Strategy

June 24, 2015 @ 11:32 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

China’s crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending markets have frequently featured in the news, as China seeks to decrease fraud in its rapidly expanding Internet finance world. Now, Beijing’s financial supervision agencies are using big data to crack down on illegal fundraising, with an online pre-warning platform already… Read More

June 24, 2015 @ 3:02 pm By Samuel Guzik  |  

  On June 23, 2015, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission provided some public guidance on certain issues arising under the new Regulation A+ Final Rules. In a new section of the SEC’s Compliance and Disclosure and Interpretations (C&DI’s),  a Q and A… Read More

June 21, 2015 @ 10:38 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

ThinCats Australia, among the latest peer-to-peer lenders to join the Australian market, is on the prowl for strategic investors as it prepares for a potential initial public offering, notes the Australian Financial Review. The FR writes, It’s understood ThinCats Australia, backed by UK-parent ThinCats, is in discussions with… Read More

June 18, 2015 @ 10:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

There is a lot of excitement, as well as some trepidation, as Title IV of the JOBS Act becomes actionable on June 19th. The new exemption, commonly referred to as Reg A+, will allow issuers to raise up to $50 million in what is described… Read More

June 17, 2015 @ 8:34 am By JD Alois  |  

Investment crowdfunding platform FundedByMe has been reviewing what are the characteristics of a successful campaign.  Their data should come as no surprise. Beyond having a solid concept for a business, social media and the right team is crucial for achieving a targeted funding goal. FundedByMe… Read More

June 11, 2015 @ 12:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

LendingRobot, an automated investment platform for peer to peer / marketplace lending investors, has launched secondary trading for Lending Club loans. The Seattle, Washington, based company raised $3 million in a Series A funding round earlier this year to help finance the new service. LendingRobot allows… Read More

June 10, 2015 @ 9:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a little over a week Title IV of the JOBS Act, commonly called Reg A+, will become actionable.  We are already hearing chatter about companies planning on using the new exemption. Whenever a new chapter is written in the Securities Law Book there is… Read More

June 9, 2015 @ 10:02 am By JD Alois  |  

On June 19th, Title IV of the JOBS Act will finally become actionable for interested issuers.  Commonly referred to as Regulation A+, or “Reg A+”, this portion of the JOBS Act may be best described as a mini-IPO.  Reg A+ may be used by any… Read More

June 8, 2015 @ 10:47 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission is celebrating 81 years of guiding financial markets this month. While there have been more than a few ups and downs since the ’34 Act that created the SEC (on June 6th), their mission remains true in guarding investors and… Read More

June 7, 2015 @ 2:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

Founder and CEO of the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board (ASSOB) Paul Niederer has tackled a persistent question: Should you use equity crowdfunding to raise capital for your company?  Niederer has created a “fundability” diagram to help potential issuers decide whether to move forward –… Read More

June 4, 2015 @ 7:19 am By Erin Hobey  |  

“We’re delighted to announce this strategic partnership with Catena Investments while The Funding Network continues to grow and mature. As our monthly transaction volume exceeds $35 million it is right that we keep pushing for more professionalism,” said Korstiaan Zandvliet, co-founder and CEO of Symbid Corp. “With Catena on… Read More

June 2, 2015 @ 11:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

There has been much debate, discussion and recent consternation regarding Title IV of the JOBS Act, something commonly labeled as Reg A+.  Some prognosticators believe it is much ado about nothing but others believe Reg A+ can become an important step in the evolving capital… Read More

May 29, 2015 @ 10:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Recently we have had discussions with several people about a problematic issue with rewards based crowdfunding.  Some campaign creators may be finding products on Alibaba, repackaging them and launching crowdfunding campaigns posing as new creations.  Is this illegal?  Probably not. Is it wrong. Yes – definitely…. Read More

May 26, 2015 @ 10:16 am By JD Alois  |  

While banks remain slow to provide new loans for many types of businesses, sporting clubs may be a perfect match for crowdfunding.  The affinity between fans and supporters for their favorite club may provide a very viable avenue for raising capital in times of need. According to… Read More

May 21, 2015 @ 10:46 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The European Crowdfunding network (ECN) released a Joint Declaration on the Capital Markets Union, together with seven other significative European federations representing capital market players and SMEs including AFME, EBF, Eurochambres, EBAN, EBN, European Issuers and Business Angels Europe and the European Crowdfunding Network. “Joining forces for the first time with other organizations representing capital market players… Read More

May 21, 2015 @ 9:15 am By Dara Albright  |  

The thing that excites me most about today’s crowdfinance-inspired path of capital formation is its unprecedented ability to mitigate shareholder risk and groom more productive businesses. It does this by allowing companies to gauge consumer demand and presell products prior to it outlaying any manufacturing,… Read More

May 20, 2015 @ 12:00 pm By Casper Arboll  |  

  Crowdinvesting has contributed to the development of new organizational forms that in particular affects entrepreneur – investor relations. In this new reality, it is normal for startups to have an average of 125 investors. A potential burden for small founder teams, but also a… Read More

May 16, 2015 @ 12:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

More corporations are recognizing the efficacy of capturing consumer feedback by using crowdfunding to pretail forthcoming products.  General Electric, a multi-national corporate behemoth is one of these companies. They don’t need your money – they want your advice. FirstBuild is GE’s “co-creation community”.  Described as a… Read More

May 4, 2015 @ 2:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

The correlation between risk and reward is an important relationship for all asset classes. The popularity of marketplace lending has been driven by the solid returns generated at a perceived lower level of risk.  Lending Club, the largest peer to peer lender in the United States, has… Read More

May 1, 2015 @ 11:18 am By JD Alois  |  

MIT Sloan Assistant Professor Christian Catalini has targeted his research on the economics of innovation, entrepreneurial finance and crowdfunding.  Catalini is part of an elite few academicians who are analyzing the emergent investment crowdfunding space, so when he shares his findings, and associated perspective, it is… Read More