CB insights has compiled a list of the top European venture capitalists by country based on the number of portfolio companies they have backed; the list focused on the most active investors of the last five years and included VCs, corporate VCs, growth equity firms and super angels. Source.
CODIX examines reasons why organizations withhold plans for replacing their IT solutions, why they must replace, and when it is the right time to change in their white paper. Source
The Telegraph explores performance on Lendy Finance, previously known as Saving Stream; outlines specific properties that have struggled and that almost 25% of loans are outside original terms; Lendy states that just 14.5% of its loan book is in default and is in line with the wider bridging and development finance market; the property lender’s loan book now totals £300 million. Source
The article discusses recent news of decreasing valuations of GLI Finance backed companies, potentially higher losses on Zopa's platform and troubles at Wellesley & Co. Source
Funding Circle announced they passed the milestone last year; CEO and Founder Samir Desai stated, “We were pleased with the result for the group. Overall we improved our loss margin. The UK business became cashflow positive in Q4 of 2016 and continues to generate positive cashflow in the first half of the year.” he added, "As we've said many a time, we believe that our business should be a public company as well because that fits with our values of transparency and being open, and allows us to take our service to more and more people as well."
Other highlights include:
- Operating expenses rose by 43% to £103.1 million;
- Losses dipped by 3% to £35.7 million thanks partly to a foreign exchange boost;
- £1 billion lent last year;
- Loans outstanding rose by 61% to £1.37 billion;
OnFido was founded by three Oxford grads who are all under 30; Microsoft’s venture capital arm participated in the Series C round; other participants included Crane Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures and other existing investors; in total the company has raised over $60 million for their product that uses machine learning to verify identity. Source
Zopa plans to reopen to new investors by end of the year after stopping investor on boarding earlier this year; they stopped taking new money because they were finding it harder to get good quality borrowers; they also saw a big jump in demand for their Innovative Finance Isa; while the plan for opening to new investors is targeted at year end it could be delayed by existing investor's Isa demand. Source.
AltFi reports that Ranger Direct lending Fund could see the second half dividend payout cut in half as compared to the first half of 2017; they cite legal fees, downward revisions to expected returns of platforms and cash drag due to reallocation of funds from closing platforms. Source.
When Tandem Bank acquired Harrod’s Bank in August there were three main reasons for the move; FT Alphaville reports Harrod’s had a banking license, the deal came with a $13.4mn capital injection to fund the company through to deal approval and an additional $107mn from existing investors. Source.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set up an asset management startup hub to help companies as they move between pre-authorization and authorization; the hub will help new entrants to better understand regulations, increase engagement and help to increase the quality of companies. Source.