January 5, 2016 @ 8:26 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

For fans of subscription services—such as Wet Shave Club for safety razor supplies, Stitch Fix for women’s fashion or Graze for health-mindful snacks—there’s a new delivery to look forward to from Eightpointnine, a UK-based personalized coffee subscription service. Eightpointnine’s flavor-matching algorithm figures out the perfect… Read More

December 11, 2015 @ 12:08 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

In India, crowdfunding norms will soon be put into place to help entrepreneurs raise funds through crowdfunding, and discussions are underway to allow sale of mutual funds through e-commerce platforms, announced U. K. Sinha, chairman of India’s capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI),… Read More

December 10, 2015 @ 5:22 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

For David Behin, co-founder and CEO of CityFunders, proving real estate investment opportunities for accredited investors, his goal was to help bring real estate investing to the masses. Fast forward to now, and the pool of real estate investors has noticeably increased, with the passage of the JOBS Act, Title III. The… Read More

December 8, 2015 @ 12:15 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Reversing a six-year downward trend, activity in established small businesses increased last year, according to a press release for the 2015 Kauffman Index: Main Street Entrepreneurship, a new report that tracks small business activity and ownership in the United States. Though the number of established small… Read More

December 7, 2015 @ 11:47 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Big Society Capital today released a Request for Proposals from crowdfunding and alternative finance platforms for the Crowd Match Fund, according to the company’s press release. The £5 million fund will match crowdfunded investments made by individuals into social investment tax relief (SITR)-eligible charities and… Read More

December 3, 2015 @ 9:00 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  “I knew it could be amazing.” Jane ní Dhulchaointigh, CEO of Sugru, one of the world’s first moldable glue brands, saw the potential in the first, we’ll say, “aromatic” blend of silicone caulk and waste wood dust she created to improve her belongings so that they worked better… Read More

December 3, 2015 @ 1:46 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Crowd2Fund has developed one of the first crowdfunding coins, “Smart Money,” exclusively for members of the Crowd2Fund Investor Club, according to the company’s press release. It entitles members to receive a coin about the size of a £2 piece which has an RFID (radio frequency identifier) chip… Read More

November 20, 2015 @ 12:48 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

London-based startup Nous Global Markets is raising funds to bring an ultra-low-risk trading service to millions of customers around the world, according to the company’s recent press release. The FinTech firm, which uses gaming applications to educate people about the enjoyment and the challenges of financial markets, has… Read More

November 18, 2015 @ 2:15 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

China’s Internet search giant Baidu will partner with China Citic Bank, part of state-owned conglomerate Citic Group, to launch an online bank, according to the Financial Times. The FT notes that Citic Bank, suspended its shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Monday pending announcement… Read More

November 17, 2015 @ 10:32 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  A co-founder of Funding Societies in his 20s, Reynold Wijaya is now the peer-to-peer lending company’s chief operations (Singapore) leader, and has helped bring the company’s funding to near $1.25 million. Funding Societies was among the first homegrown P2P lending companies to bring in a trustee registered with the… Read More

November 12, 2015 @ 1:05 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Crowdfunding on Kickstarter, cult classic Mystery Science Theater 3000 is rapidly nearing its fundraising goal of $2M, with the show’s original host and creator Joel Hodgson at the campaign’s helm. Together with Shout! Factory, Hodgson is seeking to bring back the series, “which ended in 1999, ran for 11… Read More

November 10, 2015 @ 9:00 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

EnergyFunders, an online marketplace connecting investors to oil and gas projects, today announced its official launch as the first platform to facilitate global and national participation in deals operated by small and mid-sized operators in the U.S., according to the press release Featuring investment minimums as… Read More

November 10, 2015 @ 4:33 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

With the push of a button, a new device allows you to silence that single question and peace of mind on your vacation (or perhaps just another workday): Did I turn off the straightening iron/light/air conditioner/coffee pot? For those who prefer not return home solely to confirm… Read More

November 6, 2015 @ 2:26 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Aussie startup MoneyPlace will next year be among the earliest Australian peer-to-peer lenders to open up to “mum and dad investors” (read: small-scale nonprofessional investors) as of Monday, Nov. 2, noted the Sydney Morning Herald. The Melbourne-based MoneyPlace has been in the works for two years, including… Read More

November 5, 2015 @ 2:00 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  It was an accident that led Krista Morgan to peer-to-peer lending in 2008–a jolt caused by the high interest rate she was quoted when applying for a personal loan, during a time of notably low interest rates in the UK. After finding Zopa, one of the… Read More

November 2, 2015 @ 11:37 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

On the rapidly expanding ground of the £1.4bn crowdfunding industry, there’s a growing split between companies with a venture capital or private equity background who hold that a £1,000 minimum investment in crowdfunding ventures would protect inexperienced investors, and those who believe that such a minimum investment would go… Read More

October 30, 2015 @ 1:22 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

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

October 27, 2015 @ 1:49 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Last week, Financial Conduct Authority Chair and acting CEO Tracey McDermott visited Parliament last week, and spoke before the Treasury Select Committee on topics including alternative financing sources. She addressed questions of risk for investors in crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending, as well as the role of regulation…. Read More

October 23, 2015 @ 8:16 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Before Facebook’s IPO, there was SecondMarket: a leader in the secondary trading market, which enables repurchases of shares in private companies. SecondMarket’s platform saw over $1.4 billion worth of transactions in 2014–quadruple the volume of its transactions in 2013.  And today (Oct. 22), Nasdaq announced it had acquired… Read More

October 21, 2015 @ 6:36 pm By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  Former Googlers Dave Girouard and Anna Mongyat joined with Paul Gu (a Thiel Fellow) to launch Upstart in 2012.  Originally envisioned as a more altruistic lending platform that invested in the person and not the loan – somewhat similar to Pave –  the platform… Read More