Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

April 4, 2017 @ 4:01 am By Erin Hobey  |  

CapitalRise, a UK property investment platform, has closed its latest fundraising deal in just under a week, raising £1.2m from everyday investors via the platform, including over £900k by close of business on the day of the public launch.  The majority of the investments were… Read More

April 3, 2017 @ 3:44 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Proplend recently announced HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) approved its application for ISA manager status for IFISA. The online lender previously revealed its plans to apply for this status after it received full regulatory authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). While sharing details about the ISA… Read More

April 3, 2017 @ 3:11 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Peer-to-peer invoice finance platform, MarketInvoice, announced on Monday it has appointed Shaun Alexander as it’s new Head of Risk. This news comes less than a month after the online lender appointed Zopa’s co-founder, Giles Andrews, as a new chairman. Sharing details about Alexander’s appointment, MarketInvoice revealed: “We… Read More

April 3, 2017 @ 8:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Global Debt Registry (GDR), a loan validation platform for institutional investors, has added leading online lending platform, Prosper Marketplace to its verification network. GDR says the partnership will enable Prosper investors access to their due diligence tools to ensure loan data integrity. Prosper successfully piloted… Read More

April 3, 2017 @ 8:31 am By JD Alois  |  

Berlin-based ecoligo, a crowdfunding startup for solar projects in emerging markets, has opened to investors today with an offer to back a 66 kWp solar installation for a flower farm in Thika, Kenya. ecoligo is seeking a total investment of €107,000 that will fund the… Read More

April 3, 2017 @ 8:29 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Nordic peer-to-peer lending platform for property loans, EstateGuru, announced on Monday it launched in the Lithuanian market and funded its first investment in the area last month. The online lender claimed that the launch makes it the only platform to facilitate property-backed businesses loans in… Read More

April 3, 2017 @ 8:03 am By JD Alois  |  

Growth Street,  an online lender focusing on SME loans, has announced that founder Greg Carter has assumed the CEO position at the platform replacing James Sherwin-Smith. Carter has been Growth Street’s Chief Risk Officer since its launch. Carter founded Growth Street while working at Arts… Read More

April 2, 2017 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

  According to a recent article in TechinAsia, 52% of Japan’s personal assets, or more than $15 trillion, are held as cash. That is incredible.  But it is also incredible in the fact that holding cash, when most current accounts pay less than inflation, means… Read More

April 1, 2017 @ 10:13 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Just a few months after announcing Zopa is creating the next generation challenger bank at AltFi Europe, CEO of the peer-to-peer lending platform, Jaidev Janaradana, revealed more details about the bank’s creation at the AltFi Europe Summit last month. While sharing details about the bank progress,… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 2:01 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Global crowdfunding platform Indiegogo announced on Friday it is holding a flash sale on its product marketplace, which allows campaign organizers to directly sell their products through the website. Indiegogo reports that its marketplace supports entrepreneurs beyond crowdfunding with services, partners, and guidance throughout the entire… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 1:45 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Ablrate, the online lender that specializes in asset-backed transactions, announced it has received full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is beginning its expansion.  Sharing details about the authorization, David Bradley-Ward, CEO at Ablrate, stated: “Full authorisation is something that the team has worked… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 12:44 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK-based peer-to-peer lending platform Landbay has reportedly reduced its product rates and fees. According to various sources, Landbay’s rates are now starting at 3.39% for a 2-year fix and 3.59% for a 5-year fix, with arrangement fees up to 75% on standard products, which were… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 10:57 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Fundraising platform MobileCause announced on Thursday it is continuing to expand its management team by appointing Kristal Bogle as its new Chief Marketing Officer. She has close to 20 years of experience in marketing. According to MobileCause, Bogle was the Executive Vice President of Marketing at… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 10:04 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK-based peer-to-peer finance platform Assetz Capital announced on Friday it has officially provided £30 million in funds for the development of renewable energy projects throughout Britain. The online lender revealed that during the past three years it has funded nearly 40 green energy projects, with… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 9:05 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Thursday, equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs announced the opening of its new office located in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. This news comes just a couple of weeks after Seedrs revealed plans to hit “aggressive growth targets” and appointed two executives, Jeff Kelsey and Ricardo Brízido, to… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 8:24 am By Erin Hobey  |  

With the hope of bringing an affordable and compact version of industrial knitting machines to backer’s workshops and homes, Kniterate has synced with Kickstarter. The Kniterate automatically turns user’s digital designs into knitted garments and enables small-scale runs to test swatches and new stitches without tech… Read More

March 30, 2017 @ 3:51 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK-based equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube announced on Wednesday it has formed a new partnership with Amazon Web Services. This new collaboration will help the funding portal provide eligible companies with membership to the Activate program. The Activate program is described as the following: “Amazon Web Services provides… Read More

March 30, 2017 @ 1:36 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Social media giant Facebook announced on Thursday it is launching a new fundraising feature that will allow users to raise funds for six types of spending, which are education, medical, pet medical, crisis relief, personal emergency, and funeral and loss. The Facebook team revealed: “Personal fundraisers… Read More

March 30, 2017 @ 10:26 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

North American e-retailer, Newegg, announced on Wednesday it is teaming up with Indiegogo once again, this time to find the latest and greatest technology innovations. Newegg’s Gregory Rice revealed in a blog post: “At Newegg, we love tech. No surprise there, we’ve been drooling over the… Read More

March 30, 2017 @ 9:50 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In votes this and last week that were largely along party lines, US Congress moved to dismantle the landmark internet privacy protections for consumers, a strike against Obama’s telecommunications and technology regulations.. At this writing GoFundMe is hosting fourteen concurrent crowdfunding campaigns that supposedly offer donors the opportunity to buy Congress… Read More