Featured Headlines

February 16, 2016 @ 2:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

via GIPHY GIPHY, the company that is probably the source of all those cool GIFs you have been posting all over the internet, just closed a Series C funding round in the amount of $55 million.  This places the post-money valuation at a solid $300… Read More

February 16, 2016 @ 10:50 am By JD Alois  |  

Aprenita is a recent entry into the online lending sector. While the largest platforms focus on consumer or SME lending, Aprenita has established a laser-focused niche. Founded by Mark Loranger and Sergei Kovalenko, the entrepreneurial pair has “identified a critical funding gap where old systems… Read More

February 15, 2016 @ 4:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fundrise, a leading real estate crowdfunding platform, stunned investors and supporters alike with a filing posted to the SEC that indicated Michael S. McCord, CFO of Fundrise, had been terminated for allegations of extortion. The statement filed with the SEC said; Strategic Investors & Advisors… Read More

February 15, 2016 @ 8:33 am By Josef Holm  |  

Ronald Kleverlaan is an alternative finance specialist and one of the industry’s best-known crowdfunding advocates in Europe. He is an influencer on alternative finance, regular keynote speaker on future trends in the industry and connector in the European crowdfunding ecosystem. He advises the European Commission on… Read More

February 13, 2016 @ 3:53 pm By Therese Torris  |  

The FinovateEurope conference closed its doors on February 10th in London after two days packed with company pitches, demos, and networking. It was the biggest FinovateEurope since Finovate launched its first London event in 2010. Some 72 FinTech companies submitted their product and service innovations… Read More

February 12, 2016 @ 8:00 am By JD Alois  |  

In a recent PIPEs report from The Deal, the observation was made the Regulation A+, an updated exemption under Title IV of the JOBS Act, is picking up steam.  So far over 70 companies have filed a Form 1-A with the SEC and, according to the… Read More

February 11, 2016 @ 11:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

  In Australia, the process to update the regulatory environment to facilitate equity crowdfunding has been a long journey. Back in 2014,  proposed rules by the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC) were criticized by one industry leader as “totally unworkable”. No need to say more. At… Read More

February 11, 2016 @ 3:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School in the UK, has received the backing of the CME Group Foundation to the tune of a $1 million grant to  support research on new forms of finance such as… Read More

February 10, 2016 @ 6:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Internet radio startup 8tracks has quickly generated over $25 million in indicated interest from investors under Regulation A+ on SeedInvest.  According to information provided by the investment crowdfunding platform, more than 29,000 individuals have expressed their intent to purchase shares in the young company. 8tracks… Read More

February 10, 2016 @ 4:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

There are a few basic ways to gain shares in early stage companies, the most obvious ones being either to invest by purchasing shares or to join the company and be “given” shares as part of your remuneration.  Holding shares in an early stage company… Read More

February 10, 2016 @ 10:09 am By JD Alois  |  

In an interview today on BBC, Lord Adair Turner, former Chair of the FSA (predecessor to the FCA), shared his opinion on banking and the financial industry in general, including a discussion on the burgeoning peer to peer lending sector.  Lord Turner, it appears, is… Read More

February 9, 2016 @ 2:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Lemonade, a peer to peer insurance platform that seeks to address the profound shortcomings of the multi-trillion dollar insurance industry now has some prominent names backing the young company.  Announced today, Lemonade has now received the support of “top tier” global reinsurance partners including Berkshire… Read More

February 9, 2016 @ 2:08 pm By Therese Torris  |  

At a time when many a crowdlending platform focuses on attracting institutional investors, it is very refreshing to see a startup go back to the roots of crowdfunding by addressing the needs of the crowd, the 99%, the retail investors. investUP is a crowdfunding portal… Read More

February 8, 2016 @ 5:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Equitise has a new shareholder.  Investec Australia, a publicly traded company, announced today that it had purchased a 20% stake in the equity crowdfunding platform making it the single largest shareholder behind the Equitise co-founders.  Investec was joined in the funding round by H2 Ventures and… Read More

February 8, 2016 @ 10:33 am By Therese Torris  |  

Real estate crowdfunding started late in 2014 in France. But, hardly a year later, it is going strong with 26 platforms vying for a share of the market. However, as crowdfunding moves from real estate development to buy-to-let projects, new platforms are encountering some resistance… Read More

February 6, 2016 @ 12:55 pm By Catherine Pargeter, Analytics Manager, Orchard Platform  |  

After our show stopping success last year in using data on borrowers to predict the Super Bowl winner, we decided to for a second year of success, even if the Patriots did not.  Using the loan data from Lending Club over 2010-2015, we compared borrowers… Read More

February 5, 2016 @ 12:16 am By JD Alois  |  

  Fundnel (pronounced like Funnel) is one of several investment crowdfunding platforms that have launched in Singapore over the past year. But even though there are a growing number of sites entering the internet finance space, Fundnel claims the title of Asia’s first collaborative fundraising platform… Read More

February 3, 2016 @ 2:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

In the UK, similar to other parts of the world, SMEs are the engine of economic growth and associated job and wealth creation.  According to the Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses (FSB); Small businesses account for 99.3% of all private sector businesses at the… Read More

February 3, 2016 @ 9:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Real estate crowdfunding, for both debt and equity, is a natural fit between technology and asset class. While so much digital ink is dedicated to early stage companies raising capital online, it is the real estate sector that has captured most of the deal flow… Read More

February 2, 2016 @ 12:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a sign of the times, USC’s Marshall School of Business has launched a course focusing soley on Fintech. While Fintech is an all encompassing term for internet finance, the USC course will focus on the “entrepreneurial spirit” of the movement. So what will students… Read More