disrupting Big Oil: Crowdfunders get monthly guaranteed returns with equity upside,” Ascenergy has tapped into the crowd for its Crowdfunder campaign.  Seeking to raise $6M by 30 June 2015, the company has already raised  over $5,670,000, or 95% of its goal.   Investments $25,000… Read More

May 14, 2015 @ 11:26 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Technological Innovation in Health Tech, Robotics and Smart Sensors Take Stage at HAX’s Accelerator Demo Days 15 hardware startups culminated an intensive 111-day accelerator program by revealing their products at HAX’s sixth annual Demo Day (formerly known as HAXLR8R). Each company  spent three months in Shenzhen, China,… Read More

May 14, 2015 @ 10:38 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The fintech accelerator Startupbootcamp FinTech Singapore has appointed Steven Tong as a new managing director.  Tong,  formerly of Infocomm Investments and the London-based accelerator, also welcomed three new team members from PwC Singapore, Pix Vine Capital and Jungle Ventures.  Tong  brings 15 years’ worth of experience working with financial technology companies… Read More

May 14, 2015 @ 8:42 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Small business financing leader Guidant Financial has entered a strategic partnership with InvestNextDoor to create what they believe to be the marketplace lending industry’s largest small business loan origination agreement: Guidant Financial has committed to drive at least $100 million in business to InvestNextDoor’s marketplace lending platform. “Our business is solving… Read More

May 7, 2015 @ 1:17 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Cloud Lending Solutions, an end-to-end lending solution built natively on salesforce.com, today announced that Humphrey Polanen has been named president. He will be responsible for expanding Cloud Lending’s strategic partnership ecosystem and driving new cloud-based technology solutions that power the alternative lending community. “Humphrey’s expertise and… Read More

May 7, 2015 @ 11:45 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Over 241K€ has been raised for the German urban comedy Wie Männer Über Frau Reden (How Men Talk About Women), quickly surpassing the campaign’s 100,000€ goal with the support of over 360 Companists.   Producer Douglas Welbat will now advise matters related to the marketing and release… Read More

April 28, 2015 @ 3:56 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

“… the American market should be much easier for European platforms: one law, one interpretation and ca. 320 million customers. A perfect opportunity for scaling up the business.” The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US government and the European Commission will have multiple… Read More

April 28, 2015 @ 9:36 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The movie has been shot and the crowd has lined up to voice its opinion: over 57,080€ of the 100,000€ goal has been raised by 109 Companists for the German urban comedy Wie Männer Über Frau Reden (How Men Talk About Women).  German comedies tend to generate high… Read More

April 28, 2015 @ 8:47 am By Erin Hobey  |  

OnDeck Capital, a U.S.-based online marketplace which offers short-term loans to businesses of between $5,000 and $250,000, is expanding its offerings in Canada, joining a growing number of tech-oriented lenders that promise to transform the financial services landscape, according to 680 news.  Experts say Canada has… Read More

April 28, 2015 @ 7:55 am By Erin Hobey  |  

“Banks are at a huge disadvantage with their high salary bills and antiquated technology systems, peer to peer offers an innovative, simple and better result which costs customers less. That said, I also predict huge opportunities for banks and peer-to-peer lenders to continue to work together… Read More

April 23, 2015 @ 2:09 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Peer-to-peer lending startup Jimubox announced that it had secured $84 million in series C funding, just seven months after the Beijing-based firm attracted US$37 million from Xiaomi and ShunWei Capital, according to Tech in Asia. The lead investor on Jimubox’s most recent round is UK’s Investec Bank. Haitong… Read More