Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

July 20, 2016 @ 10:27 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Wednesday,  GoFundMe dubbed decathlete Jeremy Taiwo the winner of its global Olympic athlete competition. This event was announced last month as a way to help athletes achieve their Olympic dreams. The crowdfunding portal revealed the Olympian who secures the most funds in a campaign between… Read More

July 20, 2016 @ 9:26 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Tuesday, Burlington Stores announced it has secured over $850,000 through its DonorsChoose education campaign, which was announced in May. This is the second time the retail store has teamed up with the crowdfunding platform to help classrooms nationwide. Last year, Burlington funded 120 school projects, filtering… Read More

July 20, 2016 @ 8:27 am By JD Alois  |  

Debt-based crowdfunding platform ECrowd! is one of the first Spanish sites to receive a formal operating license from the Comision del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), the securities regulatory agency in Spain. ECrowd!, based in Barcelona, has joined Crowdcube Spain, Lendix and MyTripleA in receiving official… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 10:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

This is one way to get the message across. According to a report in ECNS, 50 peer to peer lending executives were given a tour of the Qingpu prison in Shanghai.  The tour was described as a “scared straight” session. The concept of being “Scared… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 4:38 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs announced this week that it is the headline sponsor of TechNorth’s Northern Stars, a pitch competition that is seeking to identify and showcase the best North of England tech startups.  Seedrs stated that over the past thirty years North of England’s tech… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 12:16 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Overfunding and still campaigning….The German crowdfunding platform Companisto has four concurrent campaigns overfunding: Mineko, Cringle, eatclever, and poqit.berlin. Many readers may be familiar with the long and windy road involved when utility bills prove incorrect when outrageous sums are supposedly owed.  But what happens when… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 11:06 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Another indicator that fintech is moving mainstream is the National Directory of Registered Tax Return Preparers & Professionals’ (PTIN) selection of fintech platform Bizfi to provide its tax professionals, accountants, CPAs and their small business clients with access to funding through its aggregation marketplace via a… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 10:47 am By JD Alois  |  

BlueVine, an online lender providing factoring finance, has hired Eric Sager as Chief Revenue Officer. Sager was formerly head of sales for Square. Simultaneously, BlueVine has increased their max credit line to $500,000 for invoice factoring and $50,000 for “flex credit.” Sager will be tasked… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 10:38 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Tuesday, peer-to-peer lending platform Zopa announced it has appointed Ronen Benchetrit as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The website shared this hire is considered a strategic hire for its fintech business. Ronen, which is bringing more than two decades of software and management expertise to Zopa… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 8:58 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

JustUs, a new peer-to-peer lending platform focusing on the IF ISA space, announced on Tuesday that it has received backing from Chinese financial firm, GuanQun Investment. This news comes just a few weeks after JustUS announced it is preparing to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube to… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 8:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Online lender CommonBond has raised over $300 million in capital for loan purchases. On top of that figure, CommonBond raised $30 million in equity finance. CommonBond is a lending platform that is targeting the student loan refinance sector. Concurrently, CommonBond announced the acquisition of Gradible… Read More

July 19, 2016 @ 8:05 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdcube is in the midst of a self-crowdfunding round seeking an initial goal of raising £5 million.  In the first 24 hours, the platform raised over £6 million and is now in over-funding mode.  As it stands now, over 2450 investors have invested in the… Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 8:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Lending Club (NYSE:LC), the largest marketplace lending platform in the US, has scheduled 2nd quarter earnings (ending June 30) release for August 8, 2016, after the market closes.  Lending Club will host its earnings conference call at 2PM PT or 5PM ET that day. A… Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 1:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Republic, an offshoot of AngelList, has launched its Title III / Regulation CF crowdfunding platform today. The company stated in a release that it would be providing investors access to “mission-driven startups” curated by the Republic team. Republic expects to garner investor interest from both… Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 12:38 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

With the 2016 San Diego Comic Con set to be held this upcoming weekend, Kickstarter announced it is ready to show various projects at this year’s convention. Kickstarter shared details about the famous convention and what visitors will expect from the crowdfunding platform, including events…. Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 11:40 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday, Crowdfunder UK announced it has created a new way for projects to secure additional funding and support to turn their ideas into reality. The crowdfunding platform is set to distribute funds, which is traditionally given by councils, brands, and community funds through grants… Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 8:40 am By JD Alois  |  

P2P platform Lending Works has taken an internal poll of 1600 investors and the results indicate that a majority of investors intend on maintaining or increasing their P2P investments.  Lending Works is describing this as indicative of steady faith in P2P lending following the Brexit… Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 8:27 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Crowd2Fund announced on Monday the launch of its new intelligent investment feature known as Smart-Invest, which will reportedly allow investors to automate their crowdlending investments. The UK peer-to-peer lending platform stated: “The Smart-Invest feature is the culmination of research into Artificial Intelligence and consultation with leading academics… Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 8:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Seedrs has opened up its first office in Continental Europe with the establishment of operations in Amsterdam. The location will be utilized to expand services in the Benelux countries of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The strategic push comes just after Seedrs received its EU… Read More

July 18, 2016 @ 7:56 am By JD Alois  |  

Marketplace lending platform Lending Club (NYSE:LC) has appointed Patrick Dunne as its new Chief Capital Officer.  Dunn, an experienced investment banker, has held leadership roles at BlackRock, Barclays Global Investors and iShares.  Most recently Dunne was head of BlackRock’s San Francisco office and Head of iShares… Read More