General News

September 4, 2014 @ 11:39 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

Do you remember that scene from the movie Tommy Boy where the store manager rants about the importance of having a guarantee on the product box “calling out, I’ll never let you down, but if I do I’m gonna make things ALL better.” I can’t… Read More

September 3, 2014 @ 8:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Draper University has published a releasing announcing that 5 members of the incoming Fall class are crowdfunding their tuition and travel expenses.  Located in Silicon Valley, Draper University is the brainchild of “free-spirited” venture capitalist Tim Draper, and co-founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Venture Fund…. Read More

September 3, 2014 @ 3:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

As most everyone knows by now, the Coolest Cooler crowdfunding campaign now reigns as the most funded project on Kickstarter ever at $13.3 million.  An incredible amount of backers came together to overthrow the mighty Pebble Smartwatch from the crowdfunding throne.  And who would have thought… Read More

September 3, 2014 @ 12:56 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdnetic, a provider of technology and market data solutions to the crowdfunded securities and peer-lending industry, has announced the key hire of James A. Jones as the Director of Business Development for the Americas. James will oversee sales and partnerships for Crowdnetic’s products and solutions… Read More

September 3, 2014 @ 10:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Swisscom Launches Crowdfunding Site Powered by WeMakeIt. Switzerland’s leading telecom provider, Swisscom, has launched a crowdfunding platform as a service for companies and other organizations.  The Ittigen based company wants to create a simple way for other companies, especially banks, to create their very own… Read More

September 3, 2014 @ 3:05 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfunding has revolutionized seed funding for startups and venture creation with an estimated 250,000 new ventures directly funded by the crowd in the first half of 2014 alone. But how can investors find, and get behind, the best of this new wave of innovators?  The… Read More

September 2, 2014 @ 6:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kickercon, a crowdfunding conference took place this past week in Texas.  At one of the sessions Ron Miller,  CEO of StartEngine and hopeful  crowdfuning portal operator, took to the podium to pound the table on Title III retail crowdfunding. In a presentation titled:  Investment Crowdfunding… Read More

September 2, 2014 @ 5:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

The team at real estate investment crowdfunding platform Fundrise has put together an infograpic highlighting some interesting numbers they are seeing through their platform. The developers referenced below all have networks on Fundrise and many have raised capital via the Fundrise platform. Fundrise points out… Read More

September 2, 2014 @ 9:01 am By JD Alois  |  

Global Rockstar has been labeled the “worlds largest online music contest”.  The online competition is seeking to uncover the next music phenomena.   Any musician may submit an original track until September 30th.  Organizers state that in 2013, more than 2,400 artists from 73 different… Read More

September 1, 2014 @ 9:09 am By JD Alois  |  

For UK readers this video by Ed Bowsher from MoneyWeek gives a quick overview of investing in startups and SMEs via crowdfunding.  This is a good primer for anyone interested in investment crowdfunding. Ed touches on reward based, debt based and equity crowdfunding.  He admits… Read More

August 31, 2014 @ 8:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter CEO and one of the crowdfunding sites founders, recently hit the screen (or pages) of CNN Money to talk crowdfunding. Yancey sticks pretty much to the stump speech on crowdfunding but he does hammer home the point that “Lateness is not Failure”… Read More

August 30, 2014 @ 10:36 am By JD Alois  |  

The one crowdfunding campaign to beat them all.  Coolest Cooler closed their 52 day crowdfunding campaign yesterday.  Coolest stands as the single largest campaign ever on the Kickstarter platform having blasted past the Pebble Smartwatch held the top spot for over two years.  The 62,642… Read More

August 29, 2014 @ 3:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Brussels based Bruegel has published an in-depth report on equity crowdfunding.Bruegal is a European think tank that focuses on economic issues and have a stated mission to provide impartial fact based research and analysis.  With investment crowdfunding a hot topic around the world as entrepreneurs… Read More

August 29, 2014 @ 12:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

RateSetter CEO and founder Rhydian Lewis recently posted his views on the status of London in the emerging world of financial innovation.  RateSetter is one of the fastest growing P2P platforms in the UK and is expanding into Australia. First it must be acknowledged that… Read More

August 29, 2014 @ 11:16 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Seeking help from others, environmentalists are now turning to crowdfunding to raise funds for not only equipment, but also for their new big ideas. During a recent interview, marketing manager at Australia-based Landcare NSW, Jenny Quealy, reported the company has teamed up with crowdfunding platform Pozible… Read More

August 29, 2014 @ 9:03 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Bank lending to the private sector in the US has stagnated in the last year, down by 0.13% in real terms, and continuing to fall behind the rest of the G7, according to a new study by UHY, an international accountancy network. UHY warns that… Read More

August 28, 2014 @ 4:03 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

North East UK company Growth Capital Ventures announced the upcoming launch of its crowdfunding campaign on its own platform GrowthFunders to raise £150,000 to continue to build and introduce new features on its already existing website. Growth Capital Ventures launched the equity crowdfunding and co-investment… Read More

August 28, 2014 @ 11:51 am By JD Alois  |  

Mizzen+Main, a shirtmaker and haberdasher, ran a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter that raised just over $54,000 this past March on a $15,000 goal.  Today the company has announced the closing of $1.2 million in Series A funding. The investment round is led by former Astor… Read More

August 28, 2014 @ 11:27 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this week, Indiegogo announced it will be opening a brand new Midwest satellite office in Chicago’s 1871. The organizations revealed they are teaming up to host a quarterly education session for those working in the building. According to the Chicago Tribune, the notion of… Read More

August 28, 2014 @ 11:15 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

American Homeowner Preservation, AHP, is rebuilding communities devastated by the foreclosure crisis, and August proved to be a successful month for the company as it sold vacant, abandoned properties spanning across nine states. In the last 30 days, AHP has found new owners for vacant properties… Read More