Asia

April 12, 2015 @ 11:26 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia has opened the application process for prospective investment crowdfunding platforms according to a statement from the regulatory entity. Malaysia has been one of the more proactive countries in the Asian region to push forward with researching the crowdfunding space and moving forward… Read More

April 9, 2015 @ 4:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to Guan Jianzhong of Dagong Global, a company that monitors and rates peer to peer lending platforms, of the 1,587 p2p platforms it observes, 393 have been blacklisted and an additional 668 were given risk warnings – a staggering percentage of active peer lenders in… Read More

April 7, 2015 @ 4:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

AssetAvenue, a debt based real estate crowdfunding platform, has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round led by DCM Ventures. Founded in 2013, this significant funding will dramatically boost AssetAvenue’s growth as it invests in technology and product development.  The funding is indicative of… Read More

April 3, 2015 @ 10:45 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Yodlee Interactive, a unit of Yodlee  which powers financial innovation by providing its APIs to developers, entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 innovators, announced its business has grown significantly in Australia and New Zealand in 2014. This traction demonstrates financial technology as a global burgeoning space, with businesses and… Read More

April 3, 2015 @ 10:16 am By Erin Hobey  |  

OurCrowd has invested in Global Kinetics Corporation (GKC), an Australian medical IT company that has developed and is selling a proprietary tracking and analysis technology improving the management of Parkinson’s Disease (PD).  The campaign is set to close on 10 April, 2015. GKC was established in 2007 to commercialize innovative… Read More

April 3, 2015 @ 6:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lending platform Lufax has sold equity in the company valued at  3 billion yuan or approximately USD 483 million.  This is according to a report in China News that quoted Lufax Chairman Gregory Gibb on the transaction.  The private placement was said… Read More

April 2, 2015 @ 9:52 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek and money manager BlackRock are set to buy stakes in Funding Circle in deals that could value the British peer-to-peer lending platform at more than $1 billion, reported Sky News today. Temasek plans to invest about 30 million pounds ($44.4 million)… Read More

April 1, 2015 @ 10:12 am By Erin Hobey  |  

JD.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:JD), China’s leading online direct sales company, today announced its launch of a series of initiatives to help finance, develop and promote the creation of start-ups in China. The new JD Equity Crowdfunding platform, which builds upon JD.com’s success in the area of Internet finance, is expected to… Read More

March 31, 2015 @ 1:07 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Report Forecasts Total Global Crowdfunding to Reach $34.4 Billion in 2015 North America Remaining the Largest Market and Asia, Outpacing Europe in 2014, in Second Place As crowdfunding accelerates at an unprecedented rate, its impacting government policy, informing enterprise innovation and changing the role of… Read More

March 30, 2015 @ 10:02 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Chinese government announced the establishment of the Steering Group on Financial Technologies to advise the Government on how to develop Hong Kong into and promote Hong Kong as a Fintech hub. The initiative to set up the Steering Committee was announced in the Financial… Read More

March 30, 2015 @ 9:24 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In February Cloud Lending Solutions announced that its customer and partner,  LendingPoint, had successfully used Cloud Lending as a foundation to go from concept to market in less than ninety days.  Helmed by CEO and Founder Snehal Fulzele and CTO Darpan Saini,  Cloud Lending has quickly disrupted global direct online lending as more and… Read More

March 27, 2015 @ 11:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Speaking on a panel discussion at the Boao Forum in southern China, the CEO of Shanghai Lujiazui International Financial Asset Exchange (commonly referred to as Lufax), Gregory Gibb, addressed the pressing issue of fraud. The peer to peer lending industry in China has experienced supercharged growth over the… Read More

March 26, 2015 @ 11:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfunding Asia will be visiting Jakarta, Indonesia next month delivering its message of the power and potential of crowdfunding to boost economies and create new jobs. Crowdfunding Asia held its first, very successful, conference in Singapore in August of 2014.  Several hundred finance professionals, investors,… Read More

March 26, 2015 @ 6:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

Data published by the China Banking Association indicates a “surge” in internet banking.  According to a report in ECNS, individuals using online banking services has hit 909 million – an increase of 150 million compared to the year prior. Financial transactions totaled an astounding 60.85… Read More

March 19, 2015 @ 8:44 am By JD Alois  |  

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) is preparing to tighten the regulatory environment for the fast growing peer to peer lending industry. According to multiple reports, rules have been drafted and are being distributed for review by various industry experts and platform operators. An internal… Read More

March 16, 2015 @ 10:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Alibaba, the Chinese internet conglomerate, has formed another strategic alliance to provide loans to businesses. Earlier this month Alibaba inked an agreement with Lending Club to facilitate loans to US businesses seeking to purchase goods from China manufacturers. Now Alibaba has created a similar arrangement with… Read More

March 12, 2015 @ 12:14 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Luxury wine brand Yao Family Wines, founded and owned (25%)  by  retired Houston Rockets basketball star and  humanitarian Yao Ming, has raised over $2,020,000  toward its  $3 million crowdfunding goal on Crowdfunder.  Pre-money valued at $15M, Yao Family Wines develops, produces, markets and sells Napa Valley wine brands in… 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 5, 2015 @ 11:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The National Development Council (NDC) of Taiwan is pushing forward with investment crowdfunding. According to a report in the Taipei Times, crowdfunding platforms will allow investors to purchase stakes in startups and small companies as soon as May of this year. “Startups are the fruits… Read More