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26th Oct, 2015

P2P Weekly: Another record quarter for P2P, and more

“A Record Breaking End to a Record Breaking Quarter,” AltFi.com

The UK Alternative Finance sector generated nearly £750 million last quarter, breaking records. This fits into an overall growth trajectory for the industry.

“Goldman Sachs Seeks to Grow Online Consumer Lending Business, Hires New Team,” Crowdfund Insider

Banking giant Goldman Sachs has revealed plans to move into online lending, believed by analysts to be in part a move to anticipate the impact of alternative fintech models that are gaining steam. Goldman Sachs already has key executives in place for the new operation.

“Funding Circle buys German peer-to-peer lender Zencap to kick off European expansion,” Evening Standard

P2P leader Funding Circle will rebrand Germany’s Zencap into its company. Funding Circle’s CEO Samir Desai says: “We have been hugely impressed with what the Zencap team have achieved so far. By coming together we combine Funding Circle’s leading position in the UK and US with Zencap’s deep understanding of local markets to create the first truly global marketplace lending platform.”

“Indiegogo’s New Charity Site Won’t Charge Platform Fees,” Huffington Post

Indiegogo’s Generosity platform will not take portions of donations for itself, though it will still charge fundraisers for the credit card and other third-party fees it incurs. It will also allow campaigns to run indefinitely.

“Reinventing the deal,” The Economist

“America’s startups are changing what it means to own a company,” The Economist asserts.


19th Oct, 2015

P2P Weekly: P2P Popularity

Should You Cut Your Credit Card Debt With a Peer-to-Peer Loan?, Bloomberg

Some U.S. peer-to-peer lenders specialize in refinancing individuals’ credit card debt and consumers are pursuing those services, but financial experts don’t recommend more borrowing as a solution to debt.

Banking and Nothingness, The Economist

“European indecisiveness stands in sharp contrast to America’s large banks, which restructured more quickly. Returns are below pre-crisis levels, but their balance-sheets are stronger and management teams bedded in. European banks are still weighed down by non-core units and dud loans; America’s banks have moved on.”

RateSetter reaches another lending milestone as P2P popularity grows, The Independent

The success of platform RateSetter — the company boasts that none of its lenders have lost a penny since 2010 — indicates a larger pattern of P2P’s success, especially as household costs continue to rise in Britain. They’ve gone up 18 percent since 2007.

Improbable Kickstarter Shows How Crowdfunding Is Driving Innovation In Old Markets
, Forbes

A Kickstarter campaign that raised more than 30 times its original goal has helpful lessons for anyone seeking success in crowdfunding and fintech.


12th Oct, 2015

P2P Weekly: P2P to improve mortgage industry?

FCA Has Particular Interest in P2P Lending & Crowdfunding in Mortgage Sector, Crowdfund Insider

The Financial Conduct Authority has put out a call for information regarding the UK’s mortgage industry and has its eye on the peer-to-peer sector. The FCA states: ““We have a particular interest in the scope for newer types of funding models, such as peer-to-peer lending or crowdfunding, to overcome the constraints potentially imposed by other (more traditional) funding models.”

“Record Venture Capital Investment in UK Tech Sector over last 9 months,” London and Partners

“Altogether UK tech companies have raised more in the first nine months of 2015 than the $2.1 billion raised in the whole of 2014.”

“According to the recently launched IBM Global Location report, London brought in more foreign investment and created more jobs than any other city in Europe. In 2014, London attracted 235 foreign investment projects from companies relocating and expanding overseas.”

New Research Study: 7 Stats from 100,000 Crowdfunding Campaigns, Indiegogo Blog

Crowdfunding leader Indiegogo has compiled data based on more than 100,000 of its campaigns to provide advice for how platform users, and any crowdfunder, can improve their outcomes. Some key stats? Indiegogo recommends 30 campaigns, and it notes that campaigns raise 42 percent of their funds in the project’s first and last three days.

Obama Turns to Crowdfunding to Aid Fleeing Syrians, The New York Times

President Barack Obama and the United Nations hope crowdfunding can help raise funds needed for the UN to continue providing refugee services to Syrians. The Kickstarter campaign has raised about $1.5 million so far. It wouldn’t be the first time Americans responded to a federal call for funds: The White House’s Josh Miller noted that the public contributed $2.5 million to build a base for the Statue of Liberty in 1885.

International FinTech: Techstars Blooms In Tel Aviv & Cape Town, Forbes

Techstars, a Colorado-based startup accelerator, is looking to expand their entrepreneurial ecosystem in 2016, and they will be looking for promising enterprises in Cape Town, South Africa, and Tel-Aviv, Israel.


09th Oct, 2015

The new rebuildingsociety.com Affiliate Programme

rebuildingsociety is proud to announce the launch of its new Affiliate Programme, rewarding our valuable partners and users for spreading the word about the platform and playing a vital role in improving access to peer-to-business finance for UK companies.

In a move designed to recognise the diverse nature of the crowdfunding movement, the scheme is open to anybody and everybody, from individual lenders and borrowers to online publishers.

The programme is administrated by rebuildingsociety’s own bespoke system, specifically designed to reward referrals on peer-to-peer sites.

Our standard commission payments are as follows:

Action Payment
A lender registers and verifies their identity £20
A borrower registers and verifies their identity £15
A borrower you referred submits an application 0.1% of the loan’s value
A borrower you referred gets an application approved and live 0.15% of the loan’s value
A borrower you referred completes an application 0.25% of the loan’s value

Signing up is easy. Just visit this link while you’re logged into rebuildingsociety.com to get your official affiliate link. Share it with friends, family and colleagues who you think might be interested in joining the exciting world of peer-to-peer lending at rebuildingsociety.com.

You can also split commission with the person you’re referring simply by adding an “F” to the start of your affiliate ID in the URL we give you – thereby allowing you to share the love with your friends, family, and colleagues, and give them a cash boost to get them started with lending on the platform.

“While we will continue to work closely with commercial finance brokers, peer-to-peer lending offers the opportunity for everybody to get involved in improving access to finance and better control over investments,” said Adam Knott, rebuildingsociety.com’s Digital Marketing Manager. “We’re excited to launch the new affiliate scheme, with the hope that word of mouth and a community spirit – along with some great commission payments – will help grow the profile of peer-to-peer lending in the UK.”

Our development team are still working to bring some great visual reporting options to the site so that affiliates can track their performance and payments better.

Visit the affiliate programme page for more specifics, and write to us at adam@rebuildingsociety.com with any questions!


02nd Oct, 2015

Portobello Art Seeks Your Collaboration to Pursue Growth Possibilities

After years of tight pockets in the hospitality industry, hotels and other venues are finally seeing an uptick in revenues and pursuing long overdue improvements. And Portobello Art Limited is poised to take advantage of the moment. The company has nearly 30 years of experience as a respected supplier of wall art and decoratives to hotels, leisure facilities and private healthcare centers, and the contracts are rolling in.

But a difficult half decade has squeezed Portobello’s financial resources. To stay afloat, the company took out loans that proved not to be the positive solution they hoped. With a successful loan from rebuildingsociety.com, Portobello will consolidate existing loans to a saving of about £7,000 per month. And the company will increase its working capital to be able to take on the healthy pipleine of contracts coming its way.

“An Enviable Position”

Portobello has withstood the test of time — and three recessions — and proven itself as a reliable provider of high quality decorative goods and as a company stubborn enough to survive when many of its competitors have closed.

“We are in the enviable position where we are actually recommended to clients by several of the large Hotel Groups like Whitbread, IHG, Hilton,” said co-director Richard Lewis. “We have also developed strong relationships with many other much bigger suppliers of non-competitive products to the hospitality trade, i.e. carpets, curtains, furniture, and signs, with whom we share referrals.”

Despite taking hits during the recession, especially when some of their primary contractors outsourced to China, Portobello kept its head above water and “were able to build on [their] reputation and gain work from the likes of Holiday Inn and Hilton,” Richard says, so now there is a much larger market for them to work with than before. “Premier Inn are also now launching new brands, which we are now supplying.”

Turning The Corner

For the last few years, Portobello has been surviving more than thriving. To stay afloat, they have taken an EZBob loan and three FC loans, and repayments and interest are proving to be a drag on the company. Consolidation of these debts into one loan from rebuildingsociety.com will help the company take advantage of the prime economic moment before them. They took the loans in part hoping that a sizeable land investment would be finalized and improve their asset situation. That deal is still in process but has not been as immediate solution as once hoped. However, it should begin to pay off by the end of the year, which can help lenders feel more secure.

This loan is secured by a director’s guarantee and a 2nd charge on the personal property from which the business is operated. In December, they will sign an option agreement on the above-mentioned land, which is worth about £4 million, and they are pursuing Lawful Development permission that will increase its value by at least £2 million.

The directors are confident that the economy and hospitality industries are sufficiently recovered for Portobello to reach its full potential as a provider of wall art and other interior design touches, a service area it has been a leader in for 27 years. Richard Lewis has been active in the discussion board and is eager to answer any concerns. You can learn more about the loan and company on its rebuildingsociety.com profile.

View Portobello Art’s Marketplace Listing »