Four Things You Should Know About The Crowdfinance 2014 Conference

Last month the ‘Crowdfinance 2014: Redefining Wall Street’ conference took place at our Times Square headquarters. Crowdnetic, leading providers of technology and market data solutions pulled out all the stops to make the event a success.

Insightful panels were forums for conversations about the crowdfinance marketplace, the impact on women’s entrepreneurship, the use of data in risk management and the international landscape. If you missed it, do not fret, here are our four highlights from the day.

1. The Crowdfinance Marketplace
Crowdfunding is becoming the solution to many people’s problems – however there are some issues that are contributing to slowing down the market. Moderator, Tim Baker touched on the potential of secondary markets and the groundbreaking legislation changing the marketplace whilst panelists concluded that awareness and transparency are crucial to propelling the market to the next level.

2. Securitizations and the Peer Lending Marketplace
The tremendous amount of activity and innovations happening in peer lending has brought about the evolution of investment structures. Securitizations are one of them. Securitizations are creating a buzz in the marketplace which is great news for the online lending space in particular.

3. The Use of Data in Risk Management
“There are many borrowers and lenders – yet getting access to credit for small business is quite tough,” were the opening words of Rohit Arora, one of the country’s top experts in small business finance. Small businesses have needs and they are looking for the best deals to solve those needs, so it is crucial to use non-traditional credit models to auto-manage risk.

4. A Huge Opportunity for Women
The issue is not about changing the nature of investing but rather getting more women to participate in this eco-system so that the gender gap can be bridged. Geri Stengel brought together Amanda Brown, Deborah Jackson, Terry Rieser and Joanna Schwartz to discuss gender issues in crowdfunding and angel investing. The challenges that women face and the lessons learnt along the way were the hot topics of the discussion.

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