Paul Schulte, Advisor, Banking and Financial Services
August 22nd, 2019
Paul Schulte is the Founder and Managing Editor of Shulte Research based in Singapore. Paul's roles[...]
World’s Largest: OurCrowd Still on Track to Top USD $1 Billion in Investment Crowdfunding
Crowdfund Insider | | Sep 18, 2018
In many ways, OurCrowd epitomizes the aspirations of what investment crowdfunding has the potential to deliver for both issuers and investors. By providing access to quality deals to smaller (accredited) investors, OurCrowd has opened up an asset class previously closed off to all but the very fortunate. On OurCrowd, you can find yourself investing alongside some of the biggest names in venture capital – at the exact same terms – an important distinction. It is also important to note that OurCrowd has skin in the game for each offering it lists on the platform – thus interests are aligned: OurCrowd wants the company to succeed and it also very much wants to see a return on its own investment. These qualities make OurCrowd a compelling option for investors that are willing to shoulder an element of portfolio risk that can also drive some outsized returns.
OurCrowd is based in Israel – where many of its investments are made – but its vision is to empower investors globally and fund companies regardless of geographic borders. This is what you want to see in the digitized, internet fueled Fintech age.
CI recently caught up with Jon Medved, the ubiquitous founder and CEO of OurCrowd, for an update on platform progress as they execute on their mission to democratize access to opportunity.
Earlier this year, you indicated OurCrowd would top USD $1 billion of investment at some point this year. Is this still on track?
Jon Medved: Yes, our growth in both active new investors and average investment sizes are scaling according to plan through the first half and we believe we will have an even stronger second half result.
Recently OurCrowd was recognized as the top VC in Israel, do you think you can replicate this accomplishment in other countries over time?
Jon Medved: Our focus is on becoming not only the “most active VC investor” but becoming one of the “most successful VC investors.”
When we started, I don’t think many believed that our model could scale this effectively, yet here we are.
Since this asset class has a long growth curve of 7-10 years or beyond to bear the greatest fruits, we know we need to be persistent but patient.
We now have 20 different portfolio companies whose value is $100 million or more, so many of our investments are starting to mature and we are encouraged by their progress. The next phase will clearly be to replicate our level of activity in Israel to other regions of the world. While we are already sourcing about 30% of our deals outside of Israel, we would like to grow this percentage. The key to doing this will be to open up more offices (we already have 11 worldwide offices), sign more global strategic partners, and to engage more active investors who will help us source and diligence quality deal flow in their regions and their areas of expertise.
See:
-
Report: Crowdfunding Platform OurCrowd Reaffirms Expectation to Top $1 Billion this Year
-
Equity crowdfunding is eroding the best returns VC funds used to enjoy
This month, OurCrowd announced its second investment in unicorn Klook which was your first China investment. How is deal flow for China based firms?
Jon Medved: Our growing network in Asia is a credit to the strong partnerships we have enjoyed in the region. As with everything in our industry, the winning formula always starts with the right people. Not only the people within our organization and across our strategic alliances, but the people we choose to invest in.
In Asia, more than anywhere, access to deals comes from a position of trust. As we grow our investment community in Asia, we hope to find more deals like Klook. Asia has so much promise and upside and spectacular entrepreneurs—but the key will be to deliver added value to these companies and provide them with important access to the rest of our global network.
OurCrowd has a growing portfolio of sector funds for investors. How are these progressing? Will you always offer single firm investments?
Jon Medved: Absolutely we will continue to offer single firm investments; this has been and will continue to be the bedrock of our investment platform.
Our unique ability to deliver deal-by-deal discretion and the “freedom of choice” continues to be a really exciting core of our business. This is especially true as we offer companies at different stages (from Series A to Series E), in different sectors, and with the ability to invest in multiple rounds (we have some companies where we have already participated in 5 rounds of funding!)
The fact that someone can access great globally recognized venture capital funds with a minimum investment of only $50,000 is a game changer.
However, that said, we are also excited by the growing fund opportunities that we are providing on the platform. We now offer 13 different funds, which fulfill a real need for our investors who want managed portfolios and diversification. The fact that someone can access great globally recognized venture capital funds with a minimum investment of only $50,000 is a game changer. While maintaining our single company investments we also plan to also expand our fund model to many other sectors and strategies, because there is a real synergy between our funds and the single companies on our platform.
More:
-
$5 million Equity crowdfunding extended to private companies
-
NCFA: Canada Needs a Harmonized Securities Environment as Current Provincial Approach is a Fintech Innovation Killer
What about institutional growth. Last time we spoke much of the platform growth was being fueled by institutional money. Is this continuing? What type of institutional interest are you seeing?
Jon Medved: We have indeed signed several agreements recently with institutional investors who have become our largest and most active investors and partners to date.
What is really exciting about this institutional growth is that it has not come at the expense of our 25,000 accredited investor base. We continue to grow this accredited investor base, and we are proud that we continue to offer deal access to both the individual accredited investor and the huge institution on the same terms. This is a fulfillment of our goal to democratize access to quality venture capital. We are seeing growing institutional interest in our individual company investments especially as many of our deals start to raise $10 million and up on our platform, where there is room for institutions to take a real swing and get the size they want.
Also, the institutions like the fact that they can build their own personalized fund of funds on our platform where they can get a basket of funds without paying the additional fees and carry normally associated with fund of funds.
Continue to the full article --> here
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
 |  |  |
Bank On It podcast | John Siracusa | March 11, 2020 This nugget was pulled from episode 160 from an interview with Brett Crosby, co-founder & COO of PeerStreet. This nugget is on turning a funding failure into a win. About Brett Crosby: Brett is the co-founder and COO of PeerStreet, a platform for investing in real estate-backed loans. Crosby was previously the director of product marketing at Google, where he co-founded Google Analytics, helped start Google’s mobile advertising business and recently ran the global marketing teams responsible for the growth of Chrome, Gmail, Docs and Drive. Continue to the full article --> here 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 ...
Read More
Crowdfund Insider | Karsten Wenzlaff and Ronald Kleverlaan | March 31, 2020 The Crowdfunding industry is well aware of what economists call externalities – the fact that behavior of some people has an unintended impact on other people. Positive externalities can be observed on the Crowdfunding platforms every day due to the willingness of people to join their forces. These days, everyone becomes aware of the impact other people have directly on our lives, health, financial situation, liberties. Crowdfunding platforms were very quick in meeting the challenge of channeling funds to those places where they are needed. Governments are now pumping billions and most likely trillions of dollars through the banking system into the economy. The alternative finance industry should not be ignored when creating the right response to the COVID-19 pandemic. RESILIENT CAPITAL: How Regulation Crowdfunding Stood up to the First Weeks of Coronavirus What could governments do? They could support the donation-based platforms by reimbursing transaction fees, because essentially it will allow more donations to flow. They could also facilitate partnerships between municipalities, regions, and platforms that encourage local donations to local projects. For instance, the platform Helfen.Berlin which collects donations for companies in exchange for gift certificates is ...
Read More
McKinsey & Company | By Philip B, Reet C., Olivier D., Tobias L., and Marc N | March 2020 The challenges are immediate, with long-term implications for global, regional, and local economies—and for the payments industry itself. Here’s what to expect. Any projection of industry performance rests on assumptions about overall economic activity. The outlook largely depends on the spread of the virus, the public-health response, and the effectiveness of the fiscal, monetary, and broader public response. A relatively optimistic scenario, taking into account these variables, assumes that the virus will be contained after an economic lockdown of two to three months in Europe and the United States. Under this scenario, global GDP would decline in 2020 by 1.5 percent, which we estimate would result in, at most, a decline in payments revenues of around $165 billion, some 8 percent lower than they were in 2019. See: All businesses seeing 30% drop in revenue due to pandemic will be eligible for 75% wage subsidies: Trudeau Cross-border consumer-to-business transactions are likely to drop. One-quarter of the total decline in revenues in our analysis is driven by cross-border payments, led by a 25 to 30 percent decline in cross-border C2B transactions. This ...
Read More
FintechZoom | Jung Min-seo | April 1, 2020 What’s the cybersecurity risk panorama for fintechs in 2020? Accenture’s perception offers some readability The tempo of digital transformation throughout the monetary panorama continues to quicken. In such an atmosphere the digital or cyber risk proposition evolves quickly, making it important to take care of the best requirements of know-how and preparedness, and hold updated with the impression of cyber tendencies. In response to Accenture’s 2019 Ninth Annual Price of Cybercrime report, monetary providers incurred the best cybercrime prices amongst all industries studied in 2018. See: On this analysis, Accenture explains: “As industries evolve and disrupt the present atmosphere, threats are dramatically increasing whereas turning into extra advanced. This requires extra safety innovation to guard firm ecosystems. The following value to our organisations and economies is substantial – and rising.” See: Smart Cities Offer Promises and Concerns Over Privacy Throughout all industries, Accenture discovered that data theft is the most costly and quickest rising consequence of cybercrime. Nonetheless, it famous that there are a number of drivers behind the evolving world cybersecurity risk for all sectors: Evolving targets: knowledge is now not the one goal in response to Accenture. Moderately, corporations worldwide ...
Read More
Fintech Magazine | By Matt High | March 31, 2020 We take a closer look at the eight innovative virtual banks that are digitally disrupting Hong Kong's financial services industry using technologies like AI, machine learning and Big Data With a national GDP of $341.4bn, Hong Kong is a rapidly growing economy and a centre of innovation and digital transformation. The special administrative region's history is rooted in the financial sector due to its low taxation, legislation that favours free trade and a currency pegged to the US Dollar. Despite the financial sector in Hong Kong being dominated by incumbents, it is seeing a rapid rise in fintechs, digital banks and new propositions that are driven by the latest technologies. The rise of virtual banking Last year the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that eight virtual banks had been selected to receive licenses to operate in the country. Below we look in more detail at those virtual banks. Ant SME: A subsidiary of Ant Financial, the virtual bank is reportedly going to target the Hong Kong SME market, and is dedicated to providing inclusive banking solutions to smaller businesses in the nation’s economy. Insight Fintech: A joint venture between smartphone ...
Read More
Nasdaq Markets | Brian Withers | March 31, 2020 Amid the market volatility, two financial services companies held investor presentations in the past several weeks. Digital payments ecosystem Square (NYSE: SQ) and financial services company American Express (NYSE: AXP) provided updates on the current market situation, and, more importantly, their long-term growth plans. Both companies play in the financial services sector, but they are at different points in their growth cycles and appeal to different kinds of investors. Let's dive into the details and make a determination as to which is a better buy today. See: Growth in Canadian FinTechs Having Impact on Canada’s Banking Landscape The companies at a glance American Express was founded more than 150 years before Square, but it is only three times Square's size in market capitalization. For dividend and value-minded investors, the financial stalwart boasts almost a 2% yield and incredible bottom-line profits. But Square is growing faster and has more growth opportunity. The case for Square Square's stock has gotten slashed recently as small shops are suffering under shelter-in-place and closure orders for non-essential businesses. In its investor day meeting, company management indicated payment transactions have declined in March, lowered its guidance for the ...
Read More
CBC News | Kathleen Harris | March 30, 2020 PM warns of 'serious consequences' for companies that abuse the system Businesses and non-profit organizations seeing a drop of at least 30 per cent in revenue due to COVID-19 will qualify for the government's 75 per cent wage subsidy program, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today — adding that "serious consequences" await those who abuse the system. During the daily media briefing outside his residence at Rideau Cottage, Trudeau said the number of people a business employs will not determine its eligibility. Charities and companies big and small will qualify, he said. For those companies experiencing a decrease in revenues of at least 30 per cent, the government will cover up to 75 per cent of a salary on the first $58,700, which could mean payments of up to $847 a week. The prime minister also encouraged businesses to top up their employees wages with the remaining 25 per cent of their salaries. Trudeau said the wage subsidies will be retroactive to March 15, 2020. "We are trusting you to do the right thing," he said. "If you have the means to pay the remaining 25 per cent that is not covered by the subsidy, ...
Read More
Electronic Frontier Foundation | Lindsay Oliver |March 19, 2020 A greater portion of the world’s work, organizing, and care-giving is moving onto digital platforms and tools that facilitate connection and productivity: video conferencing, messaging apps, healthcare and educational platforms, and more. It’s important to be aware of the ways these tools may impact your digital privacy and security during the COVID-19 crisis. Here are a few things you should know in order to make informed decisions about what works best for you and your communities, and ways you can use security and privacy best practices to protect yourself and others. Free Slacks EFF has written a lot about Slack’s data retention issues when it comes to free versions of the software. With so many mutual aid networks and organizing groups coalescing on Slack to support our communities, it’s important that users are aware that the company retains their messages if they're using a free plan—and they can't automatically delete them. By default, Slack retains all the messages in a workspace or channel (including direct messages) for as long as the workspace exists. See: 58 Must-Read Remote Work Resources | 50 Great Remote Working Resources If you are using a paid ...
Read More
Linkedin | Richard Turrin | March 29, 2020 Neobanks are caught in the middle of a coronavirus induced "flight to quality" that they may not be able to fight. Investors are moving capital away from risk and toward the safety of larger incumbents. Preliminary figures from the Federal reserve show large cash movements into the larger incumbent banks, perhaps based on the belief that they are "too big to fail" and provide a haven for cash. Neobanks are trying to gain deposits and user trust in what is now a very different market than when they launched, and their response to these changes in upcoming months will be critical. For the record, I like neobanks and think that they have had a profoundly positive influence in making banking services better for everyone. See: NorthOne announces Series A round of $21M USD That said, their position as newcomers, heavy dependence on investor support, high valuations, and lack of profits puts some in the same category as WeWork. A cautionary comparison and perhaps an overstatement, but amid a financial crisis apropos. It’s now harder to see how ease of use will attract investors who are suddenly more worried about trust and safety. Let's look at how neobanks ...
Read More
TechCrunch | Steve O'Hear | March 24, 2020 It all started with a tweet from 11:FS co-founder Simon Taylor. If the U.K. government could be persuaded to provide financial support to the self-employed during the Coronavirus crisis, as it has already pledged for full-time employees, then Open Banking technology could be used to self-certify lost income, and therefore overcome one of the main hurdles of administering potential compensation. The founders of two other London-based fintechs, Fronted and Credit Kudos, were first to accept the challenge, and soon they were joined by dozens of other volunteers from the wider U.K. fintech community with the aim of turning around a working prototype of “Covid Credit” in just 48 hours. See: Fintechs getting a boost from coronavirus outbreak “Like many, we saw a challenge for non-salaried workers who are currently ineligible for government relief,” says Fronted’s Jamie Campbell. “By using Open Banking, we have been able to quickly develop a simple process that allows non-salaried workers to generate a proof statement which details their past income and the impact of COVID-19”. The Covid Credit team’s hypothesis is that evidencing and validating the income of a sole trader is significantly harder than a salaried ...
Read More
Bank On It podcast | John Siracusa | March 11, 2020 This nugget was pulled from episode 160 from an interview with Brett Crosby, co-founder & COO of PeerStreet. This nugget is on turning a funding failure into a win. About Brett Crosby: Brett is the co-founder and COO of PeerStreet, a platform for investing in real estate-backed loans. Crosby was previously the director of product marketing at Google, where he co-founded Google Analytics, helped start Google’s mobile advertising business and recently ran the global marketing teams responsible for the growth of Chrome, Gmail, Docs and Drive. Continue to the full article --> here 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 ...
Read More
Read More
Crowdfund Insider | Karsten Wenzlaff and Ronald Kleverlaan | March 31, 2020 The Crowdfunding industry is well aware of what economists call externalities – the fact that behavior of some people has an unintended impact on other people. Positive externalities can be observed on the Crowdfunding platforms every day due to the willingness of people to join their forces. These days, everyone becomes aware of the impact other people have directly on our lives, health, financial situation, liberties. Crowdfunding platforms were very quick in meeting the challenge of channeling funds to those places where they are needed. Governments are now pumping billions and most likely trillions of dollars through the banking system into the economy. The alternative finance industry should not be ignored when creating the right response to the COVID-19 pandemic. RESILIENT CAPITAL: How Regulation Crowdfunding Stood up to the First Weeks of Coronavirus What could governments do? They could support the donation-based platforms by reimbursing transaction fees, because essentially it will allow more donations to flow. They could also facilitate partnerships between municipalities, regions, and platforms that encourage local donations to local projects. For instance, the platform Helfen.Berlin which collects donations for companies in exchange for gift certificates is ...
Read More
Read More
McKinsey & Company | By Philip B, Reet C., Olivier D., Tobias L., and Marc N | March 2020 The challenges are immediate, with long-term implications for global, regional, and local economies—and for the payments industry itself. Here’s what to expect. Any projection of industry performance rests on assumptions about overall economic activity. The outlook largely depends on the spread of the virus, the public-health response, and the effectiveness of the fiscal, monetary, and broader public response. A relatively optimistic scenario, taking into account these variables, assumes that the virus will be contained after an economic lockdown of two to three months in Europe and the United States. Under this scenario, global GDP would decline in 2020 by 1.5 percent, which we estimate would result in, at most, a decline in payments revenues of around $165 billion, some 8 percent lower than they were in 2019. See: All businesses seeing 30% drop in revenue due to pandemic will be eligible for 75% wage subsidies: Trudeau Cross-border consumer-to-business transactions are likely to drop. One-quarter of the total decline in revenues in our analysis is driven by cross-border payments, led by a 25 to 30 percent decline in cross-border C2B transactions. This ...
Read More
Read More
FintechZoom | Jung Min-seo | April 1, 2020 What’s the cybersecurity risk panorama for fintechs in 2020? Accenture’s perception offers some readability The tempo of digital transformation throughout the monetary panorama continues to quicken. In such an atmosphere the digital or cyber risk proposition evolves quickly, making it important to take care of the best requirements of know-how and preparedness, and hold updated with the impression of cyber tendencies. In response to Accenture’s 2019 Ninth Annual Price of Cybercrime report, monetary providers incurred the best cybercrime prices amongst all industries studied in 2018. See: On this analysis, Accenture explains: “As industries evolve and disrupt the present atmosphere, threats are dramatically increasing whereas turning into extra advanced. This requires extra safety innovation to guard firm ecosystems. The following value to our organisations and economies is substantial – and rising.” See: Smart Cities Offer Promises and Concerns Over Privacy Throughout all industries, Accenture discovered that data theft is the most costly and quickest rising consequence of cybercrime. Nonetheless, it famous that there are a number of drivers behind the evolving world cybersecurity risk for all sectors: Evolving targets: knowledge is now not the one goal in response to Accenture. Moderately, corporations worldwide ...
Read More
Read More
Fintech Magazine | By Matt High | March 31, 2020 We take a closer look at the eight innovative virtual banks that are digitally disrupting Hong Kong's financial services industry using technologies like AI, machine learning and Big Data With a national GDP of $341.4bn, Hong Kong is a rapidly growing economy and a centre of innovation and digital transformation. The special administrative region's history is rooted in the financial sector due to its low taxation, legislation that favours free trade and a currency pegged to the US Dollar. Despite the financial sector in Hong Kong being dominated by incumbents, it is seeing a rapid rise in fintechs, digital banks and new propositions that are driven by the latest technologies. The rise of virtual banking Last year the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that eight virtual banks had been selected to receive licenses to operate in the country. Below we look in more detail at those virtual banks. Ant SME: A subsidiary of Ant Financial, the virtual bank is reportedly going to target the Hong Kong SME market, and is dedicated to providing inclusive banking solutions to smaller businesses in the nation’s economy. Insight Fintech: A joint venture between smartphone ...
Read More
Read More
Nasdaq Markets | Brian Withers | March 31, 2020 Amid the market volatility, two financial services companies held investor presentations in the past several weeks. Digital payments ecosystem Square (NYSE: SQ) and financial services company American Express (NYSE: AXP) provided updates on the current market situation, and, more importantly, their long-term growth plans. Both companies play in the financial services sector, but they are at different points in their growth cycles and appeal to different kinds of investors. Let's dive into the details and make a determination as to which is a better buy today. See: Growth in Canadian FinTechs Having Impact on Canada’s Banking Landscape The companies at a glance American Express was founded more than 150 years before Square, but it is only three times Square's size in market capitalization. For dividend and value-minded investors, the financial stalwart boasts almost a 2% yield and incredible bottom-line profits. But Square is growing faster and has more growth opportunity. The case for Square Square's stock has gotten slashed recently as small shops are suffering under shelter-in-place and closure orders for non-essential businesses. In its investor day meeting, company management indicated payment transactions have declined in March, lowered its guidance for the ...
Read More
Read More
CBC News | Kathleen Harris | March 30, 2020 PM warns of 'serious consequences' for companies that abuse the system Businesses and non-profit organizations seeing a drop of at least 30 per cent in revenue due to COVID-19 will qualify for the government's 75 per cent wage subsidy program, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today — adding that "serious consequences" await those who abuse the system. During the daily media briefing outside his residence at Rideau Cottage, Trudeau said the number of people a business employs will not determine its eligibility. Charities and companies big and small will qualify, he said. For those companies experiencing a decrease in revenues of at least 30 per cent, the government will cover up to 75 per cent of a salary on the first $58,700, which could mean payments of up to $847 a week. The prime minister also encouraged businesses to top up their employees wages with the remaining 25 per cent of their salaries. Trudeau said the wage subsidies will be retroactive to March 15, 2020. "We are trusting you to do the right thing," he said. "If you have the means to pay the remaining 25 per cent that is not covered by the subsidy, ...
Read More
Read More
Electronic Frontier Foundation | Lindsay Oliver |March 19, 2020 A greater portion of the world’s work, organizing, and care-giving is moving onto digital platforms and tools that facilitate connection and productivity: video conferencing, messaging apps, healthcare and educational platforms, and more. It’s important to be aware of the ways these tools may impact your digital privacy and security during the COVID-19 crisis. Here are a few things you should know in order to make informed decisions about what works best for you and your communities, and ways you can use security and privacy best practices to protect yourself and others. Free Slacks EFF has written a lot about Slack’s data retention issues when it comes to free versions of the software. With so many mutual aid networks and organizing groups coalescing on Slack to support our communities, it’s important that users are aware that the company retains their messages if they're using a free plan—and they can't automatically delete them. By default, Slack retains all the messages in a workspace or channel (including direct messages) for as long as the workspace exists. See: 58 Must-Read Remote Work Resources | 50 Great Remote Working Resources If you are using a paid ...
Read More
Read More
Linkedin | Richard Turrin | March 29, 2020 Neobanks are caught in the middle of a coronavirus induced "flight to quality" that they may not be able to fight. Investors are moving capital away from risk and toward the safety of larger incumbents. Preliminary figures from the Federal reserve show large cash movements into the larger incumbent banks, perhaps based on the belief that they are "too big to fail" and provide a haven for cash. Neobanks are trying to gain deposits and user trust in what is now a very different market than when they launched, and their response to these changes in upcoming months will be critical. For the record, I like neobanks and think that they have had a profoundly positive influence in making banking services better for everyone. See: NorthOne announces Series A round of $21M USD That said, their position as newcomers, heavy dependence on investor support, high valuations, and lack of profits puts some in the same category as WeWork. A cautionary comparison and perhaps an overstatement, but amid a financial crisis apropos. It’s now harder to see how ease of use will attract investors who are suddenly more worried about trust and safety. Let's look at how neobanks ...
Read More
Read More
TechCrunch | Steve O'Hear | March 24, 2020 It all started with a tweet from 11:FS co-founder Simon Taylor. If the U.K. government could be persuaded to provide financial support to the self-employed during the Coronavirus crisis, as it has already pledged for full-time employees, then Open Banking technology could be used to self-certify lost income, and therefore overcome one of the main hurdles of administering potential compensation. The founders of two other London-based fintechs, Fronted and Credit Kudos, were first to accept the challenge, and soon they were joined by dozens of other volunteers from the wider U.K. fintech community with the aim of turning around a working prototype of “Covid Credit” in just 48 hours. See: Fintechs getting a boost from coronavirus outbreak “Like many, we saw a challenge for non-salaried workers who are currently ineligible for government relief,” says Fronted’s Jamie Campbell. “By using Open Banking, we have been able to quickly develop a simple process that allows non-salaried workers to generate a proof statement which details their past income and the impact of COVID-19”. The Covid Credit team’s hypothesis is that evidencing and validating the income of a sole trader is significantly harder than a salaried ...
Read More
Read More
Related Posts
FrontFundr Further Expands Investor Access to Private Investment Deals
Report: Crowdfunding Platform OurCrowd Reaffirms Expectation to Top $1 Billion this Year
FINTECH FRIDAY$ (EP.16-Nov 2): Envisioning the Future of Open Banking for Consumers and Businesses with Cato Pastoll, Co-founder and CEO, Lending Loop
Raising money for Ontario based businesses just got a lot easier
FINTECH FRIDAY$ (EP24-Feb 8): Re-imagining Philanthropy with Daryl Hatton, Founder and CEO of ConnectionPoint/FundRazr
Securities Exchange Commission’s Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation – Annual Report 2019
