General News

December 30, 2014 @ 10:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Orchard is all about data and managing data effectively.  The platform was one of the first (if not the first) to figure out how to tap into the growing number of peer to peer lending (or marketplace lending) platforms and put their code magic to… Read More

December 30, 2014 @ 10:00 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Tuesday (December 30th), EHANG, makers of the Ghost Drone, announced the company has closed $10 million in Series A funding led by GGV Capital.  Angel investors in the round are Xiaoping Xu and Nick Yang, two of China’s most successful entrepreneurs. PreAngel, a fund focused on early stage… Read More

December 30, 2014 @ 8:08 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In an international effort, the Malaysian media platform Vulcan Post joined forces with Swedish crowdfunding platform FundedByMe and Korean dating app Between in an effort to raise cash funds for flood victims in Malaysia; more than 132,000 people have been forced to evacuate and crowdfunders… Read More

December 30, 2014 @ 7:30 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Cloud Lending, the industry’s end-to-end lending solution built on Salesforce.com, recently added CL Marketplace, a unified cloud platform that simplifies and automates the entire loan process in marketplace lending, to its suite of cloud-based industry applications that enable non-bank financial institutions to manage loan portfolios, increase transaction volume and rapidly bring new… Read More

December 30, 2014 @ 6:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The code wizards at Kickstarter have always been pretty good at coming up with new and creative ways to display content and deliver data.  Some features are viewable to all and others are hidden to only project creators (and the Kickstarter dev team).  For the… Read More

December 30, 2014 @ 3:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Direct Lending Investments has announced that it will invest $250 million over the next three years into Biz2Credit’s expanding direct lending platform for small business owners.  The move is a continuation of Direct Lending Investments to capitalize on the expanding marketplace of alternative lending and investments platforms.  Biz2Credit network consists… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 4:00 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday (December 29th), UAE real estate crowdfunding platform Durise announced that investors are now allowed to use Bitcoin as a form of payment. According to Trade Arabia, founder and CEO of Durise Waleed Esbaitah stated, “Although Bitcoin may seem revolutionary to traditional investors this… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 10:45 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

With only a few more days until the world rings in the new year, UK’s reward-based crowdfunding platform Crowdfunder takes a time out to reflect on the successfully busy 2014 and the constant support backers gave to its campaigns. The Crowdfunder team stated, “Thanks to… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 10:19 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Arty Water Company, maker of Arty Artichoke Water, announced today that it is partnering with The Vegan Roadie, an exciting new travel and culinary web series premiering January 2015. The partnership marks an expansion into vegan and natural food markets across the United States. Arty… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 9:42 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In his blog on Spend Matters Network, David Gustin eloquently highlights several themes that impact the world of business credit during 2014: “The first of course is the rise of alternative lending products that go by such categories as online receivable auctions, private pcard exchanges, and peer… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 8:40 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Beamonte Investments, along with its affiliate, Beamonte,  a leading private investment firm in Boston, announced it has invested in Arthena, a cooperative investment platform that focuses on crowdfunding for investments in fine arts. Operated by Arthena Fine Arts, Inc., Arthena aims to lower the cost… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 8:07 am By Erin Hobey  |  

In a recent article in aboutMoney, crowdfunding expert and Partner and ‎Head of Investor Community/Partnerships at OurCrowd Zack Miller highlights crowdfunding websites to watch in 2015, cited six rewards-based platforms for athletes including RallyMe, DreamFuel, Pursuit, SportFunder, MakeAChamp and Athlete.com.  Last week U.S. Skier Keri Herman… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 6:51 am By Barry James  |  

Forget the hype. A team of hard-data scientists – including at least one who is an expert in studying the formation of ecosystems – from UC Santa Barbara have released an important piece of hard academic research – which explodes the hype and myths built up… Read More

December 29, 2014 @ 4:50 am By JD Alois  |  

Global consulting group Accenture recently surveyed 4000 North Americans to gain some perspective on the changing nature of payments and cash.  The internet and digital realm is disrupting just about everything these days and fiat currency has not been immune to the power of technology…. Read More

December 27, 2014 @ 12:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has scheduled a crowdfunding marketing basics event to be held in San Francisco in January.  The event is described as an educational effort for people looking to crowdfund their product or service.  The class is being taught by “volunteer presenter”… Read More

December 27, 2014 @ 7:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Australian Member of Parliament and Secretary to the Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher published an interesting missive earlier this month on the importance of crowdfunding and why politicians should care.  Published in the Journal of Banking and Finance Law and Practice the statement is clear… Read More

December 26, 2014 @ 8:44 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Fresh off the closing of their hit Kickstarter campaign for the all-in-one 3D printer, Flux, creators and Taiwan college students Simon Ko and Jim Yu discussed the project and its future with Tech in Asia this week. Flux is described as an easy-to-use print that… Read More

December 24, 2014 @ 9:07 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Traditionally, while independent film has an alternative means of distribution and profit, television has been kept under lock and key, with many gatekeepers along the way, preventing truly independent television from ever flourishing. That’s about to change. CrowdedReality.com, the niche crowdfunding platform, created by award… Read More

December 24, 2014 @ 5:41 am By JD Alois  |  

The creative team at Crowdentials has created another infographic sharing some of the highlights from the past twelve months for the young Crowdfunding industry.  So much has happened in such a short time.  It is difficult to believe that the year is near its end. As… Read More

December 23, 2014 @ 4:20 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Ready to give aspiring filmmakers a chance to see the ins and outs of crowdfunding, global platform Kickstarter has announced its upcoming workshops and discussions for film campaigning. The crowdfunding giant’s team explained,”Kickstarter has played a pivotal role in uniting audiences and filmmakers. Since it launched in… Read More