UK mortgage loan marketplace platform, LendInvest, has released its 2016 earnings; originations on the platform increased 84% to £320 million for the year ending March 2016; company grew revenue 133% to £32 million with a profit of £3.4 million; leads most of its competitors who have been consistently reporting losses. Source
The Debt Exchange notes how US regulators are flagging some concern with commercial real estate investment concentrations, even as pricing shows steady demand for properties; regulators are finding bank ratios of commercial real estate loans to total risk-based-capital are approaching 300% in certain property markets (300% is possible through leverage) and loan-to-deposit ratios are approaching 100%, both flags on the risk side; the article notes that loan sales, to private investors as well as through securitizations, are an effective way to reduce these ratios. Source
Sharestates is raising capital for a Series A funding round on SeedInvest; planning for potential investment of $3 million in preferred equity; Sharestates provides real estate investment opportunities and access to capital on its platform; has total loan originations of $178 million. Source
A new report by NextGen Crowdfunding documents increasing use of Reg. A+ as the regulatory umbrella for real estate crowdfunding and other financial offerings; Reg. A+ was finalized in June 2015 as a means for non-accredited investors to access private offerings; companies can raise up to $50 million per year under Reg. A+; across all sectors, 131 companies to date have filed under Reg. A+, with 38% of these filings being by real estate and financial services platforms and many others being IT startups; roughly half of the filers are using "Tier 1" rules for Reg. A+, meaning they will continue to register in individual states as well as at the federal level, and half are filing "Tier 2", seeking national fundraising scope while avoiding the added prudence of vetting against state rules. Source
Chinese regulators raided over 40 companies in China to investigate for illegal activities pertaining to the country's newly disseminated laws; investigators found property agents listing homes that owners had not agreed to sell and providing false information about properties; with a focus on real estate property investing, the investigators also found P2P lenders offering down payment loans after they were recently restricted by regulators. Source
Small Change is claiming to be the first real estate crowdfunding platform that's issuing investments under Reg. CF; the company focuses on investment projects with community enhancement benefits; Reg. CF (covered by the JOBS Act Title III) is one of several regulatory frameworks to facilitate private investments; Reg. CF is suited for smaller startups and investment offerings up to $1 million, without the full SEC filing requirements of Reg. A+; in the Crowdfund Insight interview, Small Change CEO, Eve Picker, suggests that they will use Reg. CF for smaller real estate investment projects and broader outreach to all levels of investors, while using Reg. D in parallel to reach accredited investors for larger deals. Source
R3 is making its blockchain code base publicly available, in an effort to drive standards for the technology; its "Corda" platform code will be stored starting November 30th as part of the Hyperledger open-source project, which is run by the non-profit Linux Foundation to encourage cross-industry experimentation and adoption of blockchain; R3's Chief Engineer, James Carlyle, explained, "If we have one platform with lots of products on top, then we get something that's more like the internet, where we still get innovation but we can still communicate with each other."; in related news, R3 and 12 of its bank members recently trialed Ripple's Digital Asset XRP platform for interbank cross-border payments. Source
Wealth Migrate is claiming to be the first real estate online investing platform that has incorporated blockchain technology; the company focuses on cross-border real estate investing; blockchain is being applied to defining and recording smart contracts and a decentralized, unalterable record of investment transactions. Source