In its Q3 2016 State of Blockchain report, CoinDesk provides insights on blockchain; says blockchain investment is decreasing however significant development efforts continue to occur primarily from major banks and stock exchanges; report also says interest in blockchain from central banks is likely to continue. Source
UK Small business lender Funding Circle attempts to simplify the investment process by removing manual bidding in favor of a two tiered autobid process; the two autobid accounts will be: balanced with a targeted return of 7.5% and conservative with a targeted return of 4.8%; UK Managing Director James Meekings tells AltFi: "These changes will make lending at Funding Circle simpler, better, fairer. We want to create a level playing field for all investors and ensure everyone has the same opportunity to lend to UK businesses."; the changes were in response to individual investors "gaming" the system and not allowing the passive investors access to higher return loans which are very popular; according to AltFi this is a trend in in the industry with other platforms, including Zopa in May, moving to this process. Source
This week, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) proposes improvements to the loosely-regulated fintech sector in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Kenya; CGAP is a global partnership of 34 leading organizations advancing financial inclusion; they note fintech companies may inappropriately publicize a borrower's personal information if they default on a loan, and others may sweep a user's social media data with minimal notice to the consumer; a key step, by law and proactive process, is to rigorously include all fintech platforms under existing laws for lenders in Kenya. Source
Orca Money has raised 280,000 British pounds ($354,425) in a funding round led by TechStart NI; the UK company provides a comparison service for investors interested in P2P investments; the funding will primarily be used for development of Orca Retail, a financial media site which it plans to open in 2017. Source
A blog post from Frank Rotman of QED Investors says fintech companies should keep in mind growth strategies from the previous generation; outlines three important phases for business growth, 1) testing 2) scaling and 3) cost efficiency; says growing exponentially in the early phases is not always the best approach and that building a lending business with land grab as a justification for growth is not necessarily the best strategy. Source
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
- Lendio Joins Innovative Lending Platform Association
- SoFi Launches Student Loan Refinancing for Medical Residents
- Chinese Search Giant Baidu Joins Hyperledger Blockchain Consortium
- First Associates Receives FCA Authorization to Service Loans in the United Kingdom
- Lendy has repaid £100m to investors this year
- Great Expectations - Improving the Loan Application Process for Small Business Borrowers (Fundera & Oliver Wyman
The Estonian-based P2P lender turned a profit late 2016; hopes to turn an annual profit in 2017; revenues were 4.2 million euros (USD $4.5 million) in 2016; according to CEO Partel Tomberg: "Looking at the bigger picture, we were a bit looking for our place. We have tried a number of products, businesses and client segments over the years. By mid-2016 we understood that our focus has to be on what we started from – a faster and cheaper consumer loan product. And we understood that on the investment side it has to be an online product for the people, not so much for the banks or funds." Source
Shares of Qudian surged almost 48 percent on the first day of trading; the share offering raised about $900mn, making it the largest Chinese listing in the US this year; reaching as high as $35.45 the company ended the day at $29.86; Qudian extends loans to millennials and students for small ticket items like smartphones or concert tickets. Source.
Starling Bank is launching a business account focused on entrepreneurs, sole-traders and small business owners; the account is free to set up and will like to a number of features including payments and their Marketplace product for accounting based services. Source.