General News

August 8, 2016 @ 12:38 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday, marketplace lending platform, LendingUSA, announced it has appointed Brian Walby as its new vice president of sales. Walby previously worked as owner and managing director of RVC Consulting and has held executive and senior level positions at Experian Interactive Media and LendingTree. Sharing details… Read More

August 8, 2016 @ 11:46 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Last week, property crowdfunding platform, Transcendent Real Estate (TRE), officially opened its doors for investors. The Manchester-based company currently offers direct equity investments in commercial real estate assets through the UK. Its first property is 43-45 Lever Street. The 13,182sq property is located at the… Read More

August 8, 2016 @ 10:07 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Sunday, Kickstarter announced its new Invent Newsletter, which is said to offer backers a way to stay up-to-date on invention projects, behind-the-scene stories and bold ideas from the design and tech pages. The funding portal stated the newsletter is a twice-a-month introduction of the… Read More

August 6, 2016 @ 6:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Canaan Partners is a Silicon Valley VC firm that has over $4.0 billion under management with a good portion of their investments going into seed / early stage companies. They have also set up offices in Israel to be closer to the StartUp Nation phenomena… Read More

August 6, 2016 @ 2:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Ethan Mollick, a professor and researcher at Wharton, recently published new research on Kickstarter. Mollick focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation and is one of a few academians focusing their attention on alternative finance. His most recent research, entitled “Containing Multitudes: The Many Impacts of Kickstarter… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 3:45 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

With the 2016 Summer Olympic Games set to kick off this evening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, crowdfunding platform GoFundMe announced more than $750,000 has been raised for athletes’ training and traveling costs. GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon shared: “More and more, athletes and sports teams—from Little… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 12:59 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Assetz Capital one of the UK’s largest peer-to-peer lenders, announced it is predicting that both savers and borrowers will continue to turn to alternative finance companies in increasing numbers as Bank of England slashes interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25%. The website reported, peer-to-peer lending platforms remain largely untouched… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 11:46 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week PwC (under the DeNovo label) published a wide-ranging report on the evolution of Fintech. The document was the production of many PwC executives covering topics like blockchain, payments, banking and the overall transformation of financial services. In one respect the report is… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 11:29 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Elevate, a provider of innovative online credit solutions for non-prime consumers, announced on Thursday it appointed former GE executive director, Al Comeaux, as its new chief communication officer. Comeaux has nearly 30 years of digital and online communication experience and has led communication efforts at Sabre,… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 11:22 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, Kickstarter success Formlabs announced it had secured $35 million during a Series B Funding Round, which was led by Foundry and Autodesk with participation from existing investors such as DFJ Growth, Pitango Venture Capital, and Pascal Cagni. Formlabs’ total investment to date is… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 10:49 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Friday, India-based peer-to-peer lending platform, i2iFunding, announced its new investor protection fund, Principal Protection Fund, which reportedly will allow investors to have 100% protection against loan defaults. Sharing details about the fund, Vaibhav Pandey, co-founder and CEO of i2ifunding, stated: “The principal protection fund is… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 10:15 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Westpac announced another AUS$50 million commitment into a second fund to be managed by Reinventure Group, according to a release. Reinventure, cofounded by Danny Gilligan and Simon Cant, makes investments from Seed through to Series A and up, with a particular focus on disruptive technologies with a direct… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 9:18 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In late July, Barcelona-based Capital Cell received Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) approval to operate as a “Participatory Financing Platform.” This authorization includes the capability to select and publish financing projects and also gives Capital Cell the right to operate as an investment… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 8:39 am By JD Alois  |  

FINRA is investigating the utilization of Business Development Companies, commonly referred to as BDCs.  While BDCs may trade on an exchange they may also be non-tradeded entities. BDCs have been around for quite some time having been created in 1980. BDCs typically invest in smaller… Read More

August 5, 2016 @ 8:36 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Fresh after announcing its foray into Singapore, Kickstarter is expanding to Hong Kong this month, reported the South China Morning Post, aiming to launch by the end of August. A banner greets future backers on Kickstarter’s new Hong Kong website. Two key rivals of Kickstarter already crowdfunding… Read More

August 4, 2016 @ 10:37 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Over 3118% funded. Since its launch last month, the San Francisco startup Andromium’s Kickstarter campaign has secured over $1,560,000 for The Superbook, a device that turns Android smartphones into laptops. Over 9,612 backers have subscribed to the idea, described as a smart laptop shell that consists of an 11.6″ HD screen, keyboard, and… Read More

August 4, 2016 @ 9:54 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Seeking to spark demand for its consumer debts arranged online, Lending Club (NYSE:LC) is said to be in talks with Western Asset Management Co. to set up a fund to purchase as much as $1.5 billion of loans over time, reported Bloomberg. An unidentified person familiar… Read More

August 4, 2016 @ 9:10 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Earlier this year OCBC Bank launched a fintech co-working space and innovation unit in Singapore and its first accelerator program to identify and collaborate with innovative startups.  Now, a few months later, OCBC Chief Executive Samuel Tsien emphasized the ongoing commitment to welcoming and strengthening… Read More

August 4, 2016 @ 8:55 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Startupbootcamp, a leading accelerator group with 14 industry-focused accelerator programs, has today announced a new global collaboration with Cisco. Cisco will be expanding its work with Startupbootcamp from its Amsterdam and Berlin accelerator programs to support its 14 physical locations and 325+ portfolio companies.  “Adding Cisco as one… Read More

August 4, 2016 @ 4:35 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Money360, a commercial real estate online marketplace lending platform, announced on Thursday it has officially surpassed the $100 million in closed commercial real estate loans with the completion of $15.25 million in recently closed loans. According to CEO and founder of Money360, Evan Gentry, much of… Read More