General News

September 2, 2016 @ 3:12 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this week, Seedrs success Fiddlesticks released its award-winning video game Hue on Steam, Xbox One, PS4, and PlayStation Vita. The game is described as a vibrant puzzle adventure where players alter the world by changing its background color.  “You explore a dangerous grey land, unearthing… Read More

September 2, 2016 @ 10:11 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this week, India-based lending platform Loadtap announced it secured $3 million during its Series A funding round, which was led by HNIs, Dr. Abhishek, and Jaysukh Sapra. LoanTap was launched earlier this year and is headquartered in Mumbai with an office in Pune. Its co-founders, Satyam Kumar… Read More

September 2, 2016 @ 4:26 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Cringle, a smartphone app used to send money quickly within Europe, is continuing to rally on Companisto.  To date, the fintech app has garnered over 459,010€ from nearly 1000 investors for 8.89% share offered.  The startup’s original funding goal was 400K€, which was surpassed and the campaign was extended to close in… Read More

September 2, 2016 @ 3:13 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In a decision filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, U.S. District Judge John Walter ruled in favor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when he determined that the Californian online loan platform CashCall Inc. was the “true lender” behind the transactions… Read More

September 2, 2016 @ 2:29 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Delhi-based One97 Communications, which runs mobile payment and ecommerce platform Paytm, has received Rs 400 crore ($60 million) from Taiwanese semiconductor maker MediaTek’s Mountain Capital Fund, reported the India Times.  The deal, which was ratified by the board of directors earlier this week, more than doubles Paytm’s… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 4:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Having just gotten around to reading the order granting the motion to dismiss in the proceedings of the State of Florida vs. Michell Abner Espinoza, the document by Circuit Court Judge Teresa Pooler, is pretty interesting.  The case regarding Espinoza has been in the news… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 1:29 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Thursday, Crowdfund UK announced it was teaming up with Nesta, Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England to distribute 250,000 towards arts and heritage campaigns as part of a new crowdfunding program.  According to the UK-based funding portal, the program will give a series of specially-selected… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 11:45 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Thursday, peer-to-peer lending platform Zopa announced it was making changes to its lending rates. This news comes after the Bank of England made the decision to cut interest rates. At the time of the interest cuts, The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) released the following statement:… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 10:39 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Criquet Shirts, a clothing brand, announced on Thursday it raised $1.4 million during its Series A funding round, which was led by CircleUp through its Consumer Growth Fund and Market Index Fund II.  The Austin, Texas-based fashion brand offers apparel for both men and boys. Its Players Shirt… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 10:33 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Groundfloor, a real estate lending marketplace open to non-accredited investors, announced on Thursday it is expanding into 12 additional states. This news comes just one year after the platform qualified under Regulation A+. The lending website is currently available in 23 states, and the new states are Rhode Island,… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 9:42 am By JD Alois  |  

The 5th annual European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) convention is scheduled to take place in Paris this fall and ECN has set high expectations regarding the diverse range of topics to be covered. Oliver Gajda, ECN Executive Director, labeled the gathering a must attend event as… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 3:27 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Currencycloud, an international payments engine, announced a new partnership with Arkéa Banking Services, a subsidiary of Credit Mutuel Arkéa. Through the partnership, Currencycloud will offer Euro bank accounts to its clients as well as have direct access to European payments systems, according to the release. Currencycloud’s clients will… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 2:57 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Peak Design looks to the crowd to surpass $4.3 million (or better, $5M!) for its Everyday Backpack line during its final 8 days on Kickstarter, swiftly passing its modest goal of $500,000 for line’s four new bags. Within hours, the California-based initiative not only successfully secured its initial goal but nabbed over… Read More

September 1, 2016 @ 2:03 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Tile, the smart location company, today unveiled its newest consumer product – Tile Slim, a Bluetooth tracker designed specifically for wallets. The company also introduced today the Tile Smart Location Platform, a B2B offering that allows companies to embed Tile’s smart location technology into their own… Read More

August 31, 2016 @ 3:59 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Peer to peer lender Harmoney is taking some heat from the New Zealand Commerce Commission as they have filed Fair Trading Act (FTA) charges in the Auckland District Court against against them. The Commission previously revealed six FTA charges that Harmoney faced related to 27 versions of… Read More

August 31, 2016 @ 1:01 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, Kickstarter offered some advice on how organizers can attract media attention towards their crowdfunding projects. The funding portal decided as release a list of ways campaigns can get noticed. The Kickstarter team stated the core question that creators have asked when they launch… Read More

August 31, 2016 @ 11:35 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Moody’s has published a report on the marketplace lending industry stating that platforms are “steadily expanding credit to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) – but challenges remain. The authors are of the opinion that partnerships with traditional banks may ease the path forward for… Read More

August 31, 2016 @ 8:48 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Australia’s accelerator H2 Ventures announced this week it has filed a prospectus with the country’s securities regulator for its new fintech investment venture, H2Ocean. The company is seeking to raise a minimum of $27.5 million (max $55 million) and it will also be looking to obtain a… Read More

August 31, 2016 @ 7:15 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a monthly complaint report for banks and other financial services. The monthly report uses a three-month rolling average, comparing the current average to the same period in the prior year. CFPB Director Richard Cordray commented on… Read More

August 30, 2016 @ 4:43 pm By Oleg Seydak  |  

In recent weeks, marketplace lenders have hit a rough patch. Once the darlings of Wall Street, they have now come under fire, after a string of internal scandals and disappointing earnings. For the traditional banks – who have been saying, “we need to disrupt these… Read More