General News

March 12, 2014 @ 5:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bi-Partisan Leaders in State of Florida Want to Facilitate New Form of Financing.  Ideal for Fostering Economic Growth.  The Florida Crowd Finance Association (FCFA) held its inaugural meeting March 5 at the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff in Coral Gables in support of a… Read More

March 12, 2014 @ 10:17 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Joystiq’s monthly Crowdfund Bookie report is out and it isn’t pretty. For the quarter beginning in December 2013 and ending February 2014, just over $6.1 million was contributed to video game-related crowdfunding campaigns. That is down more than 50% from the $12.5 million contributed between… Read More

March 12, 2014 @ 9:35 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Wells Fargo has reversed a ban on employees participating in the peer-to-peer lending arena after the announcement of the measure garnered international attention. Related – Wells Fargo To Employees: No Peer-To-Peer Loans According to the San Francisco Business Times, Wells Fargo spokesman Ruben Pulido clarified that “The original… Read More

March 11, 2014 @ 10:59 am By JD Alois  |  

SeyfarthLean Consulting, a sister company associated with Chicago based global law firm Seyfarth Shaw, is entering a new business.  Recognizing the dynamic changes the future holds with the advent of the JOBS Act and crowdfunding, the firm saw opportunity in a new emerging type of securities… Read More

March 11, 2014 @ 10:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Perpetual rock musician Neil Young recently announced his new music device and service Pono.  He is presenting tonight at SXSW to share his vision for the future of high fidelity streaming music.  Young has been vocal about current streaming music services and their inferior audio… Read More

March 11, 2014 @ 10:00 am By Charles Luzar  |  

AngelList co-founder and CEO Naval Ravikant took to his blog over the weekend to outline what could be a new paradigm in funding startups. It melds the crowdfunding model with a novel cryptocurrency that in theory could allow a company to “go public” without the… Read More

March 10, 2014 @ 10:16 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Oregon-based Carbon Audio has one successful Kickstarter under their belt. The company raised over $70,000 on a $25,000 goal for the Zooka, a wireless speaker for iDevices. The crowdfunding success was also accompanied by a $1.5 million round. The product eventually found its way into… Read More

March 9, 2014 @ 12:16 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

  Ouya has announced plans to drop their hardware-focused approach to become a software-only platform for Android games. Prognosticators once bullish on the subject of indie gaming consoles are suddenly cooling off. Although I don’t agree with the sudden change of heart, there are lessons… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 4:21 pm By Dan Gilmartin, Executive Director & CEO, Michigan Municipal League  |  

Recent research is clear that in order to have a prosperous economy with high per capita income, we must have thriving places that attract talent. To compete economically, our communities should possess the critical assets that draw and entice people. One of those essential assets… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 3:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Michigan Municipal League, Representative Nancy Jenkins Push for Local Stock Exchanges. A bill pending in the state House of Michigan to create local stock exchanges to support small businesses would be the first of its kind in not only Michigan, but in the nation.  The… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 11:19 am By JD Alois  |  

OnDeck, a company that believes in small business, announced today it raised $77 million in a growth investment round led by Tiger Global Management with participation from existing investors Institutional Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, SAP Ventures, Google Ventures, First Round Capital, Industry Ventures and Peter Thiel. OnDeck… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 11:01 am By JD Alois  |  

As part of Vimeo’s celebration of their one year anniversary announcing Vimeo On Demand, the company is announcing a $10 million investment fund for creators selling their work directly online. The funds will be used to provide creators of all levels and genres direct financial support and… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Peter Renton has been informing the world about the peer-to-peer lending space for some time now. Lend Academy is a great source of deep information on P2P lending and stalwart platforms like Lending Club and Prosper. Renton is now taking his place in the space to the… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 9:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfunding entrepreneurs may now have a new way to streamline outreach and improve the effectiveness of their crowdfunding campaigns. Velocity Kick, a new service that made its debut at the 2014 LAUNCH Festival in San Francisco, wants to dramatically reduce the time spent organizing contacts… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 8:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

New Product Allows Crowd to Help Fund Solar for Homeowners. RGS Energy, a nationwide leader of turnkey solar energy solutions for residential, commercial, and utility customers, and Mosaic, the first company to offer crowdfunding investments online in solar projects, have partnered to launch the Mosaic… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 8:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Winner of LAUNCH Festival App Contest Announced by Ice House. Ice House, a global design and development firm today announced the winner of their “You Dream It, We Build” app design contest. FLYR, the next generation of travel reservation apps, protects users from rising airfares… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 12:27 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

The countdown is on. Veronica Mars hits theaters and will be available to backers on March 14th. In anticipation of the film’s release, Rob Thomas and company have released the following clip of the first two minutes of the film. Not much is revealed, so no… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 10:38 am By Kendall Almerico  |  

A recently Marist-McClatchy poll found that eight out of 10 Americans no longer believe they can achieve the American Dream. Almost the same percentage of those polled said that things will not get better for future generations. The level of pessimism regarding the present economy… Read More

March 4, 2014 @ 9:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a comment letter posted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) web site addressing proposed rule amendments for Regulation A under Title IV of the JOBS Act, Andreessen Horowitz and Cowen and Company clarified their position and support for the proposed changes. Andreessen Horowitz,… Read More

March 4, 2014 @ 1:28 pm By Lionel Slusny  |  

Crowdfunding, we all know, is a very powerful tool to validate a business opportunity within a specific product application. As discussed in previous articles on the Startup Europe – Crowdfunding Network  site, we have seen that crowdfunding is particularly suited for web entrepreneurs who wish… Read More