July 22, 2015 @ 12:43 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  The lights just shut off, flickered back on, and abruptly turned off again–no hope of just a quick power interruption. After bemoaning a world in which blackouts only seem to happen at night, you check the battery on your smartphone, hoping that you charged it before your digital… Read More

July 21, 2015 @ 3:24 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  “I was hoping for a 50 percent success rate,” said Katharine Czarnecki, community development director for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s (MEDC) “Public Spaces, Community Places” initiative, a partnership with crowdfunding platform Patronicity and the Michigan Municipal League. Czarnecki oversees the program, and was quoted… Read More

July 19, 2015 @ 11:52 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

    With China’s stock market crash still recent, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) released guidelines for the country’s rapidly burgeoning online finance market at the start of this weekend, outlined in a document published by the PBC.  The peer to peer lending industry in… Read More

July 16, 2015 @ 10:58 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Australia’s crowdfunding scene recently took the spotlight with the news that CoAssets, a Singapore-based real estate crowdfunding platform, would publicly trade shares on NSX, an Australian stock exchange. On the investment side, Aussie real estate crowdfunding platform Estate Baron has recently secured backing of note: from Benni Aroni, founder of WaterSun Homes… Read More

July 10, 2015 @ 1:32 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for new solar technology to build an underground park in New York has exceeded its goal, making the Lowline one of the most-funded public art projects on the platform, according to the campaign’s page. Here’s how the Lowline team envisions the project: It turns out… Read More

July 9, 2015 @ 2:17 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  Qlipp, a smart tennis sensor that weighs only 8 grams, is now crowdfunding on Indiegogo, and has raised 90 percent of its $30,000 fixed funding goal. Developed by Singapore startup 9 Degrees Freedom, Qlipp offers insights into users’ speed, swing, ball spin and more, through real-time stroke… Read More

July 8, 2015 @ 3:40 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  A co-creator of the legislation that eventually became the JOBS Act of 2012, Candace Klein, Chief Strategy Officer for marketplace lender Dealstruck, joined the crowdfunding movement unintentionally. Candace was drawn in through her nonprofit, Bad Girl Ventures, and in the process founded her second company, began working with the… Read More

July 8, 2015 @ 1:29 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  China has still not issued crowdfunding regulations, leading big developers to seek out legal advice when employing crowdfunding, according to a recent article in the South China Morning Post. Given that the mainland authorities have also not licensed any crowdfunding platform, industry experts suggest that the… Read More

June 30, 2015 @ 2:10 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

On an equity crowdfunding platform that launched the day that Regulation A+ allowed anyone to invest in early stage companies, Gigmor, Inc., a social networking platform for musicians, is among the first to carry out a crowdfunding campaign under the new regulation.  The “LinkedIn for the music industry,” Gigmor has… Read More

June 26, 2015 @ 10:30 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  As the CEO and founder of PhoenixICT, a leading crowdfunding hub, HongSin Kwek is among the organizers of Crowdfunding Asia, the first conference of its type focused on the Asian markets. Crowdfunding Asia held its first event in Singapore in 2014, and this year’s upcoming events include conferences… Read More

June 26, 2015 @ 1:12 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

In a turning of the tables, VCs recently took the stage before a “Dragons’ Den”-style panel of entrepreneurs to pitch for themselves. The event was held by Innovate Finance, part of a series of events complementing London Tech Week, as Innovate Finance reports. “Could it be time for disruption… Read More

June 25, 2015 @ 11:00 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Investing in complex technology startups can be cause for a deep breath, but Propel(x) is helping demystify investing in these startups with the debut of its crowdsourced Diligence Insights capability, according to a recent press release. Propel(x) connects deep technology startups with angel investors and… Read More

June 25, 2015 @ 1:06 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

As temperatures and ice cream sales rise, so does Oppo‘s lucky star: The luxury healthy ice cream company is having a scorchingly successful year. London-based Oppo was just named The Guardian‘s Startup of the Year (and there’s more), according to a recent Oppo blog post. The judging… Read More

June 24, 2015 @ 11:32 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

China’s crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending markets have frequently featured in the news, as China seeks to decrease fraud in its rapidly expanding Internet finance world. Now, Beijing’s financial supervision agencies are using big data to crack down on illegal fundraising, with an online pre-warning platform already… Read More

June 23, 2015 @ 12:50 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

In the first equity crowdfunding deal for Crowdcube NZ, an extension of Crowdcube UK, cloud software firm Collect Group seeks to raise funds for its marketing and loyalty software, according to New Zealand publication Stuff. Crowdcube NZ is being run in New Zealand by Wellington boutique investment bank Armillary Private… Read More

June 21, 2015 @ 10:38 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

ThinCats Australia, among the latest peer-to-peer lenders to join the Australian market, is on the prowl for strategic investors as it prepares for a potential initial public offering, notes the Australian Financial Review. The FR writes, It’s understood ThinCats Australia, backed by UK-parent ThinCats, is in discussions with… Read More

June 19, 2015 @ 12:55 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Update on a $150 million fundraising round in progress: Chinese online lender Dianrong.com is raising funds in a round that values the startup at about $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, notes BloombergBusiness. Investors include Standard Chartered Plc, a British multinational banking and financial services… Read More

June 18, 2015 @ 10:30 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  At the helm of Avant, a Chicago-based consumer loan program named to Forbes’ 2015 list of America’s Most Promising Companies, is founder and CEO Al Goldstein. A serial entrepreneur in technology, consumer services and real estate, Al co-founded Avant with John Sun, now the… Read More

June 17, 2015 @ 1:54 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, will allow savers to hold peer-to-peer lending investment trusts in their Individual Savings Accounts (ISA), according to CityWire Money. The change will take effect July 1–in about two weeks. The move is part of the government’s alternative… Read More

June 16, 2015 @ 9:30 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  When navigating the increasingly popular path of real estate crowdfunding, Jilliene Helman is among the leaders at the front of the group. Named to Forbes’ 2015 30 Under 30 list, Jilliene is the CEO and founder of Realty Mogul, a fast-growing real estate crowdfunding platform that has invested over… Read More