Silicon Valley coins a new means of fundraising
When tech start-up Gnosis raised about $US12.5 million in April, the company didn’t tap the typical Silicon Valley funding network of venture capital firms or wealthy investors. Instead, it auctioned tokens online in a process called an “initial coin offering”. They sold out in 12 minutes. These digital coins are essentially clones of the virtual currency bitcoin, which has come under scrutiny for its use in last week’s global hacking attack. The newer coins are the proverbial next big thing in the world of cryptocurrencies, but also pose big risks to buyers. The digital coins theoretically can be used to one day purchase services from issuers such as Gnosis, which […]
Indian fintech company Paytm raises $1.4 billion from Japan’s SoftBank
India’s Paytm said on Thursday it has raised $1.4 billion (£1.07 billion) from Japan’s SoftBank Group in a deal that will help the digital payments startup expand its user base and maintain its lead in Asia’s third-largest economy. SoftBank will also get a board seat in Paytm after the investment, which was made into Paytm parent One97 Communications, according to a statement from the Indian digital payments provider. Paytm announced in February that it has now has over 200 million users of its mobile wallet, which is a popular payment method in India. China’s Alibaba, which counts SoftBank as its biggest investor, already holds a stake in Paytm. To […]
Fintech startup Telr raises $3 mn
Mumbai-based fintech startup Telr has bagged Series-B funding of $3 million from Innovations East, a fund managed by people with experience in marketplaces and online payments. Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment gateway aggregator of multiple payment methods like cards and online banking, offering a set of unified APIs and tools that enable businesses to accept and manage online payments via web, mobile and social media. With growth of over $500 million worth transactions annually, Telr anticipates reaching transactions worth $1 billion transactions per year by the end of 2017. Telr has raised funds from investors in Singapore and the Middle East, including Hatcher and iMena Holdings earlier. Sirish […]
Online lending startup Earnest said to look for a buyer
Earnest Inc., the financial-technology startup backed by venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz, is looking for a buyer as the market for peer-to-peer lending matures, and it struggles to raise new funds. The San Francisco-based company, which offers student loan refinancing as well as personal loans, is shopping itself for about $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Earnest last raised $75 million in equity and $200 million in debt in 2015, bringing the total to just over $300 million since it was founded in 2013, according to research firm CB Insights. The most recent equity financing was led by Battery Ventures, and the debt was led by […]
MarketInvoice secures £45m from Banco BNI Europa
UK-based MarketInvoice has signed an agreement with Banco BNI Europa (BNI), which will now provide £45 million annually to fund working capital for SMEs on the platform. MarketInvoice is now the world’s largest peer-to-peer online invoice finance marketplace, having funded over 70,000 invoices worth more than £1.2 billion since its launch in 2011. Today, the UK business has signed an agreement with Banco BNI Europa (BNI), which will now provide £45 million in funding annually on the marketplace to fund working capital for MarketInvoice customers. BNI trialled an investment last year of £28.3 million, which went into funding SMEs on the platform seeking invoice finance. After the success of that […]
Sun Hung Kai invests US$2b in technology as fintech fiestas spread across Asia
HONG KONG finance company Sun Hung Kai & Co. has made US$2 billion available over two years for investments in financial technology, medical and consumer-facing companies, as noted by the firm’s chief investment officer, Sebastiaan Van Den Berg. The CIO added that the target size of the fund should grow over the next 24 months from its current HK$11 billion (US$1.4 billion) size, and the company hopes to be able to reap 15-20 percent in profit, whether it be debt or equity. The company is considering listing its subsidiary United Asia Finance Ltd. (UA) in order to fundraise an estimated US$500 million, according to a Bloomberg source. This entity currently […]
Bitbond secures £4.2m to fund SME loans
Global bitcoin peer-to-peer lending platform Bitbond has received a €5m (£4.2m) commitment from Obotritia Capital to fund small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loans. The Potsdam-based investment firm, which usually channels its funds into German commercial real estate, has also bought an equity stake in Bitbond, although the terms of that deal were not disclosed. With the new debt facility, SME loans will be funded instantly on Bitbond’s platform, reducing the time it takes business owners to apply and receive a loan to 30 minutes. The equity investment will be used for further product development and marketing, to grow Bitbond’s user base. “The debt commitment by Obotritia brings Bitbond to the […]
Blockchain startup Factom raises $8 million in extended Series A
Blockchain startup Factom has finished raising just over $8m as part of an extended Series A round. Last October, the firm said that it had raised $4.2m as part of the funding in an effort to raise capital ahead of planned product launches. Taking part in the round, according to AustinInno, include Harvest Equity and Peeli Ventures, along with several as-yet-unnamed local investors. According to public records from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Factom raised approximately $8,027,535 during the round. Previously, the firm – which uses its own blockchain network to verify the the integrity of data – had raised $1.1m in a crowdsale conducted in mid-2015, before going […]
