Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

September 14, 2016 @ 8:28 am By JD Alois  |  

LendInvest, an online mortgage marketplace that has facilitated over £740 million in financing, has launched the “first” Property Development Academy in an attempt to boost construction of new homes. The UK has had supply challenges for housing for some time now. Of course, the result… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 9:03 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Real estate crowdfunding platform, Sharestates, announced on Tuesday it has successfully raised $1.3 billion in committed capital for the purchase of loans. Launched in February 2015, the funding website has originated more than $150 million in loans for over 200 projects, with an average loan size… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 8:21 am By Erin Hobey  |  

While Peak Design may have officially closed its most recent rockin’ Kickstarter campaign which raised for its Everyday Backpack Collection.  Founded by Peter Dering, Peak Design is still offering the Everyday Backpack (in 20L and 30L), Everyday Sling, and Everyday Tote, but now on Indiegogo’s InDemand. Funded to the… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 4:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

Lending Club (NYSE:LC), the leading marketplace lending platform in the US, has announced the appointment of Thomas Casey as their new Chief Financial Officer. The hiring comes after long-time executive Carrie Dolan announced her departure several weeks back.  Lending Club described Dolan’s departure as a long… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 4:37 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday, equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube announced its #FundedClub members, POD Point and Adzuna, were featured in The Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100 list. This list searches for and recognizes the UK’s fastest growing private tech companies. POD Point turned to the crowdfunding method in… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 9:07 am By JD Alois  |  

Orchard Platform has launched a “Data Partner Program” that aggregates loan data from a range of leading online lending platforms. Via the Orchard Data Partner Program, originators will be able to gain the ability to analyze and compare their loan performance to that of their… Read More

September 11, 2016 @ 10:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Celeno Communications, an Israel-based creator of wifi chips and other technology, has closed a $38 million funding round to fuel company expansion. The round was led by Red Dot Capital Partners – a sister entity of Singapore-based Temasek. Temasek is owned by the government of Singapore and maintains an… Read More

September 11, 2016 @ 2:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Real estate crowdfunding platform RealtyShares has received a $30 million line of credit to pre-fund real estate offers listed on their marketplace. The line was described as the first ever to be used for both debt and equity offers listed on a real estate marketplace. There… Read More

September 9, 2016 @ 12:30 pm By Youngro Lee  |  

“So why did you leave law to pursue crowdfunding?” Over the past couple years, I’ve received this question more than any other.  Prior to starting NextSeed in 2014, I was a lawyer for over 7 years specializing in private equity fund formation and private investments. … Read More

September 9, 2016 @ 12:09 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Eric Daniels, the former CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, recently announced he has officially joined the board of UK-based peer-to-peer lending platform, Funding Circle. Daniels, who departed from Lloyds in 2011, reportedly stated his new role will allow him to take part in the “sea change”… Read More

September 9, 2016 @ 8:24 am By Therese Torris  |  

Unilend, a pioneer in SME crowdlending in France, announced on September 7 that it has received a €2,5 million investment from NewAlpha Asset Management (NewAlpha). This is the third investment coming from the venture capital fund dedicated to FinTech and Assurtech that NewAlpha launched in… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 5:03 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

London-based healthy food delivery startup Pronto reportedly shut down after running out of funds. The company took to Seedrs in May and secured £838,620 to expand its delivery area to cover the central part of the city and although it recently announced its partnership with Starship… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 11:09 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Thursday, Indiegogo and Hasbro announced Shark Tank star, Daymond John will be a guest judge for the Fall 2016 Gaming Challenge, now open to game designers in the U.S., U.K., Canada (excluding Quebec), France and Germany. The new contest notably offers independent game designers a prominent… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 9:33 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, Indiegogo announced the release of its new Campaign Marketing Workbook. The global crowdfunding platform stated the new workbook helps project creators organize all of the key stakeholders in their project along with set a strategy and schedule for when to reach out to them… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 3:47 am By Erin Hobey  |  

A new patent-pending Trike, dubbed the Triple Tread, is now live on Crowdcube seeking s to raise £120,000 to bring to market a vehicle designed specifically to meet the needs of disabled or elderly riders.  Designed in the UK by Mark Harrison, the project has been bootstrapped by its founders… Read More

September 8, 2016 @ 3:19 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Aiming to bring one million electric cars to German roads by 2020, the German federal government recently introduced a subsidy for purchasers of electric cars. Demand for this subsidy has reportedly neither been very high. According to e-scooter start-up Kumpan, this subsidy does not apply to electric scooters. Despite this… Read More

September 7, 2016 @ 4:02 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Wednesday, RealtyShares announced real estate firm, Blue Mountain, has secured $3 million for a Salt Lake City residential property development fund. The real estate crowdfunding platform revealed Blue Mountain would purchase over 200 underperforming homes through the development fund, which is the fourth single-home fund that the… Read More

September 7, 2016 @ 3:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

SyndicateRoom is reporting that portfolio growth from 2014 to 2015 grew at 135% as of May 2016  – not including possible SEIS or EIS benefits that can improve returns dramatically. SyndicateRoom’s reveal comes just as Seedrs shared their internal rate of return (IRR) for their… Read More

September 7, 2016 @ 10:30 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Tuesday, UK money management app, Pariti, announced it has teamed up with peer-to-peer lending platform, Zopa, to help millennials pay off their credit cards. Pariti, which was authorized by the FCA this June, is currently seeking to be a “pioneer” a new “marketplace banking” model. Its app… Read More

September 7, 2016 @ 10:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Ulule has raised €5 million from BNP Paribas, Citizen Capital, and MAIF Avenir. Ulule is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform that has experienced solid growth across Europe. The platform now claims over 1.2 million members from 191 different countries. To date, Ulule has collected over $68… Read More