Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

June 21, 2016 @ 10:20 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Real estate crowdfunding platform CoAssets (NSX:CAX) announced on Tuesday its first deal in China has successfully funded through its local platform, CoAssets China, which was opened last month. According to CoAssets, the initiative was for the renovation of a private social venue in the Gulou District in Fuzhou,… Read More

June 21, 2016 @ 9:08 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Tuesday, Kickstarter announced it has formed a new partnership with Guardian Live. The funding portal revealed since the UK launch in 2012, it has been overwhelmed with the creative projects from all over the community. It has even passed 100 million in funding for UK… Read More

June 21, 2016 @ 8:21 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Singapore-based private investment firm Shanda Group led Chinese billionaire Tianqiao Chen reported that Chen has raised his stake again in online lending platform Lending Club Corp following the recent ouster of founder and Chief Executive Renaud Laplanche. According to Reuters, Chen increased his Lending Club shares… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 5:00 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Invesdor, an investment crowdfunding platform based in Helsinki, announced over the weekend that it has closed its self-running campaign. The portal launched the campaign last month with a mission to raise €750,000 and successfully secured €1.2M. Our own funding round is now closed. THANK YOU all… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 4:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kuber Financial, LLC, has announced the acquisition of Mobilend, Inc., a mobile SaaS lending platform. According to Kuber, the company will integrate the Mobilend loan origination system into its existing technology to provide an integrated and robust experience for millions of tech-enabled consumers. Mobilend is described as a… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 2:49 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an auditing and consulting company, announced on Monday that it has formed a partnership with Germany’s equity crowdfunding platform, Companisto.  According to the duo, the new partnership is meant to enable start-ups successfully financed through Companisto to get support on all aspects related to their… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 1:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

John Mack, a bit of a legend in the banking world who garnered the nick-named Mack the Nice (in contrast to some other less savory nicknames for other iBankers), visited the studios of CNBC this morning to discuss a broad range of topics.  Mack is… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 12:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

  If there is one area of crowdfunding where we consistently hear about unfilled, robust demand, it is Asian money looking to invest in high-quality real estate beyond the borders of their native country. While some real estate markets may be getting a bit hot,… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 9:45 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday, peer-to-peer lending platform, Zopa, announced it has teamed up with risk management business, Sphonic, to launch the Workflow Manager (WFM) solution for real-time fraud detection. Zopa reported that WFM’s software acts as a context-broker that leverages data points from over 50 of the… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 9:12 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Texas-based real estate crowdfunding platform, MassVenture, announced on Monday that it has acquired funding portal, Equity Brick LLC. According to MassVenture, the acquisition will help it to continue to scale and improve upon technologies, and expand investment opportunities to its combined client base. Sharing details about… Read More

June 20, 2016 @ 9:04 am By JD Alois  |  

The  European Investment Bank (EIB) and Funding Circle, a UK-based P2P lender, has jointly announced a £100 million loan program designed to support UK small business. The loans will be originated through the Funding Circle platform.  Funding Circle will also participate with a £25 million… Read More

June 19, 2016 @ 11:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a recent article in WSJ.com, an analyst report is referenced stating Lending Club (NYSE: LC) is buying more of its own loans.  While it was labeled as a “mixed indicator” it is also a vote of confidence in the assets as Lending Club shifts… Read More

June 19, 2016 @ 7:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month, Crowdfund Insider Contributor Robin Sosnow wrote about “Simple Agreements for Future Equity” (SAFEs) and how they were quickly becoming the investment vehicle of choice for Reg CF crowdfunding portals. In brief, SAFEs are similar to convertible debt except founders are not faced… Read More

June 19, 2016 @ 6:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fundrise filed three more 1-A’s with the SEC indicating its intent to expand its service of providing access to real estate investment to a wider audience under Reg A+.  Currently Fundrise is offering two different “eREITs” to investors. The first, the Income eREIT, focusses on… Read More

June 18, 2016 @ 3:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

This past week LendInvest appointed  Stephen Wilcke as a Senior Advisor.  Wilcke has a long track in finance including being  CEO of HM Treasury’s Asset Protection Agency.  He was also head of OneSavings Bank where he positioned the firm for an IPO back in 2014.  Now… Read More

June 17, 2016 @ 5:33 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Kickstarter, despite its vow to never go public, quietly paid dividends to its shareholders this past March. This is according to a recent report by Bloomberg. In a world of tech measured solely by growth, and too frequently ongoing losses, Kickstarter did something a bit different… Read More

June 17, 2016 @ 12:34 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Friday, Crowdcube announced that the remaining Crowd10 campaigns have officially launched on its equity crowdfunding platform. This news comes just after one of the program’s initiatives, Local Vets, has successfully overfunded. Earlier this month, Crowdcube announced the launch of Crowd10, a new initiative from the funding platform’s affiliate, IdeaSquares. The… Read More

June 17, 2016 @ 11:33 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Friday, crowdfunding portal Crowdfunder UK announced it has teamed up with InstantPrint to provide its projects with some “Instant Love” each month. The duo will be providing campaigns with a free poster design and print to help them spread their message to the world. The… Read More

June 17, 2016 @ 8:21 am By JD Alois  |  

LendInvest, the leading online lender of commercial mortgages in the UK, has appointed Stephen Wilcke as a Senior Advisor.  Wilcke is the former Executive Chairman of OneSavings Bank – a FTSE 250 specialty lender.  According to LendInvest, Wilcke led OneSavings Bank on an extensive turnaround,… Read More

June 16, 2016 @ 4:24 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Landbay, Gray Stern, sat down with The Asian Banker to discuss the peer-to-peer lender’s growth along with the importance of transparency in the fintech industry. Landbay, which founded by Stern and John Goodall, allows individuals to invest in… Read More