Featured Headlines

March 17, 2015 @ 7:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Balanced, a payments and escrow platform, has announced they are shutting down operations and have given a 90 day notice to clients of the closure. The announcement was made by Balanced co-founder & CEO, Matin Tamizi. Balanced has formed an agreement with Stripe to migrate customers if… Read More

March 16, 2015 @ 10:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Alibaba, the Chinese internet conglomerate, has formed another strategic alliance to provide loans to businesses. Earlier this month Alibaba inked an agreement with Lending Club to facilitate loans to US businesses seeking to purchase goods from China manufacturers. Now Alibaba has created a similar arrangement with… Read More

March 14, 2015 @ 5:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

  According to a recent report, aspiring UK crowdfunding platforms are suffering from extended delays in platform approval by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  In an article published in the Guardian, the missive declared that, “the FCA has approved only two crowdfunding platforms in the… Read More

March 13, 2015 @ 12:53 pm By Charles Kaufman and Jor Law  |  

This the second part, of a two part series, reviewing Bad Actors in private placements.  The first article may be viewed here. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new Rule 506(d) in 2013, a rule that bars felons and other specified “bad actors” from… Read More

March 12, 2015 @ 12:42 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

EVEN Financial today announced it has raised $2.8M in seed funding. The round was led by Canaan Partners, who also led the first venture-backed investment rounds for Lending Club and Orchard Platform in the P2P lending market. Other investors include Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Ron Suber of Prosper, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Conversion Capital, Social Leverage, 555… Read More

March 12, 2015 @ 9:31 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Celebrating the tenth anniversary in finance,  Zopa, world’s first peer to peer lender has made significant achievements since its founding  “in a barn in Buckinghamshire.”   Zopa, led by CEO and Co-Founder Giles Andrews, launched a disruptive financial industry that enables consumers and businesses to bypass banks. Since… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 7:00 am By Samuel Guzik  |  

To borrow a line from SEC Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher, quoting from the fight song of his alma mata, Georgetown University:  Oh How Long It’s Been! As we approach the three year anniversary of the signing into law of the JOBS Act of 2012 it… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 10:28 am By JD Alois  |  

Louise Beaumont joined a panel on Democratising finance yesterday at the inaugural Innovate Finance conference.  The session entitled The rise of alternative finance in the UK saw her join a prestigious group to discuss the future of finance. Louise is the head of Public Affairs at GLI… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 1:00 am By Therese Torris  |  

Leading French crowdfunding platforms Anaxago and WiSeed launched real estate business units to meet strong demand from both real estate developers and investors. In this interview, Souleymane Galadima, the Managing Director of WiSeed Immobilier, presents his company’s current real estate crowdfunding model based on debt… Read More

March 9, 2015 @ 3:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Flow Hive, the beekeeping and honey making system that has captured the backing of thousands, is now the most funded campaign on Indiegogo of all time having raised about $5.3 million with over three weeks left on the offer. Ubuntu Edge raised $12.8 million for its smartphone… Read More

March 9, 2015 @ 12:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Massachusetts Securities Division has published a call for feedback regarding the state’s crowdfunding exemption.  The rules were released as an “emergency” measure and now state authorities are asking the crowdfunding industry and other interested parties to respond to the enacted rules. Massachusetts has scheduled… Read More

March 8, 2015 @ 10:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

Capitol Hill is an ever-revolving series of meetings, hearings and committees that too frequently get mired in petty political squabbles and posturing. Most of what occurs on the Hill these days is lost to much of the rest of the country who are simply too… Read More

March 6, 2015 @ 12:07 pm By Charles Kaufman and Jor Law   |  

This article is part one, of a two part discussion, on Identifying Bad Actors for private placements. In 2010, as part of the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, Congress adopted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. While most of… Read More

March 5, 2015 @ 11:13 am By JD Alois  |  

UK based investment crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has shared they experienced the best month ever for number of registered users.  For the month of February over 15,000 joined the funding portal.  This jump in users has now boosted their “investor community” to over 145,000 individuals. While… Read More

March 5, 2015 @ 9:11 am By Therese Torris  |  

French real estate developers badly need private equity and French savers have a strong, yet until recently unsatisfied, appetite for investing in real estate development. Crowdfunding comes to the rescue. Two leading French equity crowdfunding sites Anaxago and WiSeed have recently launched a division dedicated… Read More

March 4, 2015 @ 8:17 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

Alright so maybe “all hail” might be a little much but cut me some slack, I’m excited. After more than a year of lobbying, campaigning and pounding the pavement Illinois finally has a filed intrastate crowdfunding exemption bill. Well, that’s not entirely true … Illinois… Read More

March 3, 2015 @ 11:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld spoke briefly on CNBC today about the “institutional battle” between the NYSE and Nasdaq in regards to the number of IPOs.  For the record Nasdaq chalked up 189 for $22 billion raised in 2014 while the NYSE listed 129 for total… Read More

March 3, 2015 @ 1:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

SeedInvest, a widely respected investment crowdfunding platform that operates under Title II accredited crowdfunding (for now), has just submitted a comment letter to the Securities Exchange Commission pleading with the agency to “keep Title III crowdfunding simple”. The JOBS Act was signed into law almost… Read More

March 3, 2015 @ 8:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Pebble Set to Challenge Forthcoming Apple Watch with New Design, 10 Day Battery Life & “Smartstraps” Pebble, the leader in the smartwatch space, launched a second round of crowdfunding on Kickstarter at the end of last month.  The project rocketed immediately, easily topping its half… Read More

March 2, 2015 @ 11:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Singapore’s first true equity crowdfunding platform, FundedHere, launched today its platform to facilitate equity-based funding and venture debt for start-ups in the region from as low as S$5,000 (US$3,700). The new investment platform is viewed as a “springboard to fund projects in the region”. FundedHere… Read More