Information Technology Consultant

Ishita Jain

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Lending Club, the leading loan marketplace that has epitomized the rise of the fintechs and its growth from startup to corporate status, went public in December 2014 raising $900 million.&nbsp;It is&nbsp;the flag bearer for all fintechs that has successfully&nbsp;navigated the tricky years from inception and&nbsp;private funding to the public market. Since its&nbsp;IPO at&nbsp;$15 per share, the company has seen lots of volatility in its share price, which at the time of writing this, sat below its pre-IPO price at $12.47 with an all time high of&nbsp;$29.29.&nbsp;Many have concluded that its share price trajectory&nbsp;is representative of the waning confidence in the broader fintech industry. Is there truth in this belief or is there more than what meets the eye about the darling of the fintech world? Let's take a look.

Lending Club, the leading loan marketplace that has epitomized the rise of the fintechs and its growth from startup to corporate status, went public in December 2014 raising $900 million.&nbsp;It is&nbsp;the flag bearer for all fintechs that has successfully&nbsp;navigated the tricky years from inception and&nbsp;private funding to the public market. Since its&nbsp;IPO at&nbsp;$15 per share, the company has seen lots of volatility in its share price, which at the time of writing this, sat below its pre-IPO price at $12.47 with an all time high of&nbsp;$29.29.&nbsp;Many have concluded that its share price trajectory&nbsp;is representative of the waning confidence in the broader fintech industry. Is there truth in this belief or is there more than what meets the eye about the darling of the fintech world? Let's take a look.

Financial technology firms, popularly called fintechs, refers to up and coming startups that use technology to make financial systems more efficient particularly in the area of personal banking. &nbsp;Over the past couple of years, they have become major drivers of the financial services industry since the advent of the global financial crisis and the deluge of regulations that followed it. With much euphoria around the fintechs and the ability of their counterparts from Silicon Valley to 'disrupt' industries and displace incumbents, these new-age financial technology companies are becoming ubiquitous. Transfer wise, for instance, offers a way to convert money and send it abroad at a lower cost than banks. At the end of 2014, it claims to have captured <a href="https://transferwise.com/blog/2015-06/transferwise-users-move-500-million-a-month-globally/" target="_blank">2% of the market share</a> in the U.K. with users moving half a billion pounds a month&nbsp;already. With many others like TransferWise moving into areas of traditional banking, this is an industry that is worth exploring further.

Financial technology firms, popularly called fintechs, refers to up and coming startups that use technology to make financial systems more efficient particularly in the area of personal banking. &nbsp;Over the past couple of years, they have become major drivers of the financial services industry since the advent of the global financial crisis and the deluge of regulations that followed it. With much euphoria around the fintechs and the ability of their counterparts from Silicon Valley to 'disrupt' industries and displace incumbents, these new-age financial technology companies are becoming ubiquitous. Transfer wise, for instance, offers a way to convert money and send it abroad at a lower cost than banks. At the end of 2014, it claims to have captured 2% of the market share in the U.K. with users moving half a billion pounds a month&nbsp;already. With many others like TransferWise moving into areas of traditional banking, this is an industry that is worth exploring further.

M&A Reporting, CTFN

Jonathan Spitzer

M&A Reporting

CTFN

Bringing the marketplace leading coverage of mergers, events, and major corporate actions, CTFN has a team of seasoned reporters from Los Angeles to London, publishing news that advances stories that matter to event-driven investors and deal professionals.

Event-Driven

A review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. could delay Western Digital&rsquo;s planned acquisition of SanDisk, with the panel possibly focusing on the implications of Unisplendour's planned investment in Western Digital.

A review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. could delay Western Digital&rsquo;s planned acquisition of SanDisk, with the panel possibly focusing on the implications of Unisplendour's planned investment in Western Digital.

CFIUS Could Delay Western Digital's Closing of SanDisk Acquisition

EM PM, Ecstrat

Emad Mostaque

EM PM

Ecstrat

Ecstrat is a consultancy advising on asset allocation between global equity markets, with a focus on the intersection of governments, geopolitics, governance and markets.
 
Over the past few years and more especially since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), investors have become more focused on short-term market movements and real-time returns and have consequently neglected the analysis of the underlying structural themes that underpin longer term performance.
​
More specifically we believe that the evolution of governance-based relationships between investors, controlling shareholders, labour and the state is one of the primary determinants of both relative and absolute performance between individual equity markets.
 
We will endeavour to provide investors with some of the context surrounding governance-related issues which encompass many different disciplines including history, economics and political science, as well as the financial metrics which are the most obvious manifestation of the structural characteristics of each market.
 
We will pay particular attention to the shifts and potential inflection points for governance in individual markets as these are often the best lead indicators for both economic and market performance.

Private market valuations for tech companies have increased sharply in recent years, with an outbreak of so-called "unicorns" (startups valued at over $1bn) and the median seed-stage valuation in the USA now an eye-popping $5.8m leading to fears of a bubble.In contrast the tech IPO pipeline has remained relatively moribund as investors have eschewed public markets (indeed, IPOing is now almost a sign of weakness (!)).If we look at some of the key drivers of these private market flows, we can see that it may actually be different this time and that public market valuations may be set to follow in the coming years.

Private market valuations for tech companies have increased sharply in recent years, with an outbreak of so-called "unicorns" (startups valued at over $1bn) and the median seed-stage valuation in the USA now an eye-popping $5.8m leading to fears of a bubble.In contrast the tech IPO pipeline has remained relatively moribund as investors have eschewed public markets (indeed, IPOing is now almost a sign of weakness (!)).If we look at some of the key drivers of these private market flows, we can see that it may actually be different this time and that public market valuations may be set to follow in the coming years.

In January 2014, I bought my first Fitbit device. At the time, it was a company almost unheard of except by a few. The Fitbit app on the phone was cool too. In remarkable fashion, 15 months later, almost everyone I knew had a&nbsp;Fitbit device. In June 2015, the company went public and became&nbsp;the talk of the town. Aided by the trend of&nbsp;quantifying health and health consciousness, many manufacturers threw their hats in the fitness &lsquo;wearables&rsquo; ring (including giants like Apple and Motorola). The euphoria around Fitbit's IPO was understandable and the numbers for Q2&nbsp;2015 dazzled. Looking forward, will Fitbit continue to impress given that the wearables market is evolving and competitors are crowding the market?&nbsp;

In January 2014, I bought my first Fitbit device. At the time, it was a company almost unheard of except by a few. The Fitbit app on the phone was cool too. In remarkable fashion, 15 months later, almost everyone I knew had a&nbsp;Fitbit device. In June 2015, the company went public and became&nbsp;the talk of the town. Aided by the trend of&nbsp;quantifying health and health consciousness, many manufacturers threw their hats in the fitness &lsquo;wearables&rsquo; ring (including giants like Apple and Motorola). The euphoria around Fitbit's IPO was understandable and the numbers for Q2&nbsp;2015 dazzled. Looking forward, will Fitbit continue to impress given that the wearables market is evolving and competitors are crowding the market?&nbsp;

United States

Western Digital Corporation is a global provider of solutions for the collection, storage, management, protection and use of digital content, including audio and video. The Company's products include hard drives, solid-state drives, and home entertainment and networking products.

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Western Digital (WDC US)

An Analysis on Lending Club

Lending Club, the leading loan marketplace that has epitomized the rise of the fintechs and its growth from startup to corporate status, went...

Ishita Jain

The Case for Fintechs

Financial technology firms, popularly called fintechs, refers to up and coming startups that use technology to make financial systems more...

Ishita Jain

CFIUS Could Delay Western Digital's Closing of SanDisk Acquisition

A review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. could delay Western Digital’s planned acquisition of SanDisk, with the panel possibly...

CTFN

Why large funds are piling into PE & VC

Private market valuations for tech companies have increased sharply in recent years, with an outbreak of so-called "unicorns" (startups valued at...

Emad Mostaque

Fitbit, a good 'fit' for your portfolio?

In January 2014, I bought my first Fitbit device. At the time, it was a company almost unheard of except by a few. The Fitbit app on the phone was...

Ishita Jain

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