Capital markets insights

Crowdfunding Portals continue to disrupt traditional ways of raising capital by leveraging the historic reforms under the JumpStart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, financial technology and growing demand by self-directed and nonaccredited investors who seek to invest in potentially innovative ventures.

With 38 funding portals registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) raising over $100 million of capital since adoption, crowdfunding is providing private companies much needed access to capital and investors new investment opportunities. Crowdfunding Portal registration has expanded beyond just US based portal operators with two non-resident portals registering with the SEC from Hong Kong and Canada.  

We spoke with Mr. Marcus Shapiro, the Chairman of the Board of Katipult, to find out what attracted him to Katipult, what are his impressions so far and what he expects from Katipult in the future.
Before joining the Katipult’s team, Mr. Shapiro worked at HSBC Investment Bank and its predecessor firms in London and New York, as an advisor on capital markets issues, corporate strategy and M&A. Apart from his 25-year career in investment banking, Mr. Shapiro has a background in practising corporate law in one of London's leading commercial law firms.

“Blockchain Will Do to the Financial System What the Internet Did to Media” - Harvard Business Review (March 2017).

The industry changed dramatically at the end of 2017. Crypto and ICO’s exploded, billions of dollars were raised without proper compliance, and regulatory authorities are now trying to catch-up. As a software infrastructure company it’s our responsibility to drive innovation for our customers and ensure they have the technology for a sustainable advantage over their competitors.

In the Spring of 2017 we announced the introduction of blockchain technology within the Katipult infrastructure with a goal of providing our customers with cutting-edge technology and capabilities which further improves efficiency and reduces costs by eliminating third party intermediaries.

"I think that Katipult’s value proposition is really attractive to investment managers. With the pragmatic application of blockchain, I think that’s going to make it a very useful tool for investment managers." - Jeff Dawson

We’re excited to be a part of Canada’s largest technology investment conference, Cantech, in just a few days!

It all happens at the Metro Toronto Convention Center in Toronto on January 31st—when this incredible conference brings together over 3500 of Canada’s top investors and more than 100 leading technology companies.

In August 2017, Katipult appointed Paul Sun to its board of directors. Sun brings over two decades of investment banking experience to the role, having held senior roles at Scotia Capital, Desjardins, and Beacon Securities. In addition to being a member of Katipult’s board, he is the acting CFO of Draganfly Innovations Inc. and sits on the board of Global Gardens Group (TSXV:VGM).

We sat down with Sun to learn more about why he joined Katipult’s board, his impact on the firm, and what he sees for Katipult’s future.

One of the issues with private markets is that liquidity can be difficult. For investors , there are situations when they have taken equity or debt positions in a company or investment product but have been unable to withdraw their investment.

Life brings challenges, and sometimes a shareholder is better off with cash than with shares. If the company is not in a position to buy those shares back, the investor may want to trade them with another investor.

This seems like a simple idea, but in practice there are some challenges. Without computational trust, a third party needs to facilitate the transaction. This brings in fees, extended processes, and, in general, complication.

At Katipult, we imagine a world where this is a straightforward process with as little interference between the two parties as possible. And we believe that BlockChain technology and its inherent computational trust make this a real possibility.

The internet is always evolving, and BlockChain is a great example that our ways of thinking about the internet are changing.

At Katipult, we believe that the main benefit BlockChain brings to the digital ecosystem is the idea of ‘computational trust’. This is a brand new concept to the human brain, and it’s going to take us quite a long time before we truly understand all the implications behind this idea.

In this article, we’ll do our best to explain what computational trust means, and how BlockChain makes it possible.

We’ll be opening the Toronto Stock Exchange on January 17th!