Trading platforms

Trade Republic, an online broker from Germany, has raised 250 million euros in funding. The company has now been valued at 5 billion euros. The capital will be used for product development, according to the investment platform.

European crowdfunding platform October is taking over its French competitor Credit.fr. As a result of the takeover, October now represents over 860 million euros in loans, which have been extended to 3.100 companies. The takeover is in accordance with October’s growth strategy, as the platform aims to expand its corporate lending business.

The top 3 platforms for investing in cryptocurrency in Germany are Kraken, Binance and German provider Bison, according to the Munich Institute for Asset Growth (IVA). The market for crypto investing continues to grow, but there are large quality differences between brokers, the research shows.

Real estate crowdfunding platform Bulkestate is launching a new investment feature: Flash. For lower risk investments, lenders partake in a draw to potentially win prize money on top of regular returns. CEO Igors Puntuss: “Real estate investing is quite conservative, but we introduce a gamified opportunity for increased profitability.”

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published its final standards for crowdfunding service providers. These include disclosing information to investors and governance arrangements. The standards follow the new rules harmonizing crowdfunding across the European Union (EU).

Peer-to-peer investment platform Lendermarket is partnering with Credory, a real estate financing company from Estonia. It is the second loan originator on the p2p lending platform.

Equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has become the first platform to be approved under the new European Crowdfunding Service Provider Rules (ECSPR). It received the approval from Spanish regulator Comisión Nacional del Mercados de Valores (CNMV). The platform can now accept European investors.

Investment platform Scalable Capital sets foot in Italy, its fourth market in Europe. Italian investors will also have access to its newly launched crypto investments. Only last year, Scalable raised 165 million euros for international expansion.

Trading platform Robinhood has announced that it's placing a bid on Ziglu, a crypto trading platform from the UK. The US-based company previously attempted to launch in the UK, but ended up pulling the plug. Now, it will enter the market with this acquisition.

Online broker eToro has announced that it's stepping into NFTs with the launch of eToro Art, which is a new patron program to support NFT creators, agencies and brands. In order to do so, it has raised a fund of 18.4 million euros.