Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

August 12, 2015 @ 11:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Kickstarter has successfully crowdfunded over $1.62 billion for over 90,000 successfully funded projects. The Kickstarter name has become synonymous with rewards based crowdfunding. The platform continues to evolve and adapt with the changing internet funding space but is now broadly viewed as a viable method to… Read More

August 12, 2015 @ 9:24 am By JD Alois  |  

Marketplace lending platform Lending Club (NYSE:LC)  has announced the release of a series of APIs for online brokers and advisors to more easily connect investors with Lending Club loans.  Labeled Lending Club Open Integration (LCOI), the new feature should make investor interaction more seamless while facilitating… Read More

August 12, 2015 @ 8:47 am By JD Alois  |  

Real estate platform RealtyShares has shared their perspective on the recent no-action letter issued by the SEC in response to an inquiry by Citizen VC, Inc. as to that company’s method of onboarding new investors. The letter forwarded to the SEC by Citizen.VC counsel Mintz Levin outlined several policies and… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 12:41 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

CommonBond, a marketplace lending platform that lowers the cost of student loans for borrowers and provides financial returns to investors, today announced founder and CEO of Sanlaap North America, Sindhura Sarikonda, as the winner of the 2015 CommonBond Social Impact Award, which honors the nation’s top MBA… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 12:38 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

With the confidence of over 121 investors, Innovation Makers has secured over £292,220 on its equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.  With eight days remaining on the campaign to reach its £400K target for 20% equity offered, the Innovation Makers team announced that former Maclaren COO Russ Cohen… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 11:54 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Indian P2P lending marketplace Faircent.com signed data and solutions initiatives with global risk and information solutions provider TransUnion, for real-time credit appraisal of borrowers, reported the Economic Times. According to the post, Faircent is the first P2P lending marketplace to leverage TransUnion’s capability in data, analytics… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 11:50 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

GoDaddy, Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), a technology provider dedicated to small businesses, today announced a partnership with Kiva, a micro-lending platform, that will connect GoDaddy employees with Kiva borrowers in countries around the world. Kiva is a non-profit organization working globally to connect people through lending to alleviate… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 11:17 am By Erin Hobey  |  

  Ablrate, a UK peer-to-peer lending platform that offers investors access to asset-backed loans against aircraft transactions, has announced a partnership with The Just Loans Group PLC to provide commercial property-backed investment options on the Ablrate platform. “This collaboration represents a fantastic way for Ablrate’s… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 10:52 am By Erin Hobey  |  

As promised last week on its website, the trailblazing German crowdfunding platform Companisto  plan to launch a new asset class will be available starting 18 August.  More details have been revealed regarding this new venture, namely its new asset class is venture loan: “We continuously want to… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 10:18 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

RealtyMogul, an online marketplace for real estate investing,announced it has successfully helped finance acquisitions of two hotel properties – one in Joplin, Missouri and the other in Memphis, Tennessee. Conor Acquisitions, a Florida-based owner and operator of hospitality properties, is the sponsor of both transactions. Jilliene… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 9:42 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, the Lambeth Council and Funding Circle announced the launch of the Local Business Lending Partnership, a pioneering new scheme to stimulate local economic growth and employment through improved access to business finance. As part of the scheme, the council will lend money directly… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 9:06 am By JD Alois  |  

Investment crowdfunding platform Symbid has received approval from Italian securities regulatory CONSOB to launch Symbid Italia.  The new venture by Symbid is in partnership with Banca Sella and is expected to go live in Q4 of 2015.  The news of the strategic expansion was revealed… Read More

August 11, 2015 @ 7:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Debt and equity based crowdfunding platform Invesdor has closed its self crowdfunding round that was launched earlier this year.  The funding ended with 143 investors, from 16 different countries, owning 11.79% of the firm. Valuation was placed at just under € 6 million.  According to the… Read More

August 10, 2015 @ 4:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

The China Supreme Court released a judicial interpretation regarding liability for loans gone bad originated on peer to peer lending platforms. The court has stated that while borrowers receive funds via the platforms these intermediaries are not required to guarantee the loans and should not be held… Read More

August 10, 2015 @ 3:21 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Seeking to help aspiring campaign organizers, three Crowdcube alums, Shoot, Renovagen, and Compare and Share, have decided to reveal their top tips to launching a successful funding round. The equity crowdfunding platform shared: “More and more startups are looking to crowdfunding as a way of raising finance,… Read More

August 10, 2015 @ 9:38 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Last week, Indiegogo announced it made a special appearance at the first ever White House Demo Day. The popular crowdfunding platform shared: “On Tuesday, August 4, 2015, Indiegogo was a part of history: we attended the first ever White House Demo Day. Hosted by President… Read More

August 9, 2015 @ 11:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

Not so bad for a 5 year old. Renrendai, a leading peer to peer lender in China, may hit 15 billion yuan (about $2.4 billion) in loans by the end of the year. The direct lending platform had transactions worth $1.4 billion (9 billion yuan) in… Read More

August 7, 2015 @ 12:42 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

EquityNet announced new CEO and President, James Murphy. Founder, Judd Hollas, has decided with the Board of Directors to resign his leadership role. Following Hollas resignation, the crowdfunding platform selected James Murphy to succeed as President and CEO. Murphy has been involved with the company… Read More

August 7, 2015 @ 10:03 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

EarlyShares, a real estate crowdfunding platform that gives accredited investors direct access to commercial real estate opportunities, has launched an equity investment offering for Grubb Southeast Real Estate Fund V, LLC. The fund will target real estate investments in metropolitan areas located throughout the Southeast U.S. Grubb Properties is seeking… Read More

August 7, 2015 @ 8:00 am By Giles Andrews  |  

This is a question I get asked a lot. And the usual line of thinking of those asking the question is that it does matter.  The common assumption is that the increased activity of “institutional” funds is crowding out the core retail investors that platforms… Read More