Global

September 20, 2021 @ 8:02 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In August 2021, investors remained quite active on European online investment platform EstateGuru and financed a total of €17.0M worth of loans (84 loans). As expected, the top-performing markets on EstateGuru this past month were Estonia and Germany, with loan volumes of €5.3M and €6.9M,… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 10:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

As new lending starts to overtake the repayment boom seen during the COVID-19 crisis, research from digital bank Zopa reveals that more than 40% of UK-based consumers would make use of Open Banking to “apply for credit if it improved their chances of getting an… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 9:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Raiffeisen Switzerland, a cooperative of cooperatives (the union of independent Swiss Raiffeisen banks), has reportedly secured a CHF 165 million bail-in bond via Valyo’s capital market platform. As noted by its management, Valyo aims to “open the door to the world of finance, across borders”… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 7:27 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Will a new competitor to Ethereum emerge, or will the acknowledged Web 2.0 winner dominate the DeFi space for years to come? It’s an interesting question for several reasons. One is that the DeFi space is still early in its evolution. Sometimes early mover advantage… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 7:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital assets firm Binance has expanded its Audit and Investigations team with the appointment of Nils Andersen-Röed from Europol where he served as a specialist on the Dark Web team. As mentioned in the update from Binance, Nils will be tasked with focusing on conducting… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 5:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

European online lender October explains that they aim to effectively connect borrowers and lenders. Lenders are able to invest their savings “usefully” and “profitably” in order to facilitate the funding of the “real economy” while companies or businesses “find new, simple and effective sources of… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 5:03 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Talent, sports, and entertainment firm UTA and Rally, a social token fan engagement and monetization platform, this week announced an alliance to educate and inspire creators, artists, celebrities, athletes, and to launch their own social tokens with Rally.  UTA Marketing, the agency’s consulting division, will… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 12:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

VC firm btov Partners recently revealed that it has finalized the closing of its new digital technologies early-stage fund “with a volume of $135M.” It’s reportedly the second fund that focuses on digital technologies, and the ninth for btov Partners, to date. Investments in earlier… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 11:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Over 70% of UK SMEs claim that they’re beginning to bounce back following the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a survey performed by Capify, a small business lender backed by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). The Capify survey, released earlier this week, found that the United Kingdom’s small… Read More

September 19, 2021 @ 10:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Dedicated prime property lender CapitalRise has reportedly provided a mezzanine facility for a £4 million luxury penthouse located in Hyde Park. The facility — “agreed at 73% LTV on a 12-month term” — has been paired up with a development exit loan offered by a… Read More

September 18, 2021 @ 3:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Socure, an established provider of digital identity verification and fraud solutions, has introduced the industry’s “first” predictive document and ID verification solution with native fraud risk signals and intelligence. Socure’s Predictive Document Verification aims to go beyond just authenticating a government-issued ID and matching a… Read More

September 18, 2021 @ 12:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blumberg Capital revealed on Friday (September 18, 2021) that it has secured $225 million as part of its fifth fund, which focuses on making strategic investments into early-stage ventures. Blumberg was established around 30 years back by Jewish entrepreneur David Blumberg and has reportedly invested… Read More

September 18, 2021 @ 12:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Morgan McCandless, Relationship Director at Assetz Capital, a marketplace lending platform originating secured loans, reveals that he re-joined Assetz in June of this year, having previously worked on the Northern Ireland portfolio as a consultant, before the COVID outbreak. As a Relationship Director covering Northern… Read More

September 17, 2021 @ 6:39 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Fintech solutions provider Broctagon Fintech Group this week launched WorldBook, which it describes as a global crypto movement focused on solving key liquidity issues plaguing the industry. WorldBook is an STP (straight-through processing) network with an aggregated liquidity pool. It aims to introduce a universal… Read More

September 17, 2021 @ 2:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) revealed many months ago its intent to launch a new digital bank in the UK. Today, there are reports the digital bank under the Chase brand will launch next week. In January of 2021, JPM said it wanted to provide UK… Read More

September 17, 2021 @ 11:29 am By JD Alois  |  

In the final days of its security offering on Seedrs, GuestReady has cruised past €2.3 million in funding on a target of €1 million. Investors are receiving a convertible security that holds a 10% discount on a future round. To date, 873 investors have backed… Read More

September 17, 2021 @ 11:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Popular neo-bank Revolut has become WeWork’s first customer to pay for shared space in Bitcoin, according to a public statement. Revolut will pay for its Dallas space, its largest in the US, in BTC. Revolut will lease space for more than 300 employees at WeWork… Read More

September 17, 2021 @ 10:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Draper Esprit (LSE:GROW), a publicly-traded venture capital firm, has distributed an update on investment activity. Key to its results is the exit opportunity from Cazoo, a firm that was recently listed on the NYSE generating $1 billion in proceeds. Cazoo’s current market cap is around… Read More

September 17, 2021 @ 9:57 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Over his three decades as a tech entrepreneur, Cameron Chell has shown a knack for identifying transformative technologies early on and he believes he’s done it again. Chell is the executive director of CurrencyWorks, a developer of digital currencies and related systems, and co-head of… Read More

September 17, 2021 @ 9:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Following a $51 million Series B funding round, open banking provider Yapily has announced its expansion into France. Yapily says it has already developed considerable capabilities in the French market. With 100% PSD2 connectivity, Yapily covers more than 85% of French bank accounts, enabling banks,… Read More