Belgium’s crowdfunding market doubles in size in one year
Belgium’s crowdfunding market has doubled in one year to over 22 million euros invested in 80 funding operations, according to the annual barometer of the FinTech Belgium Federation, which represents professionals in this sector (start-up, scale-up and investors). Look&Fin is the biggest lender in this sector, providing a total of 15.2 million euros for 46 operations, and thus accounting for close to 70% of the market, followed by MyMicroInvest, which financed 19 operations for a total of 4.3 million euros. The last of the top three, Bolero, funded eight operations to the sum of 1.4 million euros. Meanwhile, the market for this alternative mode of financing has become more professional […]
Alibaba is picking up 33% of Ant Financial, its fintech affiliate that’s valued at over $60B
Alibaba has added an additional angle to the announcement of its latest financial report today with news that it is taking a 33 percent stake in Ant Financial, its fintech affiliate that operates Alipay and other financial services. The deal, which both parties said stems from an agreement made in 2014, will see Alibaba pick up newly issued shares in Ant, seemingly paving the way for a public listing. It will also mark an end to a profit-share agreement which saw Ant give Alibaba “royalty and technology service fees” equal to 37.5 percent of its pre-tax profits each quarter. The agreement will give Alibaba direct ownership of Ant, which is […]
Paris is city of Fintech love for startups seeking hookups
The fintech dating game is on in Paris. Entrepreneurs in Europe’s financial-technology sector are pushing low-cost payments solutions to steal market share from banks, hoping the challenge they pose will spur the lenders to buy them or seek partnerships with them. Many startups are eyeing deals or potential backing as they converge on Paris this week to meet with the top executives of French finance, from BNP Paribas SA’s Jean-Laurent Bonnafe to Societe Generale SA’s Frederic Oudea, at the city’s annual Fintech Forum. How fintechs defy incumbents is a prime theme of discussion there, with payments an area of focus, as banking alternatives from Alipay to M-Pesa already dominate in […]
Israel’s OurCrowd to hit $1 bln in assets from crowdfunding in ’18
Israel’s equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd said on Wednesday it expects to surpass $1 billion in assets under management in funds raised through equity crowdfunding in 2018. Since its inception in 2013, OurCrowd has raised $650 million for 145 startup companies and 12 funds, it said at the outset of its annual investor summit. In 2017, its investor base grew to more than 25,000 from 112 countries. OurCrowd’s primary investor base is the United States, with 49 percent of funding, followed by Asia at 26 percent. The company also said its seed stage incubator will invest in 100 early stage companies in the next 10 years, focused on technologies such as […]
New alliance launched in Hong Kong to help support local FinTech startups
FinTech was identified as one of the key areas to generate momentum for Hong Kong’s economic development, under ‘Smart Economy’ in the city’s Smart City Blueprint released last December. FinTech initiatives will also have an impact in the ‘Smart Living’ area of the Blueprint. On January 24, a new alliance was launched in Hong Kong to help support local start-ups in the financial technology (FinTech) sector. The CSI Alliance has Cyberport, the Smart City Consortium (SCC) and IBM China/Hong Kong Ltd as its core members. It aims to foster collaboration between technology, academic and commercial stakeholders to address issues faced by FinTech start-ups and help accelerate their growth. Cyberport is […]
Hong Kong–based investment firm acquires pioneering Bitcoin exchange BTCC
BTCC is exiting the Chinese market to focus on making digital currencies accessible to everyone globally. This acquisition by a Hong Kong–based blockchain investment fund is a milestone for BTCC and will allow BTCC to focus on global digital currency adoption. BTCC, located in China and founded in 2011, was the world’s oldest bitcoin exchange until it closed in September 2017 under pressure from the Chinese government. It changed business focus to its international pool, wallet and exchange markets. “Today’s acquisition is an incredible milestone for BTCC that validates all of our hard work over the past few years,” said Bobby Lee, CEO and co-founder of BTCC, in a statement. […]
Startup Robinhood to launch commission-free cryptocurrency trading
Online brokerage startup Robinhood plans to launch commission-free cryptocurrency trading, the company said on Thursday, riding a wave of interest from retail investors for the new asset class. Starting in February, Robinhood customers will be able to buy bitcoin and ether, the two most popular virtual coins. The Palo-Alto based startup plans to add more cryptocurrencies in the coming months. Robinhood is launching the service in response to a groundswell of customer demand, Vlad Tenev, co-CEO and co-founder of Robinhood, said in an interview.” For some individuals we see cryptos are the first foray into financial services,” he said. Cryptocurrencies are digital coins whose values are not backed by central […]
India leads world in Fintech investment returns
India is a dominant force in the financial technology sector globally with 29 per cent annual returns on investments, a report released by the City of London Corporation said. The Corporation — the municipal governing body of the British capital — released the report as part of its launch of a new “Asia Next Decade” campaign. The ‘Asia as a financial services partner for London’ report also found that the “demonetisation wave” in India led to a 1,000 per cent increase in demand for digital transaction technologies last year after the government banned the high- value bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. “Annual returns on FinTech investment in […]
