Chinese internet finance business, Lufax, is developing an online trading platform for Chinese investors that will allow them to invest in assets anywhere in the world; the firm is the world's second largest financial technology company; the trading platform it is developing will launch in 2017 and seeks to meet a demand from Chinese investors to diversify away from a depreciating yuan. Source
News Roundup
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AutoGravity has launched a new mobile financing app; the app allows consumers in California to choose a car and receive four financing options through the mobile app; the buyer can arrange all of the pre-sale details through the mobile app making the completion of the deal at the dealership fast and convenient. Source
Socure has added $13 million from a funding round led by Flint Capital; Socure provides software as a service solutions that increase customer acceptance and reduce uncaught fraud; according to Flint Capital Partner Sergey Gribov, "The company supplements market deficiencies in which current identity verification solutions fall short, including millennials, who largely avoid the use of credit, or abroad, where credit systems don't exist at all." Source
After an initial $50 million investment in Personal Capital, IGM Financial has invested an additional $25 million in the company; the $25 million was contingent on an assets under management goal which they have now surpassed; the company has added $1.5 billion under management in the last year bringing their total to $3.4 billion; this amounts to 80% growth; valuation of the company is approximately $500 million. Source
Invoice financing platform, BillFront, has secured $35 million in financing from a Series A funding round which included 4Finance, NIBC Bank and FinLeap; BillFront offers a working capital solution to media companies; uses advanced technology to evaluate a company's invoices for financing approval; the firm will use the new capital for company expansion and continued development of its technology. Source
UK-based Growth Capital Ventures (GCV) has received a 1.1 million British pound ($1.37 million) investment from Maven Capital Partners; GCV will use the funds to develop a new P2P lending platform and for expansion of its current crowdfunding solutions; the firm focuses on crowdfunded investments in real estate, clean energy and technology. Source
Kreditech has raised 10 million euros (USD $10.4 million) from Rakuten, Inc., a firm based in Japan; the new funding will be used to develop Kreditech's partnership business; the company launched their lending as a service business in the spring of 2016; according to CFO Rene Griemens: "In addition to the financial investment, we envision future partnership opportunities. With its strong market position in Asia, Rakuten could be a door opener for us." Source
SmartBiz is expanding its Small Business Administration (SBA) loan offerings to include a new online SBA commercial real estate loan; SmartBiz is an online marketplace providing small business owners with SBA loan financing options facilitated through banks; its new commercial real estate offering will include the SBA 7(a) commercial real estate loan. Source
K-Bank has gained authorization to open South Korea's first online bank; firm is an affiliate of Alibaba-owned Ant Financial; Kakao Bank is also involved in the final approval process to open the country's second online bank. Source
Australian marketplace lender, SocietyOne, has been growing rapidly in 2016; the firm has now originated $200 million (USD $147 million) in loans since its inception in August of 2012 after reporting a record month of originations in November with lending volume of $15.3 million (USD $11.25 million); in 2016, the firm has originated $126 million (USD $92.66 million), which accounts for the majority of its originations; the firm has hired a new chief marketing officer and has plans for continued growth with a focus on obtaining 2% to 3% of the consumer finance market by 2021. Source