April 25, 2016 @ 8:01 am By JD Alois  |  

Last year Goldman Sachs revealed its intent to push into the marketplace / peer to peer lending sector. While a growing number of traditional financial firms are partnering with more agile, fintech startups – Goldman decided to strike out on their own. This past week,… Read More

April 25, 2016 @ 7:20 am By JD Alois  |  

The House of Representatives may vote on the “Helping Angels Lead Our Startups Act” (HALOS Act – HR 4498) at some point this week.  The bill was approved by the House Financial Services Committee this past March on a vote of 44 to 13. The… Read More

April 24, 2016 @ 9:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

California is in the process of attempting to pass legislation, once again, to legalize intrastate investment crowdfunding. If the proposed bill becomes law, California will join dozens of other states that enacted similar regulations to help fund small and emerging companies within their boundaries by… Read More

April 24, 2016 @ 10:57 am By JD Alois  |  

Leading investment crowdfunding platform OurCrowd has registered its 6th successful exit as portfolio company Crosswise has been purchased by Oracle. The transaction was revealed in Israeli media on April 15th revealing that Oracle paid $50 million for the “machine learning based cross-device data” company.  The transaction… Read More

April 23, 2016 @ 3:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commerzbank, the  second largest bank in Germany, is intending on launching their own peer to peer lending platform. While many traditional banks are seeking partnerships with disruptive financial firms, it appears that Commerzbank has decided to take a path less traveled and strike out on… Read More

April 23, 2016 @ 1:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

With Title II accredited crowdfunding and Reg A+ crowdfunding picking up steam, interest is growing as to how best leverage the internet to raise capital online.  Until the JOBS Act of 2012, it was forbidden to “generally solicit” or advertise certain private placements. But at… Read More

April 23, 2016 @ 12:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

Coolest Cooler founder and creator Ryan Grepper recently offered an alternative to backers who have yet to receive their Kickstarter reward.  While having delivered over 20,000 coolers to backers, more than 30,000 remain in limbo as the company ran short of cash creating a critical… Read More

April 22, 2016 @ 7:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Last week the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, part of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, debated several important bills that may boost access to capital for SMEs.  One of the bills, the Fix Crowdfunding Act (HR 4855), has the profound potential to turn… Read More

April 22, 2016 @ 3:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Lending Works, a UK-based peer to peer lender, has surveyed its investor base and concluded that a solid percentage of registered users intend on using the new Innovative Finance ISA (IF ISA). According to their data, 89% of respondents indicate they will use the retirement… Read More

April 22, 2016 @ 11:00 am By JD Alois  |  

EC Commissioner Jonathan Hill delivered a speech yesterday addressing the Capital Markets Union and other areas of financial services that are important to the economy of Europe. Hill, a UK national and former member of the House of Lords, holds the portfolio for Financial Stability, Financial… Read More

April 22, 2016 @ 8:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Noted researcher Ethan Mollick published his opinion on crowdfunding on the pages of the Harvard Business Review this week. Mollick, an Assistant Professor of Management at Wharton where he focuses on entrepreneurship and crowdfunding, believes crowdfunding is not just about the money but the creation of a… Read More

April 22, 2016 @ 7:23 am By JD Alois  |  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit in federal court against co-founders who allegedly sold consumer loan applications without appropriate safeguards.  The loans were said to be sold containing sensitive personal data without assessing the sources of the leads nor the purchasers they sold… Read More

April 21, 2016 @ 5:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fundrise has “paused” offering new stand-alone real estate investment opportunities to focus on their ongoing eREIT offer.  The pivot in strategy was first uncovered by the Real Deal (TRD) that noted Fundrise had ditched its traditional crowdfunding focus. While Fundrise has been actively listing new investments… Read More

April 21, 2016 @ 10:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Seedrs CEO and co-founder Jeff Lynn has been very vocal on the topic of the UK departing from the European Union.  The “Brexit” referendum is scheduled to take place on June 23rd but predictions are mixed as to whether voters will decide to remain part… Read More

April 21, 2016 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Lending Club (NYSE:LC) has hired former McKinsey & Company partner Sameer Gulati as Chief Operations Officer. Simultaneously Scott Sanborn has been promoted to President. Both executives will continue to report directly to CEO Renaud Laplanche. Gulati was previously leader of McKinsey’s Digital Banking practice. As… Read More

April 21, 2016 @ 8:53 am By JD Alois  |  

XTI Aircraft, a company that seeks to deliver a vertical take off and landing aircraft to a far wider audience, has now raised $1 million in an equity crowdfunding round on StartEngine. The goal is to raise $3 million in equity and the company is… Read More

April 21, 2016 @ 8:04 am By JD Alois  |  

“Europe’s global real estate investment platform,” Brickvest, is claiming strong early traction only two months after launch. According to information provided by the company, Brickvest has quickly raised £1 million closing two oversubscribed offers for two German “institutional grade” offers. Brickvest states it now has over 1,120… Read More

April 20, 2016 @ 5:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

The largest marketplace lending platform in the US, Lending Club (NYSE:LC), has filed an 8-K with the SEC notifying interested parties that both interest rates and loss projections are being updated. According to the document, as of today (April 20, 2016) loan loss projections are… Read More

April 20, 2016 @ 11:35 am By JD Alois  |  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has published a report on the online payday loan industry. The document, embedded below, analyzes ACH payment requests by a number of online lenders that make (or made) online payday or other high-cost online loans with payments scheduled on… Read More

April 20, 2016 @ 11:14 am By JD Alois  |  

  Small Change is a real estate crowdfunding platform with big ambitions. Launched by urban evangelist Eve Picker, the Pittsburgh-based operation seeks to fund “transformational” real estate projects by connecting developers with investors.  Individual investors gain entry into an asset class that is otherwise difficult… Read More