Funding Circle buys German startup Zencap from Rocket Internet for European expansion plans October 20, 2015 UK fintech unicorn Funding Circle is continuing its world domination with the acquisition of German lender Zencap, to fuel European expansion plans. The peer-to-peer lender picked up the startup from incubator Rocket Internet for an undisclosed sum, giving it access to the small business lending market, which is worth one trillion euros across Europe – more than [...]
Moonpig owner Photobox snapped up by Exponent Private Equity and Electra Partners October 20, 2015 The owner of online greeting card website Moongpig.com, Photobox, has received a buyout offer from Exponent Private Equity and Electra Partners which is reportedly around £400m. It comes over a year after Photobox abandoned plans to float on the London Stock Exchange for £500m, citing the volatile stock market performance of other companies which had taken the plunge. The [...]
Why the UK pensions triple-lock is a costly economic – and political – mistake October 19, 2015 Politicians spend much of their time worrying about repeating the political mistakes of their predecessors. In recent weeks, Conservative MPs have mused over whether changes to tax credits could have the same impact on support for the government as Gordon Brown’s abolition of the 10p tax rate, or could even be their “poll tax”. Yet [...]
Judge P2P firms on whether they’re profitable – not just on how much money they’ve lent October 19, 2015 Three years ago this week, the veteran venture capitalist Robin Klein made the case in these pages for greater support for UK high growth technology companies in their push into mainstream London capital markets. Over time, confidence grew and several good firms were helped onto the public markets through the London Stock Exchange’s High Growth [...]
Head of P2P Finance Association: Why investors shouldn’t worry about platforms failing October 19, 2015 We know how important it is, in a new market like peer-to-peer lending, that consumers feel confident they are giving their money to honest and trustworthy players. That’s why the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) has put so much effort into ensuring that the UK benefits from a sound regulatory regime for P2P lending. There has [...]
Pensions committee warns industry is at risk of next mis-selling scandal over new freedoms October 19, 2015 The work and pensions select committee is today publishing its report on pension freedom guidance and advice, in which it blasts reforms introduced in April as being “insufficient”. The report, the result of an inquiry, announced in July, into recent pension reforms, states that “freedom to choose” is not enough: “People must have the freedom to make a well-informed [...]
Abundance Pension launches world’s first P2P lending Sipp October 17, 2015 The world's first peer-to-peer lending (P2P) self-invested personal pension (Sipp) has been launched by P2P investment provider Abundance. The Abundance Pension lets individuals invest in renewable energy projects as part of their retirement savings. However, it comes at a time when the government is scrapping a green tax exemption that's been enjoyed by renewable energy companies since [...]
UK farmers get a funding boost: £138m given to rural communities to help them grow October 16, 2015 In an attempt to help UK farmers grow and diversify their business, the government is giving them access to £138m of funding. Under a scheme dubbed LEADER, rural communities will be able to use the money to support projects in their local area, such as the creation of farm shops and ice cream parlours, or the [...]
The UK’s small companies are set to raise more than ever to fund growth October 15, 2015 The UK's emerging companies are on track to raise record levels of capital funding this year, with the total for the last nine months at £851m, catching up with the full year total for 2014 of £930m. Over the three months to the end of September, £330m was raised to grow smaller business, up £110m [...]
BDO partner Gary Hanson how best to tighten up the crowdfunding sector October 14, 2015 What is it like to be in professional services and working with an incredibly fast-growth sector? In 2014, UK peer-to-peer and crowdfunding platforms made £1.74bn available to firms and individuals, with growth of 168 per cent in Britain and 144 per cent across Europe. This year, those volumes will likely have doubled. Accountancy [...]