General News

March 26, 2014 @ 4:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a video interview former Facebook executive and Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) partner Bubba Murarka comments on the acquisition by Facebook of Oculus VR for $2 billion which was announced yesterday. Murarka admits that the move by Facebook is risky but also notes that without… Read More

March 26, 2014 @ 10:47 am By JD Alois  |  

Chicago Based, NIN Ventures, wants to transform the VC fund industry and the are publicly crowdfunding to achieve their goal.  Generally speaking venture capital funds accept investments from individuals or entities willing to pony up amounts in the 7 figures.  With the new legislation enacted… Read More

March 26, 2014 @ 9:03 am By JD Alois  |  

Zacks, a large provider of independent research in the US, has launched Zacks CF Research, a crowdfunding research division and the first of its kind for the industry.  The new division of Zacks Investment Research that will focus exclusively on providing valuation analysis of Title… Read More

March 25, 2014 @ 6:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a post on the Oculus blog site, the start up tech company disclosed they were joining Facebook.  The deal was valued at $2 billion including $400 million in cash and 23.1 million in Facebook shares, plus an added $300 million payout in cash and… Read More

March 25, 2014 @ 3:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Maryland General Assembly has passed legislation that will allow small businesses to raise debt capital from Maryland residents.  The new law minimizes risk to investors by restricting each individual’s investment to $100 and allows small businesses to raise up to $100,000 in any given year. By… Read More

March 25, 2014 @ 11:57 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Meet Frank Bell. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter is trying to blaze a path to success, and for artists like Bell that path increasingly includes crowdfunding. As part of a joint effort between TED and Skype, Bell recently had the chance to ask questions of a panel… Read More

March 25, 2014 @ 11:17 am By Charles Luzar  |  

A report from CB Insights shows that companies in the ever-growing “Internet of Things” space have seen an uptick in investment throughout 2013. Many of these companies have used crowdfunding as part of their capital raising and marketing strategy. Related: Kickstarter Alum SmartThings Closes $12.5 Million… Read More

March 25, 2014 @ 8:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfunding superstar OUYA continues to find it’s way as it alters strategy once again.  In a recent blog post, OUYA’s Bob Mills stated; In the coming weeks, we’re going to let devs choose if they want to charge up front for their games. Now they’ll… Read More

March 25, 2014 @ 7:35 am By JD Alois  |  

The Equity Crowdfunding Alliance of Canada (ECFA Canada) has scheduled their first conference for what is expected to be a series of events across the country.  ECFA Canada was formed only recently and with the recently and has picked up momentum with the announced regulatory… Read More

March 24, 2014 @ 2:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

Previously announced in February, The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced the agenda and panelists for this Wednesday’s (March 26, 2014) roundtable on the issues and challenges cybersecurity presents for market participants and public companies.  The roundtable will be held at the SEC’s headquarters… Read More

March 24, 2014 @ 10:50 am By JD Alois  |  

On March 20, 2014, a total of six provincial regulators announced two main proposals for new Crowdfunding prospectus exemptions that would allow early stage companies such as start-ups and SMEs to raise up to $1.5 million of capital online through the issuance of securities. According… Read More

March 24, 2014 @ 10:36 am By JD Alois  |  

The Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) hosted an educational session on crowdfunding last week (March 20) where they addressed the topic of General Solicitation (Advertising) for 506(c) private placements.  The panel discussion included a slide show plus several crowdfunding luminaries including: Sarah Hanks – CrowdCheck… Read More

March 24, 2014 @ 10:35 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Rodrigo Davies writes regularly on the topic of civic crowdfunding at the MIT Center for Civic Media blog, and his most recent post raises an important and interesting question: is crowdfunding participatory citizenship or a sign of institutions in decline? He frames the question in… Read More

March 24, 2014 @ 10:11 am By Charles Luzar  |  

The One Spark festival in Jacksonville, Florida is huge… perhaps so huge that the idea has outgrown the Jacksonville metro area. There have long been rumors that One Spark would eventually make its way to other cities, and that seems to be coming to fruition…. Read More

March 24, 2014 @ 8:41 am By JD Alois  |  

This year venture capitalists poured more money into Crowdfunding: Indiegogo $40million, Crowdtilt $23 million, Teespring $20 million, over $83 million in January. Since Kickstarter first launched its crowdfunding platform in 2009, funders have now pledged over one billion dollars on projects all before its fifth… Read More

March 23, 2014 @ 12:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

CoAssets will be organizing South East Asia’s inaugural Expo for Property Investing & Crowdfunding (EPIC) this coming July.   The  2-day event aims to promote greater awareness on the potential of real estate crowdfunding in Asia as well as to connect developers and buyers seeking… Read More

March 22, 2014 @ 10:17 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Pebble still holds the record for the biggest Kickstarter campaign of all time. So, did crowdfunding success translate into big numbers in the world of retail? The figures suggest that Pebble has certainly found their niche. The company has generated a napkin math estimate of… Read More

March 22, 2014 @ 5:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Released earlier this month, Berlin based equity crowdfunding platform Companisto has launched pan European equity crowdfunding.  They are the second platform to do so following UK based Seedrs announcement last year. The platform states they have raised €4.6 million for 26 successful crowdfunding rounds.  Their  “goal is… Read More

March 21, 2014 @ 9:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

P2P crowdfunding platform Lending Club has announced they are officially entering the business loan sector. “Everyone recognizes that small businesses are an engine of job creation and economic growth, yet their access to capital has been constrained,” said Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche. “We look… Read More

March 21, 2014 @ 4:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

The tidal wave of states enacting legislation to create exemptions for equity crowdfunding continues as Indiana has just forwarded a bill to be signed into law to the desk of Governor Mike Pence. The Indiana Law could go into effect as early as July 1,… Read More