Featured Headlines

March 2, 2016 @ 9:42 pm By Ron Miller  |  

  The democratization of startup funding promised by the JOBS Act has already begun, with a handful of Regulation A+ equity crowdfunding offerings already qualified by the SEC to raise capital and many others in the process of gaining qualification. Considering the early interest in… Read More

March 1, 2016 @ 9:46 pm By Anthony Zeoli  |  

  To date, most crowdfunded investment opportunities have been limited to wealthy investors who meet the current definition of “accredited investor.” This has left an absolutely HUGE market of potential investor capital, represented by those individuals who currently do not qualify as accredited investors, virtually untapped…. Read More

March 1, 2016 @ 12:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

As public and private markets continue to blur, Euronext has commenced  trading of Domobios – a Belgian company that raised capital on equity crowdfunding platform MyMicroInvest. The securities began trading today on the Euronext Expert Market (Public Auction), an electronic trading platform for non-listed securities…. Read More

February 29, 2016 @ 10:43 pm By Spencer Li  |  

Following the much-talked-about Ezubao $7.6 billion Ponzi scheme collapse at the end of last year, the perception and outlook of the Chinese online lending industry has grown increasingly negative both within and outside of China. Murmurs of regulation began floating around in early 2014 but… Read More

February 28, 2016 @ 8:58 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

At age 22, recent George Washington University grad Julia Kurnia co-founded the world’s first microfinance organization built entirely from crowdfunding capital sourced over the internet, using funds raised from Kiva.org in Senegal, West Africa. She spent the next four years managing U.S. government grants to small businesses in… Read More

February 28, 2016 @ 8:33 pm By Joe Whitwell  |  

In the beginning there was the crash, then came the innovation. The innovators, at least in the fintech space, wanted to disrupt, which was perhaps a euphemism for what they truly wanted to do: destroy. Many had been recently let go from the banks and… Read More

February 27, 2016 @ 1:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a backer update emailed to supporters yesterday, the second most funded Kickstarter campaign delivered some disturbing news. In brief, Coolest Cooler has ran out of cash. The email, signed by Coolest Creator Ryan Grepper, danced around the subject a bit. Grepper stated; “However, this… Read More

February 25, 2016 @ 10:48 pm By Ron Miller  |  

As equity crowdfunding under Regulation A+ continues to grow since its implementation in June 2015, it’s no surprise that there is a plethora of information about this new financial resource. Unfortunately, that info is not always accurate. From my experience, it’s not just investors or… Read More

February 25, 2016 @ 11:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Scott W. Bauguess, Deputy Director, Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the SEC, delivered an interesting presentation  during the ACSEC meeting today. Bauguess updated the group with data on raising private capital post the JOBS Act of 2012.  Bauguess acknowledged that fewer companies are… Read More

February 24, 2016 @ 9:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a report published today by HM Treasury, in partnership with EY, the UK declared global domination in the world of Fintech. The UK has consistently punched above its weight-class when it has come to financial innovation.  The Brits have benefited from elected officials that… Read More

February 24, 2016 @ 12:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

Lemonade has hired Professor Dan Ariely as Chief Behavioral Officer.  Ariely is a heavy-hitter when it comes to Behavioral Economics.  His bio lists his current status as a professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. But a recent Tweet by Dan is telling… Read More

February 23, 2016 @ 10:09 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

    At the Continuum SF Innovation and Credit Conference in San Francisco I recently attended, those present listened to a solid lineup of speakers discuss business development and more in SF and across the Pacific in China. Speakers included SF Mayor Ed Lee; Rob Suber,… Read More

February 22, 2016 @ 9:59 pm By Candace Klein  |  

A common theme in business and finance circles is that women are underrepresented, less capitalized, and face an uphill battle when it comes to building and financing their small businesses.  While the statistics may bear this out to some degree, the women-owned business horizon is… Read More

February 21, 2016 @ 10:29 pm By Nathan Rose  |  

  The recent changes in the retail equity crowdfunding regulatory environment make this a useful time to take stock of the international landscape and compare regimes between countries. Some countries have moved faster than others, and different countries have taken different approaches to regulation, ranging… Read More

February 20, 2016 @ 5:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Question: What do the following have in common? Smart Tracker 2 Smart Tracker Swiss White Teeth Last Crime Answer: They are each crowdfunding projects on Indiegogo involving a Mr. Julian Buschor. Another fun fact regarding the above campaigns, none of the promised rewards have delivered for… Read More

February 20, 2016 @ 12:08 pm By Ron Miller  |  

Regulation A+ crowdfunding rules were released by the SEC in June of 2015, three years after these rules were initially introduced in the 2012 JOBS Act. The debut of the long-awaited regulations led to a flood of companies rushing to capitalize on this new method… Read More

February 18, 2016 @ 10:25 pm By Anthony Zeoli  |  

  There has been a lot of chatter and debate lately on how, or even if, the current definition of “accredited investor” should be substantively changed. To date, however, there has only been one affirmative action taken to actually change the definition which I am… Read More

February 18, 2016 @ 8:26 am By JD Alois  |  

Orchard platform, the company at the epicenter of marketplace lending, has published a thought-provoking missive that makes one wonder about the state of the economy.  David Snitkof, co-founder and data guru at Orchard, states that after only 6 weeks in – 2016 is a very… Read More

February 17, 2016 @ 9:15 pm By Ethan Senturia  |  

I just returned from the Prosper Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is a two-day continuing education event for more than 700 Amazon sellers, focused primarily on education, rather than sales.  Using moderated panels of competitors, the event is focused on key business practices… Read More

February 16, 2016 @ 7:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

    The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and Nesta have released their much-anticipated report on alternative forms of finance tracking results for 2015. The research was completed in partnership with KPMG and with the support of CME Group Foundation. Entitled”Pushing Boundaries”, the… Read More