Strategy

April 29, 2023 @ 7:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, released the following statement: “Tradeweb is in advanced discussions to acquire Yieldbroker, an Australian government bond and interest rate derivatives trading platform covering the institutional, wholesale, and… Read More

April 26, 2023 @ 12:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Zinnia, a life and annuity insurance technology and digital services company, today announced it is acquiring Policygenius, a digital insurance marketplace. The acquisition “lays the foundation for the industry’s first front-to-back architecture to power the entire insurance value chain and better serve carriers, advisors, and… Read More

April 23, 2023 @ 10:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Peach Finance recently conducted a survey of fintech lenders in order to obtain their feedback and insights regarding the current state of lending.. As the fintech industry continues to grow and evolve, one of the most promising areas of innovation is lending…. Read More

April 23, 2023 @ 1:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Gemini is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of Gemini Foundation — a non-US crypto derivatives platform. Their first derivatives contract “will be a BTC perpetual contract denominated in Gemini dollars (GUSD).” An ETH/GUSD perpetual contract “will launch soon thereafter.” Gemini Foundation… Read More

April 21, 2023 @ 3:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fundrise, an online real estate investment platform that has recently added early-stage venture funding (the Innovation Fund) as an option, has provided an update on platform performance during Q1 2023 and at a time when markets are flagging. According to Fundrise, the average net return… Read More

April 19, 2023 @ 4:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

More Millennial investors are participating in private equity markets, according to a report, as younger and risk-tolerant investors are seeking to maximize long-term wealth by allocating to higher-returning but higher-risk assets. This makes a lot of sense as public markets have declined, and private firms… Read More

April 19, 2023 @ 8:46 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) is reportedly getting ready for an anticipated “years-long” court case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This, according to a report from CNBC, which is citing comments from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. It appears that this update has come after the… Read More

April 15, 2023 @ 10:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ZA Bank has announced its latest plan to become the “go-to bank” for the Web3 ecosystem, providing essential banking services to Web3 enterprises. In an effort to support this goal, ZA Bank has “become a Title Sponsor of the inaugural Hong Kong Web 3 Festival… Read More

April 13, 2023 @ 12:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bitcoin (BTC) price has increased substantially during the first three months of this year. The flagship cryptocurrency is trading at around $30,000 at the time of writing. Although most industry participants are not sure whether we’re entering a bull market, it is clear that… Read More

April 13, 2023 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

In the UK, early-stage private firms are supported with innovative tax exemptions designed to make investing in risky ventures more appealing. As everyone knows, a robust entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem is crucial for a growing economy. UK policymakers have made investing in private firms more… Read More

April 12, 2023 @ 9:18 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital asset platform Paxos is out with a white paper entitled “How the Crypto Winter May Help Save the Digital Asset Economy.”  The thesis of the document is that all of the recent fraud and failure within the crypto industry will end up flushing out… Read More

April 11, 2023 @ 12:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bitcoin is pushing above $30,000 for the first time since June 2022. When Bitcoin moves, the crypto masses speculate as to why. The recent rise in value has largely been attributed to the terrible economy, fears within the Banking sector, and BTCs apparent safe haven… Read More

April 10, 2023 @ 10:40 am By JD Alois  |  

The demise of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) left a big hole in the early-stage/private firm ecosystem. SVB was a favorite bank of VCs and hence the companies they invested in.  The failure of SVBs has exacerbated the already challenging funding environment for private firms that… Read More

April 4, 2023 @ 8:15 am By Omar Faridi  |  

WonderFi Technologies Inc. Coinsquare Ltd. and CoinSmart Financial Inc. announced that they have entered into a business combination agreement “to combine their respective businesses.” The combined company will aim to “offer one of the largest regulated crypto asset trading platforms in the world and will… Read More

April 2, 2023 @ 6:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Beginning on April 6, 2023, early-stage private firms will be able to tap into an improved Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), one of several tax policies aimed at supporting entrepreneurship and early-stage firms in the UK. The popular program is a positive for both investors… Read More

March 26, 2023 @ 8:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Juniper Square, the provider of partnership enablement for the private funds industry, released a report tracking shifts in commercial real estate (CRE) investments “by property type over the past decade, as well as trends in transaction volumes, acquisitions, fundraising and more.” The 2022 CRE Market… Read More

March 21, 2023 @ 9:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) recently acquired cloud-based cybersecurity company Baffin Bay Networks in order to better help businesses deal “with the increasingly challenging nature of cyberattacks.” Baffin Bay Networks, based in Sweden, “adds to Mastercard’s multi-layered approach to cybersecurity and helps to stop attacks, while mitigating… Read More

March 21, 2023 @ 6:27 pm By Omar Makkawy  |  

Currency devaluations and inflation erode investment returns, reducing a company’s valuation and the value of its total addressable market (TAM). However, several sectors have demonstrated resilience in such conditions and can actually generate substantial shareholder value in difficult economic times. A major example is Egypt… Read More

March 14, 2023 @ 10:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Last month, CI hosted a webinar to review the securities crowdfunding market of 2022 as well as expectations for 2023. While the consensus of the group was that online capital formation softened in the waning months of 2022, panelists participating in the webinar were more… Read More

March 2, 2023 @ 4:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with Sarah Howell, SVP of Partner Programs at Infinant, a financial technology company that provides pioneering infrastructure to help banks build embeddable financial products above their legacy banking technology. Sarah Howell shared her insights on the origins of the ecosystem strategy,… Read More