General News

October 27, 2015 @ 12:19 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Moscow-based asset management company Millhouse LLC announced that it has joined a $30 million investment round opened by venture capital firm AltaIR Capital. AltaIR is an international fund active in the U.S., Europe, and Israel. Millhouse LLC contributed $10 million in capital to the funding… Read More

October 27, 2015 @ 12:16 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Last week Vulpine, a UK-based cycling clothing brand, launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube with a mission to raise £500,000 for product and international expansion.  The brand easily cycled past its goal, closing in on £845,00 as of this writing. Faced with the decision of continuing to overfund, Founder… Read More

October 27, 2015 @ 11:43 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Fintech companies could provide relief for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by helping to close a $2 trillion funding gap for SMEs worldwide seeking credit to grow their business, suggests a white paper released by the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future… Read More

October 27, 2015 @ 11:15 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The Indian fintech platform Razorpay has raised US$9 million in Series A funding led by leading VC firm Tiger Global, with participation from existing investor Matrix Partners, according to a release.  Including its US$2.5M seed funding round, the company’s total fundraise to date is US$11.5 million.  Funding will be used to build Razorpay’s product and… Read More

October 27, 2015 @ 9:16 am By JD Alois  |  

The NextGen Crowdfunding Conference has captured an important partner.  The Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA) has signed up to co-sponsor the inaugural gathering that is scheduled to take place in November. Noted securities attorney Sam Guzik, who is the CfPA President as well as a Crowdfund… Read More

October 27, 2015 @ 8:34 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) (“Renren” or the “Company”), a real-name social networking internet platform in China, announced on Tuesday  it has completed an additional $150 million preferred stock investment in Social Finance Inc. (“SoFi”), a San Francisco-based online lending company. Renren has been an investor… Read More

October 26, 2015 @ 4:30 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday during the Money2020 conference, real estate lending marketplace Groundfloor introduced three new tools that expand peer-to-peer real estate lending. These tools enable quick comparison of loans, automated investing and in-depth analysis of loan grading factors. Since announcing its historic qualification by the SEC on… Read More

October 26, 2015 @ 4:22 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Bizfi, the premier fintech company with a platform that combines aggregation, funding and a participation marketplace for small businesses announced that it originated more than $127 million in business financing in the third quarter of 2015. This represents a double-digit percent increase in originations compared… Read More

October 26, 2015 @ 3:06 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Biz2Credit, an online platform for small business funding, announced at the Money20/20 conference a partnership with Customers Bank (NYSE: CUBI), a community-based, full-service bank with assets of approximately $7.6 billion. Biz2Credit will power a fully digital experience for the bank’s small business customers and bank staff. Biz2Credit and… Read More

October 26, 2015 @ 11:06 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

ReadyforZero, a company that was acquired by marketplace lender Avant, announced on Monday that that free credit monitoring is now available to all users with personal financial tools. With this new feature, users can manage both their personal debt and credit from a single web and… Read More

October 26, 2015 @ 9:01 am By JD Alois  |  

European venture capital has dropped 58% in capital raised from Q2 to Q3 2015.  This is according to a report produced by Dow Jones. The research states that 13 European venture capital funds accumulated €853 million during 3Q 2015, dropping 58% in capital raised from… Read More

October 24, 2015 @ 9:46 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Glowforge, a 3D laser printer, has reportedly raised nearly $28 million during its self-running crowdfunding campaign. Glowforge debuted to the public for the first time at September 24th at World Maker Faire New York. At the event, Glowforge was awarded three Make Editor’s Choice Awards… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 4:00 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Offering up an update to backers of its recent Kickstarter project, Remix Mini, Jide Tech announced shipping details for the already popular Android PC. The Beijing-based startup described Remix Mini as a simple to use computer that connects to any screen, keyboard and mouse, allowing users to use… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 1:42 pm By Therese Torris  |  

Part II: Seen & Heard at Lendit Europe If you missed attending Lendit Europe, you missed a great event. You can catch up on a selection of presentations on Lendit . For short skimming, we’ve selected a few thought-provoking quotes from day 2. You may also… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 1:16 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Calling all Super Trooper fans: The highly anticipated sequel of the hilarious comedy has officially started filming. Earlier this year, production company Broken Lizard announced the sequel just 14 years after the first film’s release at the 2001 Sundance Festival. The crew revealed that the movie would… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 12:25 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Within less than one week after launching its Crowdcube campaign, UK-based cycling clothing brand Vulpine has already scored its initial £500,000 goal. As previously reported, Vulpine, which was started in 2012 by cyclist Nick Hussey, is hoping to change the way cycling clothing is made. The… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 11:28 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

This week, crowdfunded book publisher Inkshares announced two platform changes that the company believes will allow it to publish more books and grow even faster. These changes are significant, comprising a new funding goal structure and a refined credit system. The company shared: “In 2014 our funding… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 10:04 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Friday, peer-to-peer lending platform Lending Works announced it is now offering even higher standards in ID fraud protection by using AU10TIX BOS. AU10TIX BOS is considered the “first and only 2nd generation ID authentication and record generation technology” on the market today. It is… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 8:37 am By JD Alois  |  

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its anticipated report on the state of retail banking in the UK.  Unlike the US market, the UK banking industry is almost completely served by several very large banks (RBS, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds & Santander).  These are… Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 8:16 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Before Facebook’s IPO, there was SecondMarket: a leader in the secondary trading market, which enables repurchases of shares in private companies. SecondMarket’s platform saw over $1.4 billion worth of transactions in 2014–quadruple the volume of its transactions in 2013.  And today (Oct. 22), Nasdaq announced it had acquired… Read More