Featured Headlines

May 10, 2016 @ 9:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Sara Hanks is one of the most recognizable and vocal leaders in the investment crowdfunding sector. A securities attorney by training, Hanks has spent many years in and around Capitol Hill working on important policy issues.  Hanks is also a longstanding board member of the… Read More

May 9, 2016 @ 7:21 am By JD Alois  |  

Lending Club (NYSE:LC) founder and CEO Renaud Laplanche has submitted his resignation to the board of directors following an internal review of a sale of loans to a single investor. According to the company, $22 million in loans were sold to a single investor against “express… Read More

May 8, 2016 @ 5:38 pm By Dharmash Mistry & Fiona McIntosh  |  

Raising capital for a young company is never an easy task. Financing an early stage company can be both complex and a lot of work.  There is not necessarily one simple answer.  For our company, blow LTD, we were a fast growing firm in an… Read More

May 6, 2016 @ 4:42 pm By Oscar Jofre  |  

Like most of you today, I spend a lot of time reading about fintech. You can get massive amounts of news reports and companies talking about fintech, saying that they’re part of Fintech.  But what does “fintech” really mean? Fintech is not new, but it… Read More

May 5, 2016 @ 3:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

  This past Tuesday (May 3rd), twenty members of Congress joined to ask the Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew, to tread lightly when it came to the emerging marketplace lending industry. The timing of bi-partisan missive is important as Treasury has announced it will… Read More

May 4, 2016 @ 12:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month the US Department of Treasury, Division of Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network (FinCEN), announced a proposed rule change that will impact Reg CF crowdfunding portals. Now the concept of a crowdfunding portal is a new approach that was legalized under the JOBS Act… Read More

May 4, 2016 @ 10:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Keen Home is doing it right. The company is the creator of a smart home air vent. Sexy it is not. Practical and money saving it is. Back in 2014, Keen started with a relatively small crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Keen co-founders Ryan Fant and… Read More

May 4, 2016 @ 8:24 am By JD Alois  |  

Starting and creating a new business is a highly risky endeavor.  Yet these same small businesses are the ones that create the most jobs and drive economic growth. In brief, SMEs are imperative for society as a whole. The UK has supported an innovation-based economy… Read More

May 3, 2016 @ 4:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Global consulting firm PwC has published a report on the marketplace lending industry.  The timing is good as the industry is being buffeted by the broader challenge of a stumbling economy. The document aptly starts by noting the marketplace lending sector is oh, so much… Read More

May 3, 2016 @ 8:48 am By Doug Ellenoff  |  

  Two years after Title II of the JOBS Act, known as 506(c), went into effect well over one billion dollars of financings have been closed through online funding portals under this provision and 506(b). The year over year growth has been substantial.  Entrepreneurs and… Read More

May 2, 2016 @ 4:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

BrewDog, and its never-ending EquityforPunks crowdfunding campaign, has updated its filing with the SEC as the US offer, under Reg A+ nears. BrewDog management originally filed its first Form 1-A in early March.  The most recent filing will reflect comments and requests from the SEC… Read More

May 2, 2016 @ 3:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Research Initiative is in Collaboration with 17 Major Industry Associations & Organisations The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School is launching the Second Annual European Alternative Finance Industry Survey with the support of 17 major European industry associations and research… Read More

May 1, 2016 @ 12:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

NextSeed, an investment crowdfunding platform based in Houston, Texas, may be the first funding portal approved by FINRA under Title III of the JOBS Act.  NextSeed reported they had received approval by FINRA on April 28th, the SEC filing is available here.  Last month, Crowdfund… Read More

April 29, 2016 @ 9:50 am By Therese Torris  |  

  Earlier this year, the crowdfunding sector represented by the European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) the UK Crowdfunding Association, Financement Participatif France and Nederland Crowdfunding had called on the Parliament and the European Council to be very ambitious with the planned revision of the Prospectus Directive…. Read More

April 28, 2016 @ 1:05 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Last October seeking to modernize the way venture capital funds are formed and how they invest, the NYC-based investment crowdfunding platform Onevest launched 1000 Angels.  Aiming to be the “world’s largest digital-first, invitation-only investor network,” 1000 Angels includes OneVest co-founders Tanya Prive and Alejandro Cremades, Managing Partner Erica Duignan… Read More

April 28, 2016 @ 11:39 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Crowdo, a South East Asian crowdfunding platform, announced today that it has received its provisional Capital Market Services (“CMS”) License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”). The CMS license will allow Crowdo to offer both equity crowdfunding and peer to business (P2B) lending solutions in Singapore, noted… Read More

April 27, 2016 @ 1:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

    The first quarter of 2016 saw the US economy slip into a bit of a funk. Lingering questions regarding the sustainability of the economic recovery were buffeted by geopolitical tensions. The marketplace lending industry was in no way immune to the shifting winds… Read More

April 27, 2016 @ 12:20 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Income tax returns e-filing website ClearTax has secured an angel investment of $1.3 million from top Silicon Valley angels. ClearTax was founded in 2011 by the father-son team of Raja Ram Gupta and Archit Gupta, Srivatsan Chari and Ankit Solanki, ClearTax is the fourth Indian start-up  funded… Read More

April 26, 2016 @ 11:38 am By Erin Hobey  |  

According to Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor R Gandhi, approval of new types of NBFCs (non-banking finance companies) will continue.  Detailed information has not yet been released from the bank, but Gandhi commented while inaugurating the ASSOCHAM summit discussing NBFCs: The Changing Landscape’ reported Mumbai’s Deccan Herald:… Read More

April 26, 2016 @ 10:14 am By JD Alois  |  

Great art isn’t made by committee–it’s made by empowering great artists (and then getting out of their way!). Legion M is looking to a wider audience of committed fans and investors to finance their vision of a new century media entertainment company. Launched this past… Read More