General News

September 14, 2016 @ 7:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

LendKey, a fintech company which provides institutional investors, banks, credit unions, affiliates, and borrowers with “access, efficiency, and speed” within the lending ecosystem, today released an inaugural industry-specific report entitled Positive Signal for Private Student Loans. In April the New York and Cincinnati based platform surpassed the billion-dollar mark in… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 10:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Small business loan approval rates at larger banks, institutions with $10 billion or more in assets,  bounced back in August, according to the most recent Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index. Further, approval percentages at institutional lenders hit a new Index high. Meanwhile, approval rates at small… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 5:22 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Last week,  founders of Africa Courier Express (ACE), Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin, announced the launch of a new financial services platform called Lidya. The portal was notably founded to improve access to credit and finance across the African continent and for Africans living in the… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 4:02 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

WeLab, a Hong Kong-based fintech company, announced last week it has secured a credit facility of $25 million from ING Bank as part of its expansion and enable the company to meet rapidly growing demand for its loans in Hong Kong. Sharing details about the credit facility, WeLab… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 12:07 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Sourcery, a California-based digital payments and commerce platform that focuses on the accounts payable within the food and hospitality industry, announced on Tuesday it has successfully secured $5 million during its latest venture round, which was led by Marker LLC with Steadfast Capital and existing investors…. Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 8:30 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Small Business Growth Survey, which surveyed small businesses from around the country, was conducted by Bizfi, a fintech company with a platform that combines aggregation, funding and a marketplace for small businesses. The purpose of this survey was to gain insight into what small businesses… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 8:21 am By Erin Hobey  |  

While Peak Design may have officially closed its most recent rockin’ Kickstarter campaign which raised for its Everyday Backpack Collection.  Founded by Peter Dering, Peak Design is still offering the Everyday Backpack (in 20L and 30L), Everyday Sling, and Everyday Tote, but now on Indiegogo’s InDemand. Funded to the… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 7:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Point, claiming the title as the first financial technology platform that allows homeowners to unlock their home equity wealth without taking on new debt, announced today that it has raised $8.4 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz which also led the company’s… Read More

September 13, 2016 @ 5:17 am By Erin Hobey  |  

British Business Bank Investments Ltd, the commercial arm of the British Business Bank, today announced an £18M investment in Blackburn and Manchester-based Praetura Asset Finance. The investment, comprising £15M of matched funding and an additional £3m of expansion capital, will support at least £36M of smaller… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 6:17 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

 OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, announced on Monday ten states are officially recognizing its premium markets for their “Blue Sky Manual Exemption” for secondary trading.  The new states, which are Alaska, Colorado, Mississippi, New Mexico and… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 4:37 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday, equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube announced its #FundedClub members, POD Point and Adzuna, were featured in The Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100 list. This list searches for and recognizes the UK’s fastest growing private tech companies. POD Point turned to the crowdfunding method in… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 3:01 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Last week, Adam Nimoy (son of Star Trek legend, Leonard Nimoy) released his Kickstarter-funded documentary For the Love of Spock. The film explores the incredible career and artistry of Leonard Nimoy. Back in Summer 2015, just a few months after Leonard’s passing, Adam took to the crowdfunding… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 2:49 pm By Amy Wan and Jillian Sidoti  |  

As securities attorneys, we’ve been getting a fair amount of questions lately on special purposes entities (SPEs), also known as special purpose vehicles (SPVs). What are they? What do they do? Should I choose an SPE over an LLC? (That last one is my favorite)…. Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 11:35 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO), announced on Monday the launch of its new MARQ Portal. This tool automates the exchange of financial information between borrowers and lenders. It also generates the MARQ small business credit score. Moody’s Analytics revealed that small Business… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 11:04 am By JD Alois  |  

WalletHub has published their Credit Card Debt Study that shows a dramatic increase in household indebtedness – specifically in credit card debt. According to the report, US consumers cranked up on credit during Q2 of 2016 generating $34.4 billion in debt. This is the largest Q2… Read More

September 12, 2016 @ 10:42 am By JD Alois  |  

Kuber Ventures has released a warning regarding “capacity constraints” in the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Market. EIS is a significant tax exemption encouraging investors to invest in earlier stage companies. The program is viewed as strategically important for the UK economy but also delivers powerful… Read More

September 11, 2016 @ 8:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Finovate Fall 2016  took place in New York City last week. The program is a rapid fire of smaller Fintech firms or tech firms that see opportunity in the financial services sector.  Participation is global and the concepts pretty much span the spectrum of services… Read More

September 10, 2016 @ 5:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

Foreshadowing the inevitability for all forms of finance moving online, Moody’s has published a report stating the Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) will soon be issued by marketplace lending platforms. They also believe that current regulatory and securitization frameworks will reduce additional risk with RMBS… Read More

September 9, 2016 @ 2:49 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Less than two weeks after release Kickstarter-funded album, And the Anonymous Nobody, De La Soul’s highly anticipated record has already hit number one on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums (dated September 17th). According to Billboard, the album already leads the chart with 21,000 copies sold last week. The media outlet also… Read More

September 9, 2016 @ 12:09 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Eric Daniels, the former CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, recently announced he has officially joined the board of UK-based peer-to-peer lending platform, Funding Circle. Daniels, who departed from Lloyds in 2011, reportedly stated his new role will allow him to take part in the “sea change”… Read More