David Durand, Advisor, Innovation and Advocacy
September 9th, 2020
Bain and Company | By Mike Kühnel, Thomas Olsen, John Fildes and Karl Gridl | Dec 16, 2020
Despite decades of technological advances, global capital markets remain characterized by fragmented and siloed networks, with limited interoperability between them. Reconciliation between systems requires extra, sometimes manual, steps. Many processes across the financial ecosystem thus continue to be prone to error and high costs. This applies to public markets but even more acutely to private markets.
As a consequence, a consensus across the global financial ecosystem has emerged: Digitized financial assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms will substantially improve transparency of information, automation, distribution and, ultimately, liquidity. Adoption of digital assets—assets and regulated financial securities that are represented digitally and administered on digital platforms—will expand beyond the first niche application of cryptocurrencies, with DLT removing many sources of inefficiency.
Exchanges, banks, technology companies and other financial market firms will need to make decisions soon about how to participate, as it takes time to build an economically attractive business model and the required capabilities and partnerships. Postponing this decision comes with the risk of losing strategic position as early movers gain share and replace or create new market infrastructure roles.
Despite uncertainty around the relevant legislation, dominant technologies and trustworthiness of some emerging firms in this space, we expect that digital assets will increasingly serve as substitutes for traditional financial products―not completely replacing them but rather operating side by side for many years. In the near term, DLT platforms can digitally represent traditional assets on a blockchain ledger to deliver more efficient administration, such as in managing collateral. But digital assets will also make inroads in issuance, trading, settlement, transfer and custody, because current systems for private assets involve expensive, manual tasks done by many intermediaries, resulting in cumbersome, duplicative and nontransparent processes.
In principle, any type of asset can be tokenized, in the sense that related rights of ownership or entitlement to cash flows, along with obligations, can be captured and stored via DLT. We have already seen oddities, such as shares in a professional athlete’s contract or fractional ownership of a painting. Yet while DLT has earned broad attention and support, the biggest opportunities do not lie in public markets, whose current technologies are fairly efficient and would be expensive and complicated to replace in the near term.
To be clear, digital assets are not a miracle that will make very small companies easy (or more desirable) to invest in. Nor will they circumvent retail investor protections by, say, allowing anyone to trade any private asset directly on a mobile app. Rather, the near-term breakthroughs consist of automating workflows and data ranging from capitalization tables to share transfers and dividend or interest payments. Digital asset platforms will bring benefits in efficiency and cost savings, accessibility and transparency. This, in turn, will enable new private capital market innovations to be more:
More Efficient: Digital platforms will allow alternative asset managers to create new, more efficient investment products with portfolios of tokenized private assets. Transfer and trading of private company shares currently have high documentation requirements for new shareholders, creating an administrative burden. Digital assets minimize that burden through smart contracts, where the terms of an agreement are programmable and thereby automated. Instead of settlement processes that take up to two weeks, embedded holder rights and an immutable record will ease verification of ownership, accelerate post-trade processes and remove intermediaries. Digital assets can also unlock more efficient settlement using digital fiat currency tokens and central bank digital currencies, as they become available.
More Accessibile: Automating capitalization tables through DLT will make private assets such as private company equity, debt and real estate much more efficient to administer. Efficiency also allows for new types of private capital products that will be more readily available to a broader set of investors―for example, through 401(k) retirement savings plans.
More Transparent: In the future, such platforms can be extended to help minimize costs and administrative tasks at the individual asset level. Transfer of equity tokens will also feature transparency of price and governance, including right of first refusal, proxy voting and divided payments. Automated administration would allow investors such as pension funds to more easily coinvest in specific parts or assets within a private equity fund portfolio.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Altfi.com | Aisling Finn | Jan 11, 2021
Fintechs flourished on Seedrs, maintaining the title of the most invested-in sector, with £78m invested in fintechs through the platform.
Crowdfunding platform Seedrs saw investments through its platform top £293m in 2020, hitting a milestone of £1bn invested to date on Christmas Day.
Fintech remained the most invested-in sector, scooping £78m collectively, with other areas seeing huge increases in investment, for instance, healthcare firms saw a 292 per cent jump in investment in 2020.
Seedrs says over 70 campaigns raised over £1m on the platform, with big fintech names such as money management app Snoop, which raised £10mhere have been nearly 14,000 investor exits on its secondary market to the tune of £5m, Seedrs says.
Jeff Lynn, executive chairman and co-founder of Seedrs, said: “Given the huge challenges that 2020 posed for all businesses, it is a source of great pride for the Seedrs team that have come to the end of the year having delivered meaningful growth across all key metrics.”
The record figures come as Seedrs saw losses widen, reporting a loss of £4.7m in the year ending December 2019 and admitting that Covid-19 has caused a “material uncertainty” which “may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern”.
Seedrs’ losses were published no more than one day after its merger with fellow crowdfunding platform Crowdcube was announced.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Crowdfund Capital Advisors | Sherwood Neiss | Jan 14, 2021
These include:
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Katipult | Vuk Stojkovic | Dec 23, 2020
Private markets just completed a decade of explosive growth. According to McKinsey’s “A new decade for private markets” review, 2019 saw record numbers in terms of private placement volume, with global private deal annual volume reaching $919B. The opportunity is here, and it is enormous. This article covers select insights from industry thought leaders on the latest trends in technology-first private placement markets.
Currently, forecasts are putting global alternative AUM at over $20 trillion by 2025, which is twice the value they were at in 2018. The number of deals more than doubled from 2009 to 2019. Behind these figures is strong investor demand, supercharged by recent regulatory changes.
Recent SEC regulatory changes have served as a catalyst and provided more options for equity capital markets to source capital from individual investors, creating a necessity for organizations to prioritize building out compliance and syndication processes for retail participation. Due to the administration involved with the participation of larger numbers of investors, many firms have only made their private deals available to institutional investors, with retail participation hovering around 10%. Firms looking to capitalize on the new influx of retail investors are prioritizing efficiency improvements of internal processes.
According to Blackstone, the percentage of its capital contribution by retail investors will shift dramatically in the first half of the next decade. By 2025 retail investors are projected to have a level of capital contribution equal to that of institutional investors. This means that organizations seeking sustainable growth in the space need to couple their private placement strategy with internal technology projects that prioritize building out compliance and syndication processes necessary for retail distribution.
Although the demand for private deals is reaching record highs, there is not enough accessible supply of investment opportunities. As a result, competition amongst quality firms is accelerating to fulfil investor appetite.
Firms relying on spreadsheets, email, and physical mail in 2020 will find it increasingly difficult to scale their business. The main factor behind the low rate of retail participation in deals is the inability of firms to increase the number of investors they are able to service without significantly expanding their workforce. The largest culprit is the legacy systems and processes that bring inefficiency to workflows such as investor onboarding, document execution, signature collection, and payment reconciliation.
On top of not being scalable, these outdated processes often come with human error and correction efforts are tedious, expensive, and create opportunity cost. A situation such as COVID-19 only exacerbates these issues since the old processes are simply not equipped to handle the logistical challenges organizations are now faced with. Centralizing these workflows on an online platform is allowing firms to maintain business continuity while simultaneously removing old operational issues.
Even though there is now an industry consensus on the value added by digital solutions, many smaller firms have not yet committed to a necessary digital transformation strategy like the industry’s largest firms. There are various reasons keeping organizations from making technology a priority, however their competitiveness is declining as a result. While the goals of digitization projects may vary from firm to firm, some common business outcomes that need to be addressed include lowering operational costs, enhancing investor experiences, driving new revenue, and improving reporting and decision making.
Replacing labor-intensive, ad hoc tasks with standardized and automated workflows will deliver benefits across all business segments; accelerate growth through shortening the deal cycle, enhance investor relationships and drive cost reduction and back-office productivity.
It should be noted that back office efficiency is not the only facet of digitization that delivers value to firms; the adverse impact that manual processes have on the quality of investor experience is also eliminated. Whether it is during the onboarding process or after the fact, users should be able to complete all interactions with a firm conveniently and access all necessary information in a way that is intuitive and seamless. Platforms that help organizations achieve this are going to be much more than a productivity tool by the people using them.
This crucial part of the investor journey is perhaps most visibly impacted by solutions such as the one offered by Katipult. The onboarding process is currently plagued with inefficiencies that can be entirely removed by digitizing the entire workflow. This includes systems to manage digital form submissions, ensure compliance, and automate KYC.
Smart forms are a high impact feature of private placement software that allow firms to scale the volume of deals without expanding the workforce. Smart forms keep track of appropriate investment vehicles and investor exemptions, and merge all required information in a guided workflow to ensure accurate execution of signatures and initials.
High on the list of priorities for leading firms has been replacing “wet” signatures with their electronic or digital counterparts. This allows firms to avoid playing tag with investors whose investments can’t move forward because of a missing signature. Collecting these electronically plays an important part in improving both the company’s back office efficiency as well as the investor experience.
It is important to understand the business fit of an e-signature solution before you go ahead with the implementation. There are many off-the-shelf solutions available on the market and companies need to plan in order to avoid going through a huge digitization project that ends up with disjointed solutions that don’t work together. A fully integrated solution is key, so whether you decide to integrate separate solutions or find one purpose-built for your platform, just make sure you have a clear path to making the whole ecosystem work together.
About the Author: Brock Murray is Head of Global Development & Director as well as co-founder and founding CEO of Katipult | TSXV: FUND. Under his leadership the company entered 20 unique regulatory environments, successfully completed a public listing, and attracted enterprise customers such as ATB Financial.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS!![]() ![]() ![]() |
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS!![]() ![]() ![]() |
Torys LLP | Blair W. Keefe, Eli Monas, William R. Walters | Dec 3, 2020
As part of its 2020 Budget1, the Government of Ontario has introduced the Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act, 2020 (Act) which will replace the existing Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act, 1994 (CUCPA). We outline some of the key changes in our latest guidance.
The Act is the outcome of a review process that began with a consultation on the development of a new legislative framework for Ontario credit unions in 2019 and a subsequent legislative review which was completed earlier this year.
Overall, a significant proportion of the CUCPA's content has been retained in the Act, but with much of the detailed, prescriptive content removed to be set out in regulations and Authority rules (i.e., the rules of the principal regulator of Ontario credit unions), the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)2. Significant changes have been made, however, that should provide Ontario credit unions with a more liberalized and modern legislative regime, most notably with respect to capital raising and business powers, governance, and administrative practices.
Ontario credit unions will have readier access to capital as the Act includes provisions to permit Ontario credit unions to sell securities through the exempt market under National Instrument 45-106-Prospectus Exemption and National Instrument 45-108-Crowdfunding.
Currently, Ontario credit unions can raise capital by selling securities to their members which requires the filing of an offering statement with FSRA, in accordance with the CUCPA, or filing a prospectus with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). While the existing framework was originally intended as a less burdensome alternative to filing a prospectus with the OSC, the new ability to raise capital through the exempt market will offer Ontario credit unions a more streamlined and cost-effective approach.
The Act will also significantly expand the scope of business that an Ontario credit union may undertake, most notably with respect to ancillary businesses, lending, and insurance. The Act has removed the requirement that an Ontario credit union may only engage in businesses "reasonably ancillary to the provision of financial services".
Instead, an Ontario credit union will now be permitted to engage in any trade or business that is not otherwise authorized under the Act with the FSRA CEO's written approval (subject to any conditions or limitations which may be prescribed by the Authority rules) (section 139).
Furthermore, under the Act, an Ontario credit union will be permitted to make loans to non-members (section 154). In addition, while the existing provision of the CUCPA restricting an Ontario credit union's insurance business will remain unchanged in substance, the Ontario government has stated in "Ontario's Action Plan 2020" that Ontario credit unions will be permitted to sell insurance within branches and on their websites and that the new Act will provide “opportunities for insurance intermediaries and credit unions to seek mutually beneficial business relationships that could reduce costs".
The final scope and effect of these new business powers will only become clear with the publication of the applicable regulations and Authority rules, but the indications are that Ontario credit unions will have a wide range of new opportunities to expand their client base, business partnerships, and product offerings.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Crowdfund Insider | | Nov 24, 2020
The exempt securities marketplace can be arcane and challenging to manage for entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital. The advent of online capital formation has helped to democratize access to capital as well as streamline securities offerings but hurdles do remain. A new startup co-founded by several prominent names in the investment crowdfunding industry seeks to facilitate secondary transactions for private securities.
Sherwood “Woodie” Neiss, co-founder of Crowdfund Capital Advisors, Doug Ellenoff, Managing Partner of Manhattan law firm of Ellenoff, Grossman, and Schole, and Jim Dowd, founder and CEO of North Capital Private Securities, have joined to launch GUARDD: A Fintech designed to support secondary market trading for private company securities, including digital assets/tokens to facilitate compliance with both federal transparency requirements and state blue sky laws.
According to a note from the company, GUARDD enables the necessary disclosure and dissemination of private company information for investors, regulators, and market participants. This allows issuers to comply with federal and state financial disclosure requirements related to the trading of private company securities in secondary markets, thus addressing a challenge regarding exempt securities that tend to be illiquid. Overall, more liquidity can help price discovery while boosting interest in private securities.
Following the announcement that the platform is now live, Crowdfund Insider contacted Neiss with questions regarding the platform’s operations and his expectations for GUARDD. Our discussion is shared below.
Woodie Neiss: When the final rules came out for Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) we knew that these securities could be available for secondary transfer after the one-year holding period was up. We also knew for Regulation A+ offerings those securities could be transferred immediately. However, nothing in the rules addressed the obstacles issuers would have to face to be in compliance with state laws that govern the secondary transfer of securities nor pre-empted state laws.
At that point, a seed was planted but it didn’t sprout until the industry had a chance to evolve and Online Investment Platforms, as well as Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs), started to express interest in facilitating the secondary transfer of securities.
At this point, we knew that it would be incredibly difficult and costly for issuers to tackle the 50 different state laws that govern the secondary transfer of securities. But we also knew the Manual Exemption could be a pathway. It would require getting issuers to provide ongoing disclosures in a National Securities Manual. Such a pathway for private companies didn’t exist. It was then that we decided to embark on developing a Technology solution to enable this.
Woodie Neiss: There are very few exemptions under which issuers do not have to register their offerings or resales under state laws. These include non-solicitation and private isolated offers and sales to accredited investors. The only way one can have broad exemption is to publish ongoing company and financial information in what is known as a National Securities Manual. We spent almost 3 years building the technology and solution and socializing it with NASAA and the state regulators.
GUARDD standardizes private company reporting much like a 10k or a 10q does for a public company. We work with issuers that have performed an audit so that a CPA has verified the integrity of information disclosed. We then take their GUARDD report and audit, run it through our blue sky compliance team, and publish it in a National Securities Manual.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS!![]() ![]() ![]() |