Tagged: europe

Seedrs’ Jeff Lynn: “I Have A Lot Of Respect for the Way Crowdcube Has Done Some Things”

This week, CEO of Seedrs, Jeff Lynn, sat down with The Memo to share details about the crowdfunding industry’s growth and his opinion on competitor, Crowdcube. During his interview, Jeff discussed Crowdcube: “I have a lot of respect for the way Crowdcube [has] done some things, they have… Read More

The European Commission Wants to Improve Cross Border Consumer Finance

The European Commission is in the midst of a consultation as to how they may improve retail financial services to consumers across Europe.  The challenge, of course, is not just within individual countries, but in the diversity of cost, structures and regulatory approaches that pepper… Read More

European Parliament on the Collaborative Economy

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Published during the final weeks of 2015, the European Parliament released an extensive document on the collaborative economy.  The shifting economics driven by sharing and technology has already altered entire industries. That we all know but this is only the beginning.  The scribes at the… Read More

Q4 European Venture Capital Rises to €1.33 Billion

According to Dow Jones’ Venture Capital Report, European VC fundraising jumped 58% to €1.33 in Q4 2015 in comparison to Q3 when reviewing the number of fund closings and capital raised. When comparing to Q4 of 2014, venture capital increased only 6% as the number of… Read More

How Digital Startups Rescue Europe from the Great Recession 

  An Update on How Close We Are to Getting Back on Track. Hub21 is a venture accelerator based in Ascoli Piceno (Marche Region in Italy), whose mission is to incubate startups, with Go-to-Market, fundraising, management support and its own strategic observatory over digital startups…. Read More

Peter Thiel Backs German Fintech Startup Deposit Solutions

Peter Thiel, Paypal’s co-founder and first outside investor in Facebook, has reportedly made an investment in Deposit Solutions GmbH, which is considered the first open architecture platform for retail deposits in Europe. Since its establishment in 2011, Deposit Solutions has already mediated deposits in excess of… Read More

Portugal Reveals Proposed Investment Crowdfunding Rules

Portugal has published proposed investment crowdfunding regulations in a consultation paper that is open for comments. The document posted by theComissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM), embedded below, proposes a cap on funding at one million euros within a 12 month period. The consultation… Read More

Research Initiated to Assess Liability Risk for Crowdfunding in Europe

A partnership between the Crowdfunding Hub, European Network of Crowdfunding Professionals and FG lawyers (Dutch boutique law firm with a special focus on alternative finance and fintech), has launched pan-European research to identify the liability risk in respect to the various forms of crowdfunding. Entitled… Read More

EU VAT Committee Posts Review on Taxing Crowdfunding

The EU’s VAT Committee has published its review of the liability to VAT of crowdfunding activities. The Committee stated that “where platforms provide services free of charge40 they remain outside the scope of application of the VAT Directive”.  But where services generate a fee, such… Read More

MoneyCircles Launched As European Blockchain Incubator’s First Public Proof of Concept

What goes around, comes around, seems to be one concept behind the UK-based MoneyCircles.com, a decentralized peer-to-peer lending app that allows circles of people to get together and mimic a credit union to save and lend with one another, based on a “common bond.” The company is the… Read More

It’s a Long Way to European Equity Crowdfunding Regulation

Insights from the European Crowdfunding Convention 2015 The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) has been holding its 4th Convention in Paris. The main topic of the first day was the Capital Markets Union and its implications for crowdfunding. The European equity funding gap The Capital Markets… Read More

European Companies Raise €3 billion in VC Funding in Q3

European venture capital has dropped 58% in capital raised from Q2 to Q3 2015.  This is according to a report produced by Dow Jones. The research states that 13 European venture capital funds accumulated €853 million during 3Q 2015, dropping 58% in capital raised from… Read More

Quotes From #LenditEurope: About China’s 2,000 Lending Platforms & More

Part II: Seen & Heard at Lendit Europe If you missed attending Lendit Europe, you missed a great event. You can catch up on a selection of presentations on Lendit . For short skimming, we’ve selected a few thought-provoking quotes from day 2. You may also… Read More

Brief: AFME Releases First Pan-EU Guide On Raising Finance For Europe’s SMEs; SMEs Struggle To Navigate Europe’s Funding Landscape

European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have access to nearly twice the amount of funding as their U.S. counterparts, yet bank loans remain the most common form of SME finance in Europe, according to a recent press release. This leaves huge scope for small businesses… Read More

European Parliament Agrees to EC Proposal on Online Payments

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The European Parliament has adopted the proposal by the European Commission regarding a revised directive on payment services – also called PSD2. The law was originally proposed in July of 2013.  The legislation is designed to protect consumers when they make payments online and via… Read More

French Crowdfunding Platform Lendix Raises €1M For Building Company Orexim

Just one year after France passed legislation permitting crowdsourced loans for small businesses, peer-to-peer platform Lendix has become the first to raise €1m in France for a company in a single transaction, according to the Financial Times. €1m, the maximum the new law permits, was raised for… Read More

European Commission Publishes Action Plan on Capital Markets Union

As expected the European Commission has published its “action plan” on the Capital Markets Union (CMU) initiative.  The basis of the European Community has been economic integration. The reality has been far different as individual nations are loathe to submit to the vagaries of policy… Read More

Brief: Creamfinance Teams Up With Peer-to-Peer Platform Mintos to Offer Investments in Loans in Georgia

Creamfinance LLC, a European online consumer lending company, has recently reached an agreement with peer-to-peer lending platform Mintos. From now on, investors will be offered an opportunity to invest in short-term unsecured loans issued in Georgia. According to the CEO Matīss Ansviesulis, an initiative to join the… Read More

CMU is a Good Thing Says PwC, But it Needs Some Help as Market Based Finance is Underdeveloped in Europe

PwC has recently published an interesting report on the European Capital Markets Union (CMU).   The European Commission has an objective to diversify and improve access to capital.  Knocking down barriers and streamlining processes to accomplish this goal should be good for the entire EU… Read More

How the Tiny Estonian Government Can Give a Boost to the Global Crowdfunding Industry with their e-Residency Project  

The e-Residency project is an initiative of the Estonian government to offer every world citizen the possibility to become an e-Resident of Estonia. As a side effect they could solve a number of problems for current Crowdfunding platforms with this government backed e-identity program and boost the industry…. Read More

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