Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

June 21, 2016 @ 4:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Anytime I hear about getting “something for nothing” I pause and immediately question the premise of the offer. So when I was first introduced to Ziero Financial I was more than a bit intrigued. Ziero’s business model is to offer free credit to borrows. Does it… Read More

June 21, 2016 @ 3:04 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Tuesday, Australia’s equity crowdfunding platform VentureCrowd announced the closing of Clearstate’s recent deal, which secured $1 million in four hours. The end-to-end property development company took to the funding portal to raise $900,000 for residential property development in Sydney. According to a press release provided… Read More

June 21, 2016 @ 12:55 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

 Today the Chairman of GLI Alternative Finance, a fund owned in part by GLI Finance, Norman Crighton stepped down with immediate effect, according to StockMarketWire. Richard Hills, a non-executive director, will replace Crighton as chairman. GLI Alternative Finance also appointed Ken Hillen, a former head of commercial… Read More

June 21, 2016 @ 12:48 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, crowdfunding platform Watsi has formed a new partnership with healthcare payments technology company Patientco to fund medical procedures throughout the world. According to the new partners, Patientco will pay it forward by donating $5 to Watsi for every attendee badge scanned at its 2016 Annual National Institute of the… Read More

June 21, 2016 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

“This is at the heart of reinventing the business model for financial services. It means challenging the existing models for investment management, marketing, pricing, sales and even customer support, to better align interests between the business and its customers. We want to ensure that we… Read More

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