General News

January 6, 2017 @ 4:48 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this week, Indiegogo success TrackR announced it formed a partnership with family safety assistant app, GeoZilla for a family radar feature. The companies revealed consumers simply connect its products to GeoZilla and add family items such as car keys, pets, remotes, and backpacks on its family… Read More

January 6, 2017 @ 2:53 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Following an exciting year, which involved an epic Crowdcube campaign and name change, digital bank Monzo (formerly Mondo) shared more details about 2016’s successes. Monzo had a great year with many milestones. Over the summer, the company declared itself a licensed bank and more than 200,000 people have signed… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 10:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

A report by Renaissance Capital shows the US IPO market tanking in 2016.  The proceeds from IPOs dipped to the lowest level since 2003. This includes the dark years of the Great Recession. While the IPO had a grim year, the researchers at Renaissance are… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 4:25 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Smalle Technologies has developed the eForcis, an electricity generator especially designed for buoys that culls electricity from the ocean and sea waves. especially designed for buoys. eForcis aims to deliver constant and reliable energy supply leveraging simple electromagnetic principles, studied and tested under challenging marine conditions… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 2:15 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

The Bitfury Group, a global Blockchain tech company, announced that in collaboration with the international law firm Covington, it plans to launch the “first ever” Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) around the World Economic Forum 2017 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland this January. “The GBBC will… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 1:59 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Tech Coast Angels (TCA) and  (MatriSys Bio) today announced the completion of their $1.5 million convertible note financing round.  This round of funding will be used to support and accelerate clinical trials for atopic dermatitis and continue preclinical work to support MatriSys’ growing pipeline of live biologic… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 11:37 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Lobster, the search and licensing platform for user-generated content, announced on Monday it received an additional £1 million investment to further enhance its AI-powered search. The company stated in the upcoming month it plans to release an update, which will bring smart search to video…. Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 10:17 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Seedrs announced that during 2016 more than £85M was invested by the crowd in 159 campaigns. Since launching by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva in 2012, Seedrs has facilitated more than 450 deals and counts £190M raised through its platform. “The ongoing success of many of our portfolio… Read More

January 5, 2017 @ 9:58 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

OTC Markets Group, the operator of the OTCQX, OTCQB, and Pink financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, announced on Wednesday it is offering an exemption for OTCQX companies that report under the Alternative Reporting Standard (ARS) to trade on the OTCQB Venture Market if… Read More

January 4, 2017 @ 10:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Multiple news sources are reporting that Jay Clayton will be President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Reuters published a statement by President-elect Trump; “Jay Clayton is a highly talented expert on many aspects of financial and regulatory law, and… Read More

January 3, 2017 @ 8:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

As the crowdfunding industry has evolved, both investment and rewards, the pitch video has emerged as an important variable in crafting a powerful message to back a campaign. Many of the biggest campaigns of all time benefited from a viral video that captured the attention of… Read More

January 3, 2017 @ 12:42 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

2016 proved to be a positive year for leading French equity crowdfunding platform WiSEED.  The pioneering platform obtained the status of Investment Services Provider (PSI) to raise up to €5 million while launching two new offerings (renewable energy projects and agroforestry) and consolidating its three… Read More

January 3, 2017 @ 12:05 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

The following table from P2P-Banking.com shows loan originations in P2P lending marketplaces during December 2016, with Funding Circle (114.1M) significantly leading Ratesetter (68.2M euro), Zopa (60.2 M euro) and LendInvest (24.9M euro). Lendix reports an all time record month at 7.7 million euros in loan origination…. Read More

January 3, 2017 @ 11:16 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

TD Bank announced on Tuesday it has appointed Christopher Giamo as its new head of regional commercial bank. Giamo’s appointment reportedly follows the retirement of Fred Graziano and prior to joining TD Bank, Giamo worked at Bank of New York and CoreStates Financial Corp. Greg Braca, Chief Operating… Read More

January 3, 2017 @ 7:46 am By Jessica Pham  |  

The World Bank established the Financial Sector Development Project to support Myanmar’s SMEs — the latest sign of progress in the country’s economy.  The five-year project includes $100 million in credit, which will be used to allow SMEs increased access to financial services.  The project will… Read More

January 3, 2017 @ 7:30 am By Jessica Pham  |  

Over 25 startups in the online lending space have rapidly emerged over the past two years, according to TechCircle analysis.  Despite signs that global fintech investment was slowing in 2016, VCCircle‘s analysis for 2017 suggests that such investment may pick up again. Arti Singh and… Read More

January 2, 2017 @ 4:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last year due to time constraints I was unable to publish my list of Crowdfunding/Fintech predictions for 2016. This year I am back once again, for better or worse, peering deep into my crystal ball with a list of prognostications for the coming year. The… Read More

January 2, 2017 @ 11:31 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission publishes an annual report on “nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NSROs).”  These are the agencies that publish credit ratings on certain securities and institutions.  The mandated report has recognized the emergence of online lending for the very first time. The document… Read More

December 31, 2016 @ 10:17 am By Jessica Pham  |  

Renu Rajani, Vice President of Capgemini, opined earlier this week that Fintech’s revolution this past year has disrupted trends in testing and quality assurance (QA).  The observation is based on findings further described in the firm’s latest fintech report, World FinTech Report 2017, which was published earlier… Read More

December 30, 2016 @ 3:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

As one year comes to end it is a good opportunity to reflect on past events. The preceding 12 months have been a momentous period for internet finance including capital formation online. Fintech started as a curiosity that engendered much excitement – and fear for some…. Read More