Featured Headlines

March 21, 2016 @ 4:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Innovate Finance and US Fintech firms have forged a “Transatlantic Policy Working Group” (TPWG) to help promote an open and collaborative approach with respect to Fintech policy in both the UK and UK, as well as around the world.  According to Innovate Finance, the objective… Read More

March 21, 2016 @ 11:20 am By Amy Wan  |  

  Recently, JD Alois wrote a warning to investors about fraudsters attempting to impersonate officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission. This week, we’re warning borrowers and sponsors about scam artists that claim to work for or with crowdfunding platforms. Fraud in the lending or real… Read More

March 20, 2016 @ 10:47 am By Robert Riedl  |  

Well, the Federal Reserve has spoken again and though we are all listening, sometimes it’s hard to tell what all those carefully crafted paragraphs actually mean.  So here’s a quick snapshot of the top three things that you, as a small business owner, should know…. Read More

March 18, 2016 @ 8:18 pm By Louise Beaumont  |  

  The global alternative finance industry has undergone staggering growth in recent years. In 2015 combined market activity in the UK grew 84% from £1.74bn the year before to £3.2bn. Around 20,000 SMEs raised approximately £2.2bn in funding through online channels, representing a year-on-year growth… Read More

March 17, 2016 @ 4:52 pm By Amy Wan  |  

The RECF (real estate crowdfunding) community has been keenly interested in finding creative ways to use the new Regulation A+ that came into effect earlier last year. However, not all filings have been successful or made much business sense. Last year, I wrote about Groundfloor’s… Read More

March 16, 2016 @ 2:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a pretty big win for the real estate crowdfunding platform iFunding, the lawsuit filed against it by CapStack Partners was “discontinued with prejudice in all respects” yesterday. Crowdfund Insider reported in January that CapStack Partners had filed a grievance with the Supreme Court of… Read More

March 16, 2016 @ 11:03 am By JD Alois  |  

The Asia-Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report has just been published and it highlights the largest region in the world for disruptive finance. Entitled, “Harnessing Potential”, this is the first report for the region and has been created by a partnership of researchers, including the Cambridge… Read More

March 15, 2016 @ 11:06 am By JD Alois  |  

Orchard Platform is holding a marketplace lending industry gathering today in New York City. The event is designed to help the industry scale and desires to be a positive catalyst in the evolution of online lending. Best practices, knowledge sharing and regulatory risk are key… Read More

March 15, 2016 @ 9:11 am By Therese Torris  |  

Will fintech startups cause the demise of banks or come to their rescue? This was one of the topics debated at The “Future of Banking” event held by The Economist in Paris on March 10th 2016. The Future of Banking was aptly subtitled “Survival of… Read More

March 14, 2016 @ 4:00 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

In the sink-or-swim world of startups, recognizing and adapting to the unanticipated real needs of a market can be the way that a company makes it safely to success on the not-too-distant shore. Investly, an Estonian peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, has honed a keen sense of product/market fit, after its founder,… Read More

March 11, 2016 @ 9:37 am By JD Alois  |  

BrewDog, and its Equity for Punks campaign, is crossing the Atlantic and they are leveraging Regulation A+ to pay the way. Equity for Punks USA is accepting emails now for anyone interested in receiving updates on the forthcoming equity crowdfunding offer. The investment opportunity is… Read More

March 10, 2016 @ 11:58 pm By Joe Whitwell  |  

SyndicateRoom pioneered the “investor-led” crowdfunding model in the UK. The brainchild of Gonçalo de Vasconcelos whilst studying for his Cambridge MBA, the company had an initial focus on the companies in the surrounding silicone fen.  As it’s profile has grown, so has the list of the companies it serves. To… Read More

March 9, 2016 @ 3:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

The odyssey of Elio Motors (OTCQX:ELIO) and the process of raising capital online is notable not because of the fact it raised $17 million on StartEngine  and then quickly followed with a listing on the OTCQX but because it is a “first”. As all forms… Read More

March 9, 2016 @ 9:01 am By JD Alois  |  

Intel has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Replay Technologies. Details of the transaction were not disclosed but was reported on the Intel blog. The chatter put the purchase price at around $175 million OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved, whose firm participated in Replay Technologies Series… Read More

March 8, 2016 @ 1:28 pm By Therese Torris  |  

When thinking about Frankfurt, Finance immediately comes into mind. But FinTech? Not necessarily. Well, if it goes according to Execfintech, this is about to change. In its 3rd edition, Execfintech is a Fintech networking event, part pitching and part conference style panels and presentations –… Read More

March 8, 2016 @ 9:38 am By JD Alois  |  

Small business is extremely important for the economy. This is not just a US or UK issue, it is a global phenomenon. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the drivers of economic growth, job creation and thus wealth. Fostering an ecosystem that facilitates access to… Read More

March 7, 2016 @ 4:00 am By Scott Andersen  |  

The recent economic downturn is not the only challenge for entrepreneurs in the EB-5 and JOBS Act industries.  Rather, the challenges include close regulatory scrutiny by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Enforcement.  While both EB-5 and the JOBS Act were… Read More

March 5, 2016 @ 12:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

As the very first equity crowdfunding offer to go through the process of issuing shares and then listing on a public exchange under Reg A+, Elio Motors was bound to encounter a few bumps along the way.  One of the challenges was the transfer process… Read More

March 3, 2016 @ 10:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

OTC Markets Questions Monopoly Model for Venture Exchange. The House Financial Services Committee has been busy once again with a slew of proposed laws designed to improve the environment for smaller companies.  One of the bills on the list for the Committee yesterday (March 2,… Read More

March 3, 2016 @ 9:35 am By JD Alois  |  

If you were able to purchase shares of Mondo Bank on Crowdcube – Congratulations.  But if you blinked and did not register at exactly 1PM GMT sorry.  You are out of luck. Mondo Bank raised £1 million from investors in just 96 seconds. This is… Read More