China-based Qudian said on Monday it has filed with the SEC to raise up to $750 million in an initial public offering, planning to to list on the NYSE under the symbol QD; Qudian plans to use net proceeds for strategic acquisitions and marketing and borrower engagement; Qulian provides small loans and installment-based financing for e-commerce in China. Source
Kontomatik shares how easy it is to start a lending company with the help of data via banking APIs. Source
The recent PeerIQ weekly newsletter discusses the departure of Mike Cagney from SoFi, the Goldman & Mosaic deal and provides an analysis of recent SoFi (SCLP 2017-5) and Lending Club (CLUB 2017-P1) securitizations. Source
Following the Equifax hack, Credit Karma is offering a free service that will alert customers if their information has been compromised; the service is currently being tested and will be available sometime in October; the company accelerated the launch due to the large breach at Equifax and has seen a 50% increase in signups following the hack. Source
The company provides cloud-based integrated receivables software and is based in India; originally founded in 2006, this is the first external funding round for the company which boasts clients such as Adidas, Starbucks, Proctor & Gamble and more; Susquehanna Growth Equity participated in the funding; Sashi Narahari, Founder and CEO of HighRadius shares their story in the article. Source
Business Insider highlights the recent news of China clamping down on ICOs and the digital currency exchanges; notes that mining has not affected by the recent changes and shares that while there will be pressure on the market that this marks the beginning of a highly regulated market. Source
FT Alphaville analyzes a new report by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) which looks at central bank cryptocurrencies; the biggest takeaway as the FT points out is central banks could add to the pool of anonymous cash in the system by digitizing currency in such a way that digital accounts remain anonymous. Source
Arthur Levitt, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, says the recent scandal at SoFi has cost them approval of their special bank charter; he tells the FT, “So for a company as aggressive as SoFi, I think the chances of that happening were slim. Now they become almost impossible.” Source
A lot of the significant investment in ICOs has come from people who have made millions in bitcoin and need to diversify; Business Insider sat down with Lightspeed Venture Partners investor Jeremy Liew and Blockchain founder/CEO Peter Smith to discuss the ICO market and why so much money has flooded into these startups; the discussion also touched on the recent Chinese crackdown on ICOs which has driven the price of Bitcoin down and the need to diversify looks to be more important than ever. Source