Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

March 13, 2015 @ 8:15 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this month, former SEC lawyer and now Forbes columnist, Edward Siedle, launched a crowdfunding platform, Investigate My Retirement Plan, which is dedicated to helping participants to investigate retirement pensions. According to Pensions & Investments, Siedle noted that through the new platform participants in defined… Read More

March 12, 2015 @ 12:42 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

EVEN Financial today announced it has raised $2.8M in seed funding. The round was led by Canaan Partners, who also led the first venture-backed investment rounds for Lending Club and Orchard Platform in the P2P lending market. Other investors include Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Ron Suber of Prosper, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Conversion Capital, Social Leverage, 555… Read More

March 12, 2015 @ 10:59 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

It has become one of the most popular campaigns to ever hit Indiegogo and has even captured nearly $6 million from over 13,000 backers, but it seems that not everyone has jumped on the Flow Hive bandwagon. According to HuffPo, American apiarists have stated that the Flow… Read More

March 12, 2015 @ 9:31 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Celebrating the tenth anniversary in finance,  Zopa, world’s first peer to peer lender has made significant achievements since its founding  “in a barn in Buckinghamshire.”   Zopa, led by CEO and Co-Founder Giles Andrews, launched a disruptive financial industry that enables consumers and businesses to bypass banks. Since… Read More

March 12, 2015 @ 8:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Zopa has just celebrated its birthday of providing loans to consumers for 10 years.  Since the site launched way back in 2005, the peer to peer lending industry has changed and grown dramatically.  This growth continues today with the incorporation of new technology, better customer… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 4:37 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

CrowdPress, a crowdfunding platform built exclusively for the creative community, announced this week the launch a public beta version of its website on March 25th, 2015, with a full version coming later this year. CrowdPress provides artists, photographers, and designers around the world with a unique platform… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 3:07 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this week, old school media outlet, The New York Times, and Kickstarter announced that they have formed a partnership to present a new video channel that’s dedicated to the films that were funded through the global crowdfunding platform. The description of “Made with Kickstarter” reads: “A… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 12:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

As expected, e-commerce giant Amazon is getting closer to becoming a Crowdfunding platform.  This is pretty much a natural extension of its powerful sales and review platform and counters the encroaching pretail type campaigns that inhabit both Kickstarter, Tilt and Indiegogo.  With Indieogo’s recently launch… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 12:29 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

StreetShares, the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending marketplace for small business loans, today announced commitments from Direct Lending Investments, Community Investment Management (CIM) and Eagle Bank Corp for more than $200 million in funding to back loans on the StreetShares marketplace, with a focus on funding veteran-owned small businesses. Direct Lending Investments, a business… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 11:02 am By Erin Hobey  |  

As a solution to delivering IT projects faster, with better quality, and more cost-effectively, Aries TCO developed ACE, a rapid application generator that builds screens, data structures, and entire applications for as many platforms as templates provided. From one configuration, consumers can create iOS, Android, and web applications with just a click… allowing a… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 10:30 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Lending Club (NYSE: LC), a marketplace connecting borrowers and investors, today announced the launch of a partnership with HomeAdvisor, an online home improvement marketplace where homeowners can connect with pre-screened local home repair and improvement professionals. Under this multi-year agreement, Lending Club will be the exclusive partner providing access to loans… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 10:18 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Realty Mogul, one of the leading pioneers in online peer-to-peer real estate investing, will be only real estate-related business chosen to present at the West Coast’s premier conference for technology investors. The Montgomery Summit, presented by Macquarie Capital, selected Los Angeles-based Realty Mogul from more than… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 7:47 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Following the full subscription of their first £1m offer at the end of 2014, Property Crowd, which is considered the first UK real estate crowdfunding platform to operate under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations, announces the launch of a new £1m offer for Central London luxury… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 4:30 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this month, new crowdfunding platform FanAngel debuted for college athletes to receive funds from their biggest supporters – their fans! According to its description, FanAngel enables fans to directly and publicly influence the outcomes of their favorite players and teams by incentivizing them with money. These… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 3:09 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Fresh off the announcement of Seed&Spark’s partnership with FiOS TV, founder of the crowdfunding platform, Emily Best sat down with Verizon to shared details about the new collaboration and revealed her thoughts about the always evolving indie film industry. During the interview, Best discussed the platform’s history,… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 1:33 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

This year’s film awards season showcased the growing appetite and reach for independent films. Beginning in April, Verizon will be the first pay-TV provider to offer FiOS TV customers access to more independent films On Demand as part of a new partnership with the world’s leading… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 11:16 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Advertising agency LRXD is partnering with Clayton Warwick, co-founder of The Music Ninja, and ONEHOPE Foundation to launch a crowdfunding platform that’s a mash-up of Spotify, Omaze and Kickstarter. Cadence & Cause is a new music platform that’s designed to create revenue for charities by connecting musicians and their fans… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 10:07 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Ready to share some big news to potential crowdfunding campaign backers, Kickstarter announced that its smartphone app will have a new Apple Pay feature. On Monday (March 9th), the platform’s Carol Benovic stated: “We’re happy to introduce an amazing new feature to the Kickstarter app that makes it even… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 9:26 am By JD Alois  |  

Netherlands based Symbid has formed a partnership with Italian bank Gruppo Banca Sella to create an italian investment platform called Symbid Italia. Marco Bicocchi Pichi, Italian Business Angel of the Year 2014, has been appointed  to lead the new firm as Managing Director.  Symbid explains the… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 9:13 am By JD Alois  |  

Leading peer to peer lending platform RateSetter, has hired Simon Pearse as head of compliance.  Described as an “industry heavyweight”, Pearse previously spent 8 years as a senior manager at the FSA/ FCA and also led the development of the regulatory risk framework at OneSavings… Read More