General News

February 6, 2014 @ 4:23 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

When we first reported on payment startup Celery, the company had just come out of Y Combinator (by proxy via Airbrite) to launch a payment solution for crowdfunding project creators who had already closed a crowdfunding round. We did an in-depth interview with Chris Tsai… Read More

February 6, 2014 @ 3:47 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has released a working paper entitled Crowd-funding: An Infant Industry Growing Fast. It aims to provide a macro perspective of the global “financial return” or “FR” crowdfunding space. (Can we get a standardized taxonomy?!) The main takeaway from the report… Read More

February 6, 2014 @ 2:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

Buffalo based Rand Capital Corporation has announced that it has partnered with SCP Buffalo Incubator Innovate NY Fund (Z80) in a Series A financing of $437,500 for CrowdBouncer. CrowdBouncer was founded in 2012 by CEO Robert Carbone, and Keith Blakely, CEO of the InVentures Group, after… Read More

February 6, 2014 @ 11:20 am By JD Alois  |  

Island Records and Indiegogo have announced a partnership that will provide a new place to discover emerging artists on a global basis.   “Fan Republic” is being marketed as the first collaboration of its kind between a music label and a crowdfunding platform. Fan Republic… Read More

February 6, 2014 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

As part of Social Media Week, held in New York this month, real estate crowdfunding site Prodigy Network will lead the conversation on, “Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: A Social Media Revolution In Real Estate,”  Prodigy Network will explore the impact social media has on the real… Read More

February 6, 2014 @ 8:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The well attended Crowdfund Global Expo, which took place last week in San Diego, had more than a few big names in the crowdfunding world in attendance.  One of the leading industry advocates is Dr. Richard Swart who gave an impressive presentation on alternative finance… Read More

February 6, 2014 @ 8:32 am By Charles Luzar  |  

In October of 2013, crowdfunding platform software provider Crowd Valley published a report on the global crowdfunding market. It appears this report is now going to become somewhat of a regular event. CrowdValley is now readying an update only a few short months later. Following… Read More

February 5, 2014 @ 2:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Angel Capital Association (ACA), a leading professional and trade association for angel investors, and EarlyIQ, a hosted information and analytics company serving early stage capital markets, announced a joint marketing partnership. ACA maintains relationships with over 10,000 accredited investors and 200 Angel groups. The… Read More

February 5, 2014 @ 8:13 am By JD Alois  |  

Heather Schwarz-Lopes, the co-founder and Chief Strategy Office of Miami based EarlyShares, has joined the judging panel of the 2014 Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge. EarlyShares. launched in 2011, is a crowdfunding platform that connects accredited investors to “unique opportunities”.  The platform hopes to move… Read More

February 4, 2014 @ 6:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), viewed as one of the leading legislative voices advocating the benefits of crowdfunding, was interviewed last week as part of the Crowdfund Global Expo held in San Diego January 30-31, 2014.  DJ Paul, Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) Chair and Andrea… Read More

February 4, 2014 @ 12:00 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

On Something Awful, comedian Josh “Livestock” Boruff (@Livestock) posted a satirical open letter to his Kickstarter backers mocking those ubiquitous “final backer updates” in the rewards-based crowdfunding world, the kind that often contain deep personal introspection and tales of personal strife. It seems that –… Read More

February 4, 2014 @ 11:00 am By Charles Luzar  |  

TheCHIVE is a hugely popular web site organized around sharing all things good in the world. You may have seen their ubiquitous KEEP CALM and CHIVE ON shirts adorned somewhere near you. If you didn’t know what they were, now you do! One local faction… Read More

February 4, 2014 @ 7:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Pebble, the device that started the smartwatch craze, has finally released their much anticipated app store with iOS support. While some Pebble owners were disappointed the Android version did not ship simultaneously with the iOS version, the Android version in beta for developers was announced… Read More

February 3, 2014 @ 9:57 am By JD Alois  |  

Title III of the JOBS Act is the portion of the legislation which has become emblematic for the concept of “crowdfunding”.  This section of the act guides “retail” crowdfunding or the ability of non-accredited investors to participate in crowdfunded public offerings of up to $1… Read More

February 2, 2014 @ 12:14 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Nickel Steamroller (NSR) has long been a popular tracker for statistics on Lending Club loans. The site is now broadening their reach with the launch of NSR 2.0, which includes the integration of data on Prosper Loans. Those seeking information on Lending Club and Prosper… Read More

February 2, 2014 @ 11:20 am By Charles Luzar  |  

The rewards-based crowdfunding arms race is alive and well. In a recent interview with Bloomberg West, Bloomberg’s Emily Chang leads by pointing out that Indiegogo is the smaller of two websites currently participating in a “two-horse race,” singling out Indiegogo as the “little guy.” In… Read More

February 1, 2014 @ 6:56 am By JD Alois  |  

TGC Continues with Self-Hosted Pretail Funding. Coming from The Game Creators (TGC), a privately owned UK company, FPS Creator Reloaded (FPSC Reloaded) has announced their beta launch of Oculus Rift integration.  The game development tools studio sees integration as an important strategic move as part… Read More

January 31, 2014 @ 5:29 pm By Joy Schoffler, Leverage PR  |  

Imagine attending a dinner party a year from now where a dozen people are all talking about what businesses they’ve invested in. That’s a scene some predict for the near future, as equity crowdfunding moves into the spotlight in 2014. “I would like to see… Read More

January 31, 2014 @ 4:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

At a morning press briefing held at the Crowdfund Global Expo  (hosted in San Diego this week), Dr. Richard Swart, UC Berkeley Research Analyst & Director of Research for Innovation in Entrepreneurial and Social Finance at the Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership, presented a deep dive… Read More

January 31, 2014 @ 11:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Foodies rejoice.  There is finally a crowdfunding site just for you.  FundaFeast, scheduled to launch on February 1st,  describes their platform as the first crowdfunding site for “anything and everything food related”. Recognizing there are a lot of great crowdfunding platforms funding just about anything, founder… Read More