Blockchain startup claims funding “milestone” and big name board members July 15, 2016 London-based blockchain startup Setl has named two new high-profile board members after closing its first private funding round. Rachel Lomax, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, and Ed Richards, the former chief executive of broadcast regulator Ofcom, have joined ex-Barclays chairman Sir David Walker on the board. Setl also said it would be [...]
UK stocks in a post-Brexit world – industrials, healthcare and biotech can still do well, despite the weakening pound July 15, 2016 The UK’s decision to vote Leave sent share prices tumbling, and the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 has been left worst off. Mark Martin, manager of the Neptune UK Mid Cap fund, explains the areas he’s still finding attractive – and the ones he’s avoiding On the Friday after Brexit, the FTSE 250 mid-cap index had [...]
O2 owner Telefonica UK chief executive Ronan Dunne is leaving the company July 15, 2016 O2 boss Ronan Dunne has announced he is leaving the company after 15 years with the group, eight of which were spent at the helm. Dunne will step down from the board of O2 owner Telefonica UK, a subsidiary of Spain's Telefonica, on 31 July. He will be replaced by finance chief Mark Evans, who joined the group in January [...]
How to stop your boss from clobbering you at work July 15, 2016 Q: I’ve got a problem with my boss. He’s smart, dynamic and makes the office fun, and in most ways I really enjoy working with him. But quite regularly, in a jokey way, if he wants to make a point, he feels it’s alright to slap me on the arm or the back with a [...]
Crowdfunder offers new funding route between projects and grant money July 14, 2016 A crowdfunding platform is offering itself up as a new link between projects seeking funds and organisations offering grants and sponsorship. Crowdfunder is to distribute the money from brands, councils and community funds to business, community, charity and individuals’ projects. The schemes will be picked to fit the specific criteria of the funding organisations. The platform [...]
The City watchdog is having a think about how you’ll take your pension July 14, 2016 The City watchdog is keen to make sure the pensions market keeps ticking over, and has revealed today just how it plans to do it. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is conducting a Retirement Outcomes Review, with a full report expected to be published next summer, and has today laid out what precisely it plans [...]
Asset manager reports growth and talks up emerging market after Brexit vote July 14, 2016 Emerging markets asset manager Ashmore Group has reported a three per cent growth in assets under management (AUM) in the last quarter. Mark Coombs, chief executive of Ashmore, said emerging markets asset classes have been “among the best performing so far in 2016”. At the time of writing, Ashmore’s share price had fallen nearly one per [...]
It’s a myth that VCs and crowdfunding platforms are at war. If you’re raising money, your focus should be on the following July 14, 2016 As equity crowdfunding evolves, the view is that there’s a war underway between venture capitalists and platforms targeting retail investors – as both vye for the best deals. But in reality, the scene remains peaceful. As a VC firm, we view crowdfunding as a complementary finance channel that can find additional and strategic capital for appropriate [...]
OurCrowd’s Jon Medved gives his tips for crowdfunding investors July 14, 2016 Israel deserves its moniker “startup nation”. There are 3,000 tech-related startups based in and around Tel Aviv alone, and over $6bn flows into the country each year through exits, according to the IVC Research Centre. And this makes it ripe for the picking for equity crowdfunding and VC firms looking for strong deal flow to [...]
How are the alternative finance industry and the $1.6 trillion wealth management market approaching each other? July 14, 2016 If you use an independent financial adviser or wealth manager, they’ve probably never mentioned P2P lending. This might seem strange: there’s been a lot of talk of how the peer-to-peer industry is “moving mainstream”, and volumes reflect that. In 2015, the online alternative finance industry in the UK grew to £3.2bn – an 84 per [...]
