March 12, 2015 @ 2:25 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

The vote by Companisto investors had a higher turnout than the last German Bundestag (German Parliament) election: 93.79 percent. Of those who voted to accept a shares redemption offer from crowdfunded startup 5 CUPS and some sugar, 98.41 percent chose the redemption offer–which included a 45 percent investment return, according to a… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 2:32 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Families of wealth and institutional investors have a new guide to the peer-to-peer finance sector, thanks to the family office of Yves Saint Laurent co-founder Pierre Bergé, Shepherd Capital, and Paris-based alternative asset manager Eiffel Investment. Together, the two firms launched Eiffel eCapital, an asset management… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 1:45 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

SAIF Partners in China and in India, a leading Asian private equity firm managing over US$3.5 billion, is expecting to invest a minimum of $70-$100 million in 10-15 companies this year, across the mobile, e-commerce and financial services sectors, according to a story on Live Mint. In the… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 2:38 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Whether you have an eye–or a nose–for good design, Sniffr, a new crowdfunding platform for Singapore designers, has just soft-launched, according to Channel NewsAsia. Founded by Otto Solutions, the platform offers aspiring designers a launch pad to share and showcase their designs, as well as solicit funding… Read More

March 9, 2015 @ 4:27 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

A surprising chain of related facts: Gila monster lizards have poisonous saliva. A drug derived from it, Exenatide, acts like a natural hormone, helping diabetes patients produce their own insulin. And Venomtech is the first UK company to sell venoms in a form tailored for use by drug discovery companies, so that they… Read More

March 6, 2015 @ 1:32 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

“But it has protein!” may be the sole health-redeeming trait of delicious treats such as ice cream and gelato. Of course, the protein often comes with a hefty side of fat and added sugars. Throw in a few preservatives and artificial coloring, and it takes a… Read More

March 5, 2015 @ 3:32 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

If the Chinese characters on your bottle of very fine wine recall bygone basketball games, here’s to Yao Ming. Luxury wine brand Yao Family Wines, founded by Yao Ming, retired basketball star with the Houston Rockets and a global humanitarian, is now crowdfunding on Crowdfunder, with a $3 million goal…. Read More

March 4, 2015 @ 1:55 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Living in London may be pricey, but then there’s getting around. To decrease the price and the hassle of Londoners’ commutes, CommuterClub is partnering with leading peer-to-peer funder RateSetter to offer major discounts on annual public transport tickets through low-cost payment plans. The campaign, hosted on UK crowdfunding platform Seedrs, is… Read More

March 3, 2015 @ 3:48 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Save the date: Crowdfunding Day 2015, the largest crowdfunding event in Europe, will take place in Amsterdam on May 12 of this year. Douw&Koren, a crowdfunding consulting company, is taking crowdfunding offline by hosting this event with Erick Derksen from the Event Department, according to a recent… Read More

March 2, 2015 @ 3:45 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

If you’ve ever dragged yourself and your baggage to Terminal Z, for the Gate on the Other Side of the World, you may have longed for a way to rub out the knots in your travel-weary neck, before cramming yourself into yet another uncomfortable airplane seat. XpresSpa, a… Read More

March 1, 2015 @ 11:52 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Nigeria’s Sterling Bank Plc, which manages Social Lender, a modified peer-to-peer lending platform, has increased the minimum amount by three-fold for lending on Social Lender’s social media platforms, according to Guardian News. Besides the increase from N3,000 to N10,000, Sterling Bank also said that it is targeting 6,000… Read More

March 1, 2015 @ 9:24 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

To expand access to legal justice for those who can’t otherwise afford it, a new national crowdfunding platform, CrowdDefend, will publically launch this week. CrowdDefend helps individuals, organizations and businesses raise funds to cover legal representation, court fees and associated trial costs for cases large… Read More

February 27, 2015 @ 2:46 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

North Carolina’s Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall, is requesting state legislators’ approval for fee increases that would help support the results of passing crowdfunding legislation, according to the News & Observer. The increases would generate  $2.68 million in new revenue.   Marshall noted that her department… Read More

February 25, 2015 @ 9:51 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

“Nobody wants to fail,” said the chief executive and founder of Fail Forward, Ashley Good, in a New York Times story on failure in Silicon Valley, published last fall. “It’s awful. You will never hear me say to celebrate failure.” But, Good, added, “failing intelligently is an increasingly… Read More

February 25, 2015 @ 3:41 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

One of China’s largest lenders, and potentially one of the world’s largest, based on the number of branches, is in talks with potential investors about selling a minority stake before a possible listing, according to a recent article in the South China Morning Post. The Postal… Read More

February 20, 2015 @ 3:58 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

The competition is down to just a few finalists in Channel News Asia’s “Start Up” TV show, and Andrea Loubier is one of them. Loubier is the CEO of Mailbird, a tech startup headquartered in Bali, with offices in Bandung, Indonesia, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Three judges… Read More

February 18, 2015 @ 11:05 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Seeking to create a new digital nervous system, Scarab is a mobile multi-sensor wearable that monitors the environment around you. The app, developed by Amulet Corp., is for those who love data, and provides information on the environmental dangers—such as UV, carbon monoxide and radiation—and… Read More

February 18, 2015 @ 8:36 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Snap a picture of any object with the CamFind app, and you’ll get the details on what the item is and where to buy it. The app, developed by Image Searcher, Inc., is “the only successful visual search engine worldwide,” and also translates into several… Read More

February 12, 2015 @ 12:01 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Touch – a firm handshake, lingering hug or maybe just a fist bump—is essential in the way we communicate with others. Devices such as smartphones and iPads have changed the means by which we talk or text with our networks, but touch still plays a… Read More

February 11, 2015 @ 3:03 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

While you recharge your own batteries by relaxing on some sun-blessed beach, your cell phone could be powering up from the same solar source. StrongVolt‘s solar chargers work as fast as a wall outlet to power up USB devices, be they smartphones, tablets or GoPros…. Read More