Funding Circle close further funding round, valued at $1 billion
Investor interest in the peer-to-peer lending industry shows no sign of slowing; British site Funding Circle have just closed another round of funding, taking their total raise to $380 million. Funding Circle recently closed another round of venture capital funding to the tune of $100 million, valuing the company at $1 billion. The new round was led by DST Global, BlackRock, and Temasek, a fund backed by the Singaporean government. Since its conception in 2010, Funding Circle have become ones of the world’s leading marketplaces exclusively focused on small businesses. The platform has raised approximately £300 million in equity capital, lending more than £2.5 billion to 25,000 businesses in the […]
Australian FinTech launches International FinTech platform
The team behind the highly successful AustralianFinTech.com.au, this week launch their International platform, ukfintech.internationalfintech.com, aimed at connecting the FinTech industry on a global scale. Founder and CEO, Cameron Dart, says International FinTech has been born on the back of the highly successful Australian FinTech platform and growing demand from the global community to have a dedicated online presence for their sector. “International FinTech mirrors the Australian FinTech platform, including a dedicated industry newsfeed and a comprehensive directory of FinTech companies globally. “The site also aims to educate users of new financial technologies such as peer to peer lending and cryptocurrency, all presented in simple terms with no financial jargon” says […]
Banks team up with their FinTech competitors
These are challenging times for the incumbent heavyweights of the financial services sector. Beset by regulatory, governance, technological, capital, and investment issues, they are increasingly facing competition for business from a whole host of new players, primarily from ‘FinTechs’. Growth of marketplace lending In the case of online lenders, this trend began in the UK in the mid-2000s when Zopa, the world’s first digital and now Europe’s largest peer-to-peer (now called marketplace) provider, launched, quickly followed by the likes of Prosper, Lending Club, and OnDeck in the US. Eleven years on, Zopa has lent around 1.8 billion pounds to more than 150,000 borrowers funded by 63,000 investors of whom 53,000 […]
