RealtyMogul offers accredited and non-accredited investors debt and equity real estate investments through its crowdfunding platform; the firm has now raised over $290 million online from over 135,000 investors; Crowdfund Insider talks with Co-Founder Jilliene Helman who recently won LendIt's Fintech Woman of the Year award. Source
10x Future Technologies will soon announce a new funding round of over $40mn from China's Ping An and global consulting firm Oliver Wyman; the funds, according to Banking Technology, will help to speed up technology development and expand the company into Asia. Source.
The UK based digital banking firm 11:FS has hired fintech expert Sam Maule to help head up their expansion into North America; "Having made a great impact in the first 15 months of 11:FS' life, we now feel we can have a similar impact with Sam at the helm in North America and Canada, helping organizations really understand what digital transformation within their banks and insurers truly means," CEO David Brear explained; 11:FS is also looking to open a New York office and named entrepreneur and investor Lisa Gansky as non-executive director. Source
The Securities and Exchange Commission's 2016 Annual Report on Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs) notes increased rating activity for marketplace lending; says smaller NRSROs have increased market share by rating marketplace lending securitizations; rating agencies issuing ratings for marketplace lending transactions included KBRA, Fitch, S&P, Moody's and DBRS; of the 28 rated marketplace lending transactions in 2016, DBRS rated 28.6%, KBRA rated 25.0%, Moody's rated 25.0%, Fitch rated 7.1% and S&P rated 3.6%. Source
Blockchain has been becoming increasingly utilized across a range of industries; speculators believe 2017 could be blockchain's biggest year ever with a number of factors supporting the technology; bitcoin's price has been increasing, reaching a three-year high in January; market participants have been strengthening led by the Hyperledger Project; investment has also been increasing, specifically investment in patented blockchain technology. Source
Small Change is claiming to be the first real estate crowdfunding platform that's issuing investments under Reg. CF; the company focuses on investment projects with community enhancement benefits; Reg. CF (covered by the JOBS Act Title III) is one of several regulatory frameworks to facilitate private investments; Reg. CF is suited for smaller startups and investment offerings up to $1 million, without the full SEC filing requirements of Reg. A+; in the Crowdfund Insight interview, Small Change CEO, Eve Picker, suggests that they will use Reg. CF for smaller real estate investment projects and broader outreach to all levels of investors, while using Reg. D in parallel to reach accredited investors for larger deals. Source
The new startup, 10X Future Technologies, partners with challenger bank Virgin Money to build a new digital banking platform; the new deal comes to light just one day after 10X Future Technologies was launched to the public; Virgin Money is listed on the FTSE 250 and will count on 10X to build a cloud-based core banking system that will deliver new products in a more cost efficient manner. Source
Prime Meridian Capital Management is a Bronze Sponsor at LendIt USA 2017; in this featured blog post they give a review of marketplace lending in 2016; a challenging year for the industry, lending volumes and confidence retreated for one of the first times in the industry's history due to rising rates and an executive scandal; the release of Lending Club's CEO and Founder Renaud Laplanche added increased incentive for improving operations and increasing transparency which led to recovery in the second half of the year; a number of platforms, including Lending Club, secured new sources of funding and introduced new product expansion; the top three P2P platforms ended the year with combined originations of $2 billion per month and momentum for continued growth appears to be positive for the industry in 2017. Sponsored Blog Post
The UK marketplace lending industry is likely to see several factors causing change in 2017; the Financial Conduct Authority has reported several concerns which may increase regulatory pressure; demand for loans and capital investment are also slowing; larger platforms will have a greater advantage while the smaller platforms may see greater challenges; competition and partnerships among traditional financial service providers and fintech companies will also continue to be significant for the market overall. Source
Decreased venture capital funding and fintech challenges in 2016 slowed the market for initial public offerings (IPOs); experts believe the IPO market could be revived in 2017 with four companies at the top of the list to watch for a potential public offering; companies include Transferwise, SoFi, Ant Financial and Credit Karma; all four companies have significant venture capital support and are likely leaders for the fintech IPO market in 2017. Source