June 14, 2017 @ 10:50 am By JD Alois  |  

OTC Markets is out with a report that indicates small-cap companies are overlooking important ways they can boost investor interest in their stock.  The study, which was conducted between March and May 2017, surveyed 117 CEOs and CFOs of companies under $2 billion in market… Read More

June 14, 2017 @ 9:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Misys and D+H have combined their two firms to create a diversified global financial software provider. The company says the merger, announced earlier this year, creates an unmatched operation in terms of depth and breadth of solutions. Operating under the new company name Finastra, management… Read More

June 14, 2017 @ 8:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Halo Coffee London Limited is raising £1.6 million for a 21.6% equity stake on crowdfunding platform Growthdeck. The campaign currently has raised £242,000 from 14 investors. The EIS eligible investment is targeting an IRR of 61.%. Gary Robins, Head of Investment at Growthdeck, said they… Read More

June 14, 2017 @ 7:07 am By JD Alois  |  

Former Natwest executive John Brooks is the latest hire to join ThinCats, a leader in the alternative lending industry. Brooks spent 42 years working with UK businesses at Natwest – 30 years of which he spent working within different areas of the SME market. In… Read More

June 13, 2017 @ 10:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

Dubai based peer to peer lender Beehive has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Mohammad Bin Rashid Fund (MBRF), part of the Dubai Ministry of Finance. The collaboration will see MBRF act as the guarantor for credit of up to Dh500,000 for SME loans… Read More

June 13, 2017 @ 3:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

SoFi has officially filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to create a state chartered bank. The filing is not unexpected as SoFi revealed its intent to pursue a banking charter this past May. In early 2017, SoFi acquired Zenbanx, a Delaware-based firm providing multi-currency mobile… Read More

June 13, 2017 @ 2:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fundrise, one of the leading online investment platforms for real estate, has launched the “2.0” version of their platform. Fundrise has created a Robo-Advisor focused on real estate thus providing an investing tool to match individual investor needs. Ben Miller, co-founder and CEO of Fundrise,… Read More

June 13, 2017 @ 10:10 am By JD Alois  |  

Spanish “urban craft distillery,” Santamanía, is seeking £400,000 (€460,000) in an equity crowdfunding campaign launched on Crowdcube. The offer is for a 5.41% equity stake at a pre money valuation of just under £7 million.  The crowdfunding round is already partially funded at 46% of… Read More

June 13, 2017 @ 9:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Relendex Limited, a peer to peer lender in the commercial and residential real estate sector, has announced the completion of a rights issue and a new round of financing from new investors. The company said the proceeds will be used to allow further investments in new… Read More

June 13, 2017 @ 8:10 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Department of Treasury is out with its first report in a series addressing regulatory reform regarding the financial services industry.  Due to the enormity of the task, Treasury will divide its review of the financial system into a series of reports. While Fintech… Read More

June 13, 2017 @ 4:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Challenger bank Revolut is launching a business banking vertical and is accepting pre-registrations now. Revolut for business will allow businesses to hold, exchange and transfer funds in 25 different currencies across the UK and all of Europe at the interbank exchange rate. The digital only… Read More

June 12, 2017 @ 7:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Seedrs, a leading UK based equity crowdfunding platform, closed its first week of trading on its newly launched secondary market. Seedrs kicked off the trading platform last week to usher a new level of liquidity for shareholders in crowdfunded companies. On the first Tuesday of… Read More

June 12, 2017 @ 2:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Alibaba has been a trailblazer in many ways. One area that Alibaba wants to dominate is finance for both consumers and SMEs and they are well on their way.  Ant Financial, their financial services subsidiary, is executing on this vision and last week Eric Jing,… Read More

June 12, 2017 @ 2:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

CommonBond is reporting they have closed a $231 million securitization of refinanced student loans. The online lender says the issuance received their highest ratings to date with Moody’s rating Aa3, DBRS at AA. The securitization was CommonBond’s fourth and largest and was said to be… Read More

June 12, 2017 @ 10:48 am By JD Alois  |  

Online real estate investment platform Fundrise has filed a post-qualification amendment to their earlier offering statement under Reg A+ to sell more shares in the company. Back in the first quarter of 2017, Fundrise launched an initial public offering of shares in the company using… Read More

June 12, 2017 @ 8:08 am By JD Alois  |  

ZrCoin, based in Russia, says it has raised $7.07 million in cryptocurrency from 3,955 investors during their Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The offer was live from May 11th to June 9th and was hosted on the Waves platform. The company says the funds collected will… Read More

June 11, 2017 @ 10:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) is out with a report on the evolving Fintech sector and the authors are prodding regulators to work more closely together in a regional approach. ASIFMA is based in Hong Kong and while Hong Kong is… Read More

June 11, 2017 @ 3:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Next week two smaller companies intend on listing their shares on a public exchange. What is interesting about this fact is that each of these companies used Regulation A or Reg A+ to facilitate this “mini-IPO” type offer. Created by Title IV of the JOBS… Read More

June 11, 2017 @ 1:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

The number of FINRA approved and regulated crowdfunding portals has been inching higher. Today, there are 29 different Reg CF crowdfunding platforms each targeting the new securities exemption created under the JOBS Act 0f 2012. At the beginning of 2017, that number stood at 22… Read More

June 10, 2017 @ 2:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

This past week the House Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, part of the Energy and Commerce Committee, held a hearing on Fintech innovation as part of their disruptors series. During the hearing several witnesses delivered prepared statements to the Committee members and one clearly… Read More