General News

May 30, 2017 @ 7:26 am By Erin Hobey  |  

China Minsheng Investment Group, one of the China’s largest private investment groups and helmed by Dong Wenbiao, has led a RMB1.8 billion ($262 million) pre-IPO investment round in Chinese P2P lender Tuandaiwang, according to multiple news sources. Beijing Yisheng Innovation Technology and Beihai Hongtai Investment also invested in this… Read More

May 30, 2017 @ 5:37 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Indian online P2P lending platform Faircent.com announced a new semi-secure student loan product in collaboration with Bangalore-based micro-lending startups.  Lenders ay also opt for a partly-secured alternative-investment opportunity that delivers a higher return. Under the partnership, college students may fund purchase of items such as laptops, books and… Read More

May 30, 2017 @ 5:20 am By Erin Hobey  |  

UK P2P lender RateSetter announced that the platform has raised £13 million in equity funding from its existing shareholders, including city fund managers Woodford Investment Management and Artemis, according to Business Insider. The funding will be put towards launching “Innovative Finance ISA,” a new product that allows consumers… Read More

May 30, 2017 @ 5:01 am By Erin Hobey  |  

UK alternative lender Growth Street has revealed that 37.4% of its investors are under the age of 35, contradicting public figures who have chastised millennials for not thinking about saving and investment. Growth Street’s news follows comments made by property mogul Tim Gurner earlier this month…. Read More

May 29, 2017 @ 8:40 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Bank Negara Malaysia has approved four firms to operate within its regulatory sandbox, aiming to grow Malaysian fintech in line with global trends, according to multiple news sources. The Financial Technology Enabler Group (FTEG) was established by Bank Negara Malaysia in June 2016 to support innovations that… Read More

May 29, 2017 @ 6:27 am By Erin Hobey  |  

At this writing, donation-based crowdfunding campaigns LaunchGood and GoFundMe have raised more than a combined $700,000 from over 15,000 people for the three men who stood up for two Muslim women being harassed by Jeremy Joseph Christian. Christian killed Ricky John Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23…. Read More

May 29, 2017 @ 5:59 am By Erin Hobey  |  

BTCjam, a P2P marketplace launched in 2012 to borrow and lend using bitcoin, announced the company has made “the difficult decision” to close up shop, according to multiple news sources. The platform cited regulatory challenges around bitcoin and the difficulties introducing bitcoin technology to poor communities around… Read More

May 29, 2017 @ 5:33 am By Erin Hobey  |  

A new Spanish blockchain consortium spearheaded by Cecabank and professional services firm Grant Thornton is aiming to build tools designed to combat money laundering and boost KYC (know your customer) efforts. Without “naming names,” the partners claim that the consortium already comprises 33% of the Spanish banking… Read More

May 29, 2017 @ 5:23 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Bank of Canada, along with Payments Canada, R3 and seven commercial banks, today disclosed the results of Project Jasper phase II, an experimental wholesale interbank payment system using digital ledger technology (DLT) which is considered the backbone of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. First launched in 2015,… Read More

May 28, 2017 @ 3:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

CommonBond, an online lending platform and community that is targeting the student loan space, has launched a new competition that is giving away $10,000. In partnership with Pencils of Promise, CommonBond has launched the Social Impact Award. According to their site, CommonBond and Pencils of… Read More

May 27, 2017 @ 11:41 am By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) has scheduled their next meeting for June 22, 2017, from 9:35AM to 2:35PM at the SEC Headquarters. The meeting is open to the public but will be live-streamed on the SEC website as well. As always, the public is… Read More

May 27, 2017 @ 10:05 am By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Malaysia Fintech firm Soft Space, which offers mobile payment solutions, announced it has secured US $5 million in funding from Japanese e-commerce company Transcosmos Inc. Mobile POS and E-Commerce Soft Space offers mobile point-of-sale services for small and large merchants in Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia…. Read More

May 26, 2017 @ 10:18 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) has scheduled its Assembly of Members to take place on June 21, 2017. The gathering will be held at the ECN offices in Brussels. All ECN members are invited to stand for and vote on the ECN Board of Directors. The Board… Read More

May 26, 2017 @ 6:03 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Capital Match announced that it has facilitated over S$40 million in cumulative origination since the start of its operations in 2015. The company claims itself as the largest pure marketplace platform in Singapore and greater Southeast Asia offering invoice financing and secured lending products. Accredited… Read More

May 26, 2017 @ 5:24 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Shortly after the terrorist attack, The Manchester Evening News partnered with the British Red Cross to launch a donations campaign on JustGiving to raise £2 million to support the families of the victims killed and wounded in the tragic Manchester Arena attack. The campaign has… Read More

May 26, 2017 @ 5:01 am By Erin Hobey  |  

As expected, Prosper, the SF-based marketplace lending platform for consumer loans, announced the closing of the first securitization from the Prosper Marketplace Issuance Trust, Series 2017-1, “PMIT 2017-1.” “We are very pleased with the execution of this transaction, which was not only upsized based on… Read More

May 26, 2017 @ 4:30 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Hungry for an investment or just plain hungry?  Vita Mojo provides a solution to both! Vita Mojo, a quickly-growing UK restaurant chain and software company that is backed by the €6B global caterer Elior, is on a mission “to make food personal.” With industry leaders already on… Read More

May 26, 2017 @ 3:30 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Dr. Alysson Bessani, the co-creator of the Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus protocol BFT-SMaRt, has joined Symbiont’s advisory board. Developed in 2014, BFT-SMaRt was designed to address deficiencies in other BFT protocols such as PBFT. Assembly, Symbiont’s decentralized log component, is based on the BFT-SMaRt consensus protocol,… Read More

May 25, 2017 @ 3:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Online lender Earnest has closed $175 million in refinanced student loans. The offering received a AA rating on the senior notes by DBRS which is one notch below the highest attainable rating of AAA. Earnest said the transaction was oversubscribed by 3X and traded at… Read More

May 25, 2017 @ 3:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Money20/20 Europe, has emerged as a pretty big deal in the Fintech space. Last year the event garnered almost 4,000 attendees making it one of the largest alternative finance conferences on the continent. Tracey Davies, Managing Director of Money20/20, claims that this years event will… Read More