Opinion

April 3, 2020 @ 10:04 am By JD Alois  |  

Following intense criticism regarding the confines of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), HM Treasury expanded the program in a move to support a broader range of businesses – most importantly smaller firms. Last week, Rangewell, a business finance specialist, posted an open letter… Read More

April 2, 2020 @ 8:30 pm By Renaud Laplanche  |  

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Our biggest concern this year was going to be the Presidential election, or for some of us the Tokyo Olympics or the Warriors missing the NBA playoffs. Instead, the world’s population is experiencing an unprecedented shock that is… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 11:46 am By Karsten Wenzlaff and Ronald Kleverlaan  |  

The Crowdfunding industry is well aware of what economists call externalities – the fact that behavior of some people has an unintended impact on other people. Positive externalities can be observed on the Crowdfunding platforms every day due to the willingness of people to join… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 2:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

Seedrs founder and Chairman Jeff Lynn has distributed his thoughts on the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK government’s approach to aid the struggling economy – more specifically for early-stage firms. Lynn dices the issue up between the Good, the Bad and… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 7:30 am By Andrés Abumohor  |  

Small businesses in emerging economies are notoriously underfinanced. Despite making up over 99.5% of the economy in Latin America, SMEs face a financing gap in the trillions of dollars. For example, up to 78% of small businesses in Argentina and 45% in Peru struggle to… Read More

March 28, 2020 @ 8:58 am By Barry James  |  

Why we may not be surprised but we must be outraged! The banks are a danger to our society – and, according to the BIS (the Centralbank’s Central Bank)  an unnecessary one at that. The UK government has over the last two weeks taken unprecedented… Read More

March 27, 2020 @ 7:00 pm By Max Lyadvinsky  |  

Do you ever step back and consider how quickly tech has changed, well, everything? Better devices spurred better internet connection and new cultural contexts. It is almost hard to remember a time when people did not always have connected computers in their back pockets. The… Read More

March 25, 2020 @ 7:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

On March 4th the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a proposal to amend multiple securities exemptions. If enacted, the proposed amendments would be the largest changes to securities law since the passage of the JOBS Act, and will strengthen the small business and startup… Read More

March 24, 2020 @ 9:40 am By Barry James  |  

It is we, the crowd, who will rebuild the economy after Covid-19. We need the means to do it. The last couple of weeks has revealed who it is that runs the real economy, beyond the glass towers that loom over everything else, imposing their… Read More

March 23, 2020 @ 5:00 pm By Dror Futter  |  

Remember all those articles about whether venture was overvalued?  With blinding speed, they now seem quaint.  Bluntly stated, most venture-backed companies are in a fight for survival.    Although certain areas of life sciences may do somewhat better, I think the impact will be widely felt. … Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 5:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

After less than a week of COVID-19 fueled lockdown, it seems like the world has been turned upside down as a new reality has set in due to “social distancing” and “shelter in place” demands. In the US, the National Guard is not yet patrolling… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 12:12 am By JD Alois  |  

Finnest, an Austria based Fintech that provides debt capital to small and medium-sized firms via a crowdfunding platform is out with a note on the Coronavirus. The online lender says that now is the time for digital platforms to show strength during the COVID-19 induced… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 1:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Towards the end of 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed an update to the definition of an accredited investor. The rule change is part of a broader “concept release” that the SEC has issued to review the exempt offering ecosystem and how this… Read More

March 16, 2020 @ 9:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Recently, the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the leading securities regulator in France, posted a legal analysis of security tokens or digital securities. The AMF posited that while there remain certain “legal obstacles,” in their opinion national authorities can adapt to these types of… Read More

March 13, 2020 @ 11:36 am By Andrew Mitchell  |  

It is fair to say that Brexit dominated headlines in the final few years of the 2010s. After the UK made the historic decision to forge its own future outside of the European Union [EU], many people and businesses were naturally concerned as to what… Read More

March 12, 2020 @ 7:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bitcoin, frequently labeled as an uncorrelated asset providing a safe harbor when more traditional investments, like stocks, have fallen down, has been crushed this week. Similar to just about everything else. Following a recent rise to over $1o,000 per BTC, the world’s most popular crypto… Read More

March 11, 2020 @ 3:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivered a speech outlining the UK Budget for 2020. A portion of the speech outlined the Government’s policy moves to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus – an unexpected exogenous shock to the economy that could… Read More

March 10, 2020 @ 11:51 am By JD Alois  |  

This week the UK Minister of State for Trade Policy Greg Hands MP is in the United States to kick-start free trade agreement negotiations. Long discussed as a possible outcome of the UK’s divorce with Europe, a bilateral trade agreement between the US and the… Read More

March 6, 2020 @ 9:50 am By JD Alois  |  

This week the Securities and Exchange Commission released a proposal to amend multiple securities exemptions. The proposed amendments to the exemption ecosystem may dramatically impact online capital formation for the better. These changes could make it easier for firms to raise money online while helping… Read More

March 5, 2020 @ 3:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed significant changes to the exempt offering framework that should benefit issuers, investors and regulated platforms that facilitate these types of offerings. So far, industry response has been overwhelmingly positive. The proposed amendments will impact Reg CF, Reg… Read More