Opinion

April 6, 2017 @ 6:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups or JOBS Act is celebrating its 5th year anniversary. This is the law enacted during the Obama administration that legalized three different iterations of investment crowdfunding. The JOBS Act under Title II enabled Reg D (506c) issuers to “generally solicit”… Read More

April 5, 2017 @ 10:49 pm By Nat Hoopes  |  

  The technology transforming the financial sector is creating a historic opportunity to make financial services better and more accessible for all Americans. With this technology, consumers are finding new opportunities to borrow more affordably, save, invest, and transmit money.  While Americans prize the innovations… Read More

April 4, 2017 @ 5:40 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

“We have gained a foothold within the industry by partnering with 42 brands to date. Moving forward we will continue to innovate…” Having spent more than 20 years as a corporate executive in companies backed by prosperous VC firms including Kleiner Perkins, Mohr Davidow and Sequoia Capital, ApplePie Capital CEO… Read More

March 30, 2017 @ 2:00 pm By Therese Torris  |  

Ron Suber, the President of the US marketplace lender Prosper, was interviewed today by Cédric Teissier, the CEO of the French factoring platform Finexkap, at the annual conference of the  France Fintech association, titled “Fintech Revolution 2017 – Here to Stay”. Cédric Teissier asked Ron… Read More

March 30, 2017 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Embedded below is the letter UK Prime Minister Theresa May sent to European Council President Donald Tusk initiating Article 50 and thus commencing the UK’s departure from the European Union. The final results of negotiations will have a profound impact on both the UK and continental Europe’s… Read More

March 29, 2017 @ 2:43 pm By TImothy Li  |  

Open Source Initiative In the early days of computing, programmers and software developers shared their creations learned from each other and therefore advanced computing and software engineering to new heights. Eric Raymond, a pioneer in open source initiative, detailed his thoughts in “The Cathedral and… Read More

March 29, 2017 @ 7:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Theresa May has signed the letter that will formally separate the UK from its 43 year membership in the European Union. As the UK initiates Article 50, Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO of Innovate Finance – the advocacy group that supports all things Fintech – is out with… Read More

March 27, 2017 @ 9:11 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Current State of Affairs Small business lender Kabbage announced earlier this month that it would begin selling over $525 million worth of loans to investors, which will in turn increase its lending capacity to over $2.7 billion. In contrast, Kabbage’s competitor OnDeck, has seen its share… Read More

March 24, 2017 @ 4:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets, a non-partisan think tank with a mission to increase global prosperity, has published a document on modernizing financial regulation in the US.  Most regulations overseeing the financial services sector were written for an analog world. There is a… Read More

March 24, 2017 @ 9:37 am By JD Alois  |  

  Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry recently said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will be issuing Fintech Charters. While the hope was the OCC would create a light touch, streamlined approach to empowering Fintech firms to operate across the US without… Read More

March 24, 2017 @ 8:06 am By JD Alois  |  

Recently the Australian Senate approved a new investment crowdfunding law (Crowd-sourced funding). The final bill has been a long time in coming as Australia has made several attempts at improving access to capital for smaller firms be allowing issuers to raise capital online. But the… Read More

March 23, 2017 @ 11:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Fintech marketplace is saddled with 50 different state regulators and innumerable federal agencies touching financial services. The UK is dealing with Brexit ramifications and its divorce proceedings with continental Europe. Meanwhile, the European Commission is considering passporting Fintech services in recognition of the profound benefits… Read More

March 23, 2017 @ 9:24 am By JD Alois  |  

  The Senate Banking Committee, Chaired by Senator Mike Crapo, is set to hold the nomination hearing this morning regarding the appointment of Jay Clayton as SEC Chair.  The hearing will be live-streamed on the Committee’s website beginning at 930AM. Clayton, a longtime corporate attorney,… Read More

March 22, 2017 @ 9:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

The House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, met for the first time in 2017.  A new Chairman, Congressman Bill Huizenga, managed the proceedings for the first topic of the year regarding the “Impact of the JOBS Act After Five Years”. The Hearing involved the… Read More

March 21, 2017 @ 9:55 pm By Scott Andersen & George S. Georgiades  |  

Much excitement has been generated with the enactment of Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) and the ability of non-accredited investors to invest in startup companies in the United States. The SEC recently reported that while early capital raising efforts is still growing, Regulation Crowdfunding has provided… Read More

March 20, 2017 @ 11:47 am By Amy Wan  |  

On Monday, March 6, 2017, Congressman Patrick McHenry gave keynote remarks at the Lendit Conference in New York City. Among the themes of his speech, McHenry talked about the need for financial inclusion, citing a statistic that counties with less than 100,000 in population saw… Read More

March 19, 2017 @ 8:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Today, exactly 5 years ago, thousands of US Citizens asked the Senate to push forward and pass the JOBS Act of 2012 into law.  The letter, embedded below was signed by a diverse group of stakeholders, including: 534 investors 18 incubators 2,726 Entrepreneurs and… Read More

March 19, 2017 @ 9:42 am By JD Alois  |  

Investment crowdfunding is very different from rewards-based crowdfunding. Participating in a project on Kickstarter or Indiegogo is more akin to a donation where you may (or may not) receive some sort of perk for your financial support. In investment crowdfunding, you are giving your money… Read More

March 16, 2017 @ 12:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

As expected, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has published a draft licensing manual regarding the creation of a Fintech Charter. The draft is a supplement to the agency’s existing Licensing Manual and explains how Fintech firms may apply for special purpose bank charters…. Read More

March 16, 2017 @ 10:41 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Today Hibergene‘s Series B funding round on SyndicateRoom will successfully close at midnight tonight, having raised at least £5,707,336 with the help of over 53 investors. Funds will be used to support R&D activities to launch three new products in 2017. The Irish medical diagnostics company specializes in the urgent diagnosis… Read More