Featured Headlines

February 1, 2016 @ 9:30 pm By Samuel Guzik  |  

For those of you who have followed my articles on Crowdfund Insider over the past two years, you know that I have not been shy about voicing my concerns over the foot dragging that too often has often characterized the attitude of the Securities and… Read More

February 1, 2016 @ 10:17 am By Georgia Quinn  |  

Last week both the SEC and FINRA finalized the rules for funding portals to offer securities under Title III of the JOBS Act of 2012.  The journey to get to this place has been long and at times challenging as regulators and industry participants debated… Read More

February 1, 2016 @ 8:06 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Peer to Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) has published end of year numbers for 2015. The P2PFA tracks the top peer to peer lenders in the UK.  In Q4 of 2015, P2PFA members generated just shy of £650 million in loans. Their numbers also… Read More

January 29, 2016 @ 2:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

  SoFi is one of the fastest growing marketplace lending platforms in the United States. The direct lender started by providing student loan services to well-educated young professionals. These borrowers were typically ignored by banks as the monolithic banking model and its antiquated process denied reality… Read More

January 28, 2016 @ 10:27 am By JD Alois  |  

  As marketplace lending grows and matures it is natural, even expected, for policy makers and regulators to stand up and take notice. While in the overall world of finance direct online lenders are still relatively small, more and more frequently amounts are measured in… Read More

January 27, 2016 @ 2:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Investor Advisory Committee met last week in Washington, DC. The periodic meeting was opened by Chair White who mentioned Title III retail crowdfunding specifically; “Regulation Crowdfunding becomes effective in May and funding portals can begin to register with the Commission later this month. … Read More

January 27, 2016 @ 12:47 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

Real estate crowdfunding is one of the most popular forms of investment-based crowdfunding in the industry today. That is why it has already accounted for millions of dollars in project funding in just the last couple years. As the popularity and viability of this market… Read More

January 26, 2016 @ 5:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

Slava Rubin has announced his resignation as CEO of the second largest rewards-based crowdfunding platform in the world.  Rubin co-founded the innovative platform with co-founders Danae Ringelmann and Eric Schell back in 2008.  Rubin stated  he was “excited to announce that I am promoting [current… Read More

January 26, 2016 @ 12:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Data provided by TheCrowdfundingCentre asserts that crowdfunding is the vehicle driving an “unprecedented” global wave of innovation.  In a report entitled, “2016: State of the Crowdfunding Nation”, the authors state that rewards based crowdfunding is providing much needed seed funding for smaller firms thus generating… Read More

January 25, 2016 @ 9:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd is perhaps the leading investment crowdfunding platform in the world. Founded in 2013 by the ubiquitous CEO Jon Medved, OurCrowd has set up shop in one of the hottest startup markets in the world.  But while  nominally based in Israel, OurCrowd has chosen a… Read More

January 25, 2016 @ 9:51 am By JD Alois  |  

Dubuc Motors, creators of the “scissor door” electric sports car the Tomahawk, has launched a “Testing the Waters” (TTW) campaign on StartEngine seeking indications of interest for $25 million under Regulation A+.  Launched in Quebec, Dubuc Motors is now incorporated in the US with offices… Read More

January 24, 2016 @ 10:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

Keith Higgins, Director the Division of Corporate Finance of the SEC, travelled to the UK last week to keynote a speech at the Fifteenth Annual Institute of Securities Regulation in Europe.  The speech, entitled; “International Developments -Past, Present & Future, launched into the premise of… Read More

January 22, 2016 @ 11:02 am By Federica Sabbatini and Luca Scali  |  

  An Update on How Close We Are to Getting Back on Track. Hub21 is a venture accelerator based in Ascoli Piceno (Marche Region in Italy), whose mission is to incubate startups, with Go-to-Market, fundraising, management support and its own strategic observatory over digital startups…. Read More

January 22, 2016 @ 8:03 am By JD Alois  |  

TrustBuddy, a publicly traded peer to peer lending platform, filed for bankruptcy in October of 2015.  This event occurred soon after it was revealed that management had uncovered “suspected misconduct” regarding the operations of the firm. Once the announcement of financial irregularities hit, it was… Read More

January 20, 2016 @ 2:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Belgium’s largest investment crowdfunding platform MyMicroInvest easily cruised past its € 1 million in under one hour during a self-crowdfunding event that took place in Brussels today. While Crowdfund Insider is still awaiting the final tally, the one million euro hurdle was topped in about 20… Read More

January 20, 2016 @ 12:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

LoanHero, a point of purchase lending platform has received an additional $2.5 million in seed funding. This follows a $1.7 million funding round announced last June when the platform also announced a $20 million debt facility.  According to information provided by LoanHero, Mucker Capital and… Read More

January 20, 2016 @ 8:00 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

  As you may be aware, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently considering sweeping changes to some of the most long-standing rules and regulations governing private transactions. These changes include fundamental revisions of both Rule 501, the definition of “accredited investor” and arguably… Read More

January 19, 2016 @ 9:42 am By JD Alois  |  

iFunding, one of the earlier entrants into the real estate crowdfunding sector, has started the New Year on a bit of a sour note. In an article published in the Real Deal (TRD), it was revealed that iFunding had been sued this past December by… Read More

January 18, 2016 @ 6:00 am By Spencer Li  |  

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (“CBRC”) issued the highly anticipated draft rules for online lending on December 28, 2015. Ever since the State Council guidelines (“the Guidelines”) for the Chinese internet finance industry were issued in July, rumors about the timing of the online lending… Read More

January 16, 2016 @ 7:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), Ian Russell, called on provincial regulators to “scrap equity crowdfunding”.  Russell, it appears, is not enthusiastic about the financial innovation.  On the digital pages of the Financial Post, and on the IIAC blog, Russell claimed;… Read More