Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

January 9, 2017 @ 8:53 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Marketplace lending platform, China Rapid Finance, announced on Sunday it has teamed up with Tencent’s wealth management platform, Licaitong, to provide new investment products for individual investors. The online lender stated that with it as the screening party for the underlying assets, the first-phase products on… Read More

January 9, 2017 @ 7:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lending platform Octopus Choice has received full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority. Octopus Choice is part of Octopus Investments. The company said the FCA approval was a first for an advisor focused P2P platform. Richard Wazacz, Head of Octopus Choice, commented on the… Read More

January 8, 2017 @ 3:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

Mr. Crowd is a FINRA approved Reg CF crowdfunding portal. Created by founder Allen Au, Mr. Crowd is a part of the US incorporated Ksdaq corporation.  While incorporated in the US, Ksdaq’s primary place of business is Hong Kong making it a bit unique. Today, Mr…. Read More

January 7, 2017 @ 12:30 pm By Therese Torris  |  

The French contingent of Tech startups exhibiting at the CES, the global consumer electronics show held this week in Las Vegas, is the third largest one after the US and the Chinese delegations. More than 300 French startups unveil their innovation at the show. Observers… Read More

January 6, 2017 @ 2:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Orchard Platform, the nexus of institutional money flowing into online lending platforms, has updated their Lendscape: a visual presentation of the online lending ecosystem. As industry participants know all too well, 2016 has been a challenging year for lenders. Orchard states that 2016 saw increasing… Read More

January 6, 2017 @ 1:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

Real estate crowdfunding may possess the biggest potential within the sector of online investment marketplaces. The ability to make a popular asset class more accessible to a wider audience simply makes sense. Both debt and equity investment opportunities in real estate are available across multiple… Read More

January 6, 2017 @ 11:30 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, co-founder and chief executive of Crowdstacker, Karteek Patel, revealed the lender’s Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) has attracted £1 million from investors each month. As previously reported, Crowdstacker currently offers P2P investment opportunities backed by British businesses that are said to have a good track record… Read More

January 6, 2017 @ 10:23 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Less than a week after ringing in the new year, online lender Zopa took a look back at 2016 and the success it received during the past twelve months. The lending platform revealed it lent over £680 million to help 20,000 customers improve their home and… Read More

January 6, 2017 @ 6:38 am By JD Alois  |  

The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP) announced last month it had reached an agreement to acquire Narwi, a micro “waqf crowdfunding platform.” With the acquisition of Narwi, WCMP seeks to advance its position in next-generation, global Muslim-giving. WCMP is a global network of affluent individuals,… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 4:25 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Smalle Technologies has developed the eForcis, an electricity generator especially designed for buoys that culls electricity from the ocean and sea waves. especially designed for buoys. eForcis aims to deliver constant and reliable energy supply leveraging simple electromagnetic principles, studied and tested under challenging marine conditions… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 2:49 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe has appointed Change.Org’s former managing director of global communication, John Coventry, as its new head of UK communications. Coventry is considered the first hire outside the U.S. for GoFundMe. Coventry notably has 15 years of experience in public relations, digital communications, brand development,… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 10:17 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Seedrs announced that during 2016 more than £85M was invested by the crowd in 159 campaigns. Since launching by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva in 2012, Seedrs has facilitated more than 450 deals and counts £190M raised through its platform. “The ongoing success of many of our portfolio… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 9:30 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Funding Circle announced on Thursday that government-owned British Business Bank would begin lending a further £40 million directly to small businesses through the marketplace lending platform. The website confirmed that this news comes less than two years after an initial £40 million investment by the British Business… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 9:07 am By JD Alois  |  

Berlin-based crowdfunding platform Kapilendo has raised €7 million in a series B funding round. The funding was led by Neu-Investor Versorgungswerk der Zahnärztekammer (a pension fund) with participation from existing investors Comvest Holding GmbH and listed Fintech investor FinLab AG. Kapilendo operates two vertical in the investment space: Kapilendo… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 8:31 am By Jessica Pham  |  

Crowdfund Insider had a chance to interview EnergyFunders COO Casey Minshew about the online marketplace’s mission to evolve the way that capital investment and energy projects come together. Founded in 2013 and based in Houston, EnergyFunders describes itself as an online investment marketplace disrupting the energy… Read More

January 4, 2017 @ 10:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

Silver Bullion is a one of a kind online lender. The peer to peer lending platform based in Singapore is a secured lender that backs up each loan with gold or silver bullion. Launched in mid-2015,  Silver Bullion has just announced it has surpassed S$20… Read More

January 4, 2017 @ 7:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

In the world of alternative finance, one US industry was probably happy to see 2016 end. Online lending, both marketplace lenders (née P2P lending) and balance sheet platforms, hit the proverbial brick wall during last year. Rumblings of a more challenging environment picked up in… Read More

January 4, 2017 @ 11:09 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Crowdcube announced on Tuesday that more than £15 million was invested through its equity crowdfunding platform during December 2016. The UK-based funding portal shared on Twitter: Over £15 million invested through @Crowdcube in December. Fantastic end to 2016 🙂 — Crowdcube (@Crowdcube) January 3, 2017 Recently, Crowdcube… Read More

January 4, 2017 @ 10:33 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Landbay, a peer-to-peer lending platform, is now offering new products for professional landlords. The lender will now offer standard term tracker at 3.88% to 65% loan-to-value, along with offering fixed rate products from 4.2%, an HMO tracker starting at 3.98% and an expat tracker starting… Read More

January 4, 2017 @ 9:02 am By Xu Gao  |  

Shanghai Launches New Regulatory Rules for Online Micro-Lending On 30th December 2016, Shanghai Municipal Financial Service Office published its first local regulatory rules for online micro-lending. According to this regulation, natural persons may borrow up to ¥200,000, while upper limit for lending to a legal… Read More