General News

WeFunder Alum Legion M Makes Sundance Film Festival Debut

Legion M, a fan-owned entertainment company, announced on Wednesday it will be making its debut at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. According to Legion M, the Legion M Lounge will be open from Thursday, January 18th, to Sunday, January 21st and will be the location of… Read More

Independent Community Bankers of America Tells House Committee to Improve SME Lending Environment

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) testified before the House Small Business Committee on behalf of improving the environment for small business lending. Community banker and ICBA Chairman Cynthia Blankenship said she supported targeted reforms to ensure the Small Business Administration’s lending program continues… Read More

North American Bitcoin Conference Pledges to Do Better Following Diversity Fail

Last week, on LinkedIn, I called out the North American Bitcoin Conference for having merely 1 female speaker, out of 85 male speakers, and for having their afterparty at what essentially is a strip club. All that, accompanied by event photos from last year’s conference,… Read More

deVere Group CEO Nigel Green Discusses New Crypto App, Fintech and Digital Currencies

deVere Group, an international financial advising network with more than 70 global offices, over 80,000 clients and $12 billion under advisement, has officially entered the cryptosphere, with the launching of a new cryptocurrency app in reply to the “soaring global demand” and in defiance of financial… Read More

Seed&Spark Teams Up With WeTransfer & Bow And Arrow Entertainment to Launch Crowdfunding Rally “100 Days of Optimism”

Seed&Spark, the independent film crowdfunding platform, announced on Monday it has teamed up with WeTransfer and Bow and Arrow Entertainment to launch 100 Days of Optimism, which is described as a crowdfunding rally for stories of hope, change, redemption and inspiration. Filmmakers who participate in the… Read More

BnkToTheFuture Claims Initial $30M Raise in Private Token Sale, ICO Slated for Early February

Financial technology investment platform BnkToTheFuture claims that the platforms has raised an initial $30 million for its tokenized equity market and due diligence platform in the first three days of BnkToTheFuture’s token private pre-sale open solely to institutional investors. BnkToTheFuture reportedly offers the largest online… Read More

Finastra Presents its HK Future of Banking Center of Excellence, Partners with McKinsey

Finastra, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, has newly established its Future of Banking Center of Excellence at Cyberport in Hong Kong. This strategic move is part of the worldwide program at Finastra to continue to build its innovation ecosystem and collaborate with strategic partners… Read More

The 2017 State of Regulation Crowdfunding: US Securities-based Crowdfunding under Title III of the JOBS Act

Recently, my company crafted a report for the US Securities and Exchange Commission that summarizes progress on Title III of the JOBS Act of 2012, also referred to Regulation Crowdfunding or Reg CF. This newest securities exemption was added to the options that smaller companies… Read More

U.S. Payments Forum Elects 2018 Steering Committee & Recognizes Outstanding Contribution Members of 2017

The U.S. Payments Forum announced on Monday it has elected its 2018 Steering Committee. According to the organization, the Steering Committee manages the Forum and guides the priorities and plans of the organization and its working committees – ATM; Card-Not-Present Fraud; Communication and Education; Mobile and Contactless… Read More

UK Still Leads: European Venture Capital Report for Q4 2017

The Dow Jones Venturesource Venture Capital Report is out for Q4 2017. The report covers the European VC market, including Brexit bound UK. The Dow Jones report for the final quarter of the year paints a positive perspective on VC funding as there was a… Read More

An Estimated $4.9 Billion Went into ICOs During 2017, Two Tokens Accounted for Nearly $1 Billion

In the land of initial coin offerings (ICO), a world that is starting to look a bit like Xanadu, an estimated $4.9 billion was raised. This number was buttressed by several sources. WSJ.com reported in December that ICOs had topped $4 billion. Crunchbase augmented that… Read More

Following Kickstarter Failure, Gawker Receives Bid From Peter Thiel

Just days after former Gawker employees closed their failed crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the former news website received a bit from billionaire, Peter Thiel, who reportedly caused its demise a couple years ago. As previously reported, Gawker was forced to shut down after Hogan sued… Read More

Brief: Propy Gears Up for Hackathon at First Annual World Crypto Economic Forum

This weekend Propy will be giving away 50,000 PRO tokens reportedly worth $250,000 to the winners of the much-anticipated Crypto Hackathon at the World Crypto Economic Forum at South San Francisco Conference Center from 13- 16 January. Propy CEO and Founder Natalia Karayaneva, along with Propy’s… Read More

Real Estate Tech Exec Suresh Srinivasan Joins Roofstock as CMO

Roofstock, a leading US online marketplace for buying and selling leased single-family rental homes, announced the strategic hire of Suresh Srinivasan as chief marketing officer. Srinivasan has 20 years’ experience leading marketing, product, and e-commerce functions at Fortune 500 and high-growth tech startups. Most recently… Read More

In Solidarity: Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund Quickly Nears $16.5M GoFundMe Goal

“The sexual discrimination, harassment, and assault that has been reported and come to light over the last two months have been equal parts terrifying and illuminating. We stand with all those who have endured sexual harassment: those who have come forward and those who have decided… Read More

Blockchain Leaders Schedule 2018 Digital Assets Investment Forum

FinTech4Good, Alternative Assets, Asia Finance Association, and the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, have joined together to create the 2018 Digital Assets Investment Forum (DAIF) scheduled for January 16th, 2018 in New York. This is a one day seminar covering all things blockchain including the fast evolving… Read More

Reg CF: 200% Growth Year over Year

Regulation Crowdfunding or Reg CF as everyone calls it, is the youngest federal crowdfunding exemption available in the US. While the JOBS Act was signed into law in 2012, it took the Securities and Exchange Commission 4 years to release finale rules. Yes, the wheels… Read More

UK Direct Lender Goji Nabs Multi-Million Pound Anthemis-Led Round

Goji, the UK-based specialist direct lending investment manager and platform, secured an undisclosed multi-million pound funding round from investors including Anthemis’ Venture Fund 1 (AVF1) and AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV). “Confidence in direct lending as an asset class is picking up pace and the investment… Read More

Real Estate Platform Groundfloor Shares $5M Reg A+ Plans, Now Accepting Non-Accredited Investors from All 50 States

Atlanta-based real estate investment platform Groundfloor has received regulatory approval to raise money under Reg A+. This crowdfunding offer has been in the works for some time now;  like all Reg A offers, the issuer must by scrutinized by the SEC before any securities may be… Read More

GoodBox Surpasses £1.8 Million on Seedrs, Uses Tech to Connect Donors with UK Charities

GoodBox, a techcompany focused on building solutions that connects donors and causes, has secured over £1.8 million from over 460 investors — including Tennis star Andy Murray — on its Seedrs’ crowdfunding campaign. GoodBox has set a funding goal of £2.4 million for a 23.21% percent… Read More

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