Tagged: scampaign

August 27, 2017 @ 6:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

We have another contestant for the Hall of Shame when it comes to failed pre-sale campaigns. Kanoa, a company that was attempting to compete with Apple and bring wireless earbuds to market, shut down their company this week as they encountered a one two punch… Read More

May 6, 2017 @ 10:24 am By JD Alois  |  

  A couple of weeks back we received a tip from a CI reader informing us that the InGen Dynamics Aido Robot offer had been unceremoniously yanked from equity crowdfunding platform, StartEngine. Not a good sign. StartEngine is perhaps best known for crowdfunding Elio Motors… Read More

January 25, 2017 @ 10:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Breathometer, the “world’s first smartphone breathalyzer”, raised $138,437 on Indiegogo back in 2013. The following year, Breathometer visited the studios of Shark Tank where founder Charles Michael Yim “blew the sharks out of the water.” He asked for a mere $250,000.  And what happened? All… Read More

March 31, 2016 @ 11:13 am By JD Alois  |  

The SmartTracker crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo is emblematic about what is bad (and needs to be fixed) regarding rewards-based crowdfunding. The alleged creator of the SmartTracker product, a Mr. Julian Buschor, is a repeat offender when it comes to failing to deliver a product after… Read More

February 20, 2016 @ 5:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Question: What do the following have in common? Smart Tracker 2 Smart Tracker Swiss White Teeth Last Crime Answer: They are each crowdfunding projects on Indiegogo involving a Mr. Julian Buschor. Another fun fact regarding the above campaigns, none of the promised rewards have delivered for… Read More

December 22, 2015 @ 8:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

Goji first hit the radar when it ran a successful campaign on Indiegogo raising over $313,000 from more than 1250 backers back in 2013.  An entrant into the semi-hot smart lock category, Goji soon launched an equity crowdfunding campaign looking to raise $500,000.  The Fundable… Read More

December 15, 2015 @ 8:46 am By JD Alois  |  

This one falls under the category of recently discovered. Crowdfund Insider wrote about the failed rewards based crowdfunding campaign of Radiate Athletics in September of 2014.  The Kickstarter campaign launched in March of 2013 hoping to raise $30,000.  The following month it closed having raised $579,599 from… Read More

December 11, 2015 @ 9:29 am By JD Alois  |  

Zano, a drone project on Kickstarter, appeared to embrace it’s own demise.  A month after announcing its intent to ship the Zano drones, the Torquing Group (Zano creators), announced it was heading into receivership and all was lost. Zano was the largest UK Kickstarter campaign… Read More

October 12, 2015 @ 11:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Skarp Laser Razor received the ban hammer from Kickstarter earlier today.  As shared in the comments from an earlier article, apparently the Skarp campaign was banned as Kickstarter deemed the project as in violation of its terms of operation.  As covered previously, Skarp did… Read More

August 22, 2015 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

The rewards-based crowdfunding realm has become a robust and diverse sector of the finance industry.  While some in the securities space look down upon platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, this is a misplaced perspective.  Rewards platforms have become an important testing ground, and funding… Read More

July 12, 2015 @ 3:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfund Insider has published several articles on crowdfunding campaigns that appear to be repackaged Alibaba products. While not illegal, we believe this is not a transparent approach to crowdfunding and should not be tolerated. Today most creators operated in good faith and are attempting to be innovative… Read More

July 5, 2015 @ 11:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfund Insider recently published an article about a worrying issue in the crowdfunding space: Crowdfunding campaigns that are not really innovative and new but simply re-packaged products already for sale elsewhere – typically on Alibaba.  Since all things tech are mostly manufactured in Asia – many… Read More

June 11, 2015 @ 9:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled charges today with a crowdfunding campaign creator that failed to deliver promised perks to backers. Erik Chevalier, doing business as the Forking Path Company, successfully raised over $122,000 from 1,246 backers.  Instead of using the money to fulfill his… Read More

June 11, 2015 @ 5:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced today they had settled with a crowdfunding campaign creator after they determined that backer money  had been spent on personal expenses.  This was the very first FTC legal action against a crowdfunding campaign but it strikes an ominous note for all… Read More

June 5, 2015 @ 9:06 am By JD Alois  |  

There have been plenty of ridiculous crowdfunding campaigns. Most just go away as backers avoid specious claims and silly products.  Occasionally one will get funded (think Potato Salad). While most are not frauds – occasional scams do slip through the vetting process of the various platforms…. Read More

May 29, 2015 @ 10:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Recently we have had discussions with several people about a problematic issue with rewards based crowdfunding.  Some campaign creators may be finding products on Alibaba, repackaging them and launching crowdfunding campaigns posing as new creations.  Is this illegal?  Probably not. Is it wrong. Yes – definitely…. Read More

February 1, 2015 @ 6:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

On Friday, the company behind SOAP, a do everything wireless router, issued a meandering press release that is more than a bit cringeworthy. Backing up a bit, Crowdfund Insider covered the first (of several) crowdfunding campaigns for SOAP back in March of 2014. There were… Read More

August 21, 2014 @ 11:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Here is another crowdfunding campaign that is being labeled a “scampaign”.  Android Police published an article  last night on the odyssey of the Kreyos Smartwatch.  This was preceded by a post on Medium by Jonathan Barronville – another backer. Kreyos ran an enormously successful crowdfunding campaign… Read More

April 18, 2014 @ 8:57 am By JD Alois  |  

The Healbe GoBe closed this week on Indiegogo raising $1,084,556 from supporters.  The crowdfunding campaign or “scampaign” as it had been referred to became a hot topic of conversation as question quickly arose as to the reality of the technology the GoBe claimed to possess…. Read More

April 18, 2014 @ 8:30 am By Paul Spinrad  |  

Crowdfunding suffered its latest growing pain over the Healbe GoBe, a prototype gadget that finished its funding campaign yesterday with over $1 million raised — 10 times its original goal. The GoBe’s campaign page on Indiegogo describes the device as “the first and only wearable device… Read More