General News

January 16, 2014 @ 1:27 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Yesterday we received word that Crowdfund Capital Advisors had released a research report and accompanying op-ed at VentureBeat examining some of the real, tangible benefits crowdfunding was creating for small businesses. Here are ten quick points from the report that show how crowdfunding is helping small businesses… Read More

January 16, 2014 @ 8:32 am By JD Alois  |  

Phil Purcell of Continental Investors Leads Round as Other Prominent Investors Participate in Funding Round. WePay, the payments company behind platform businesses including crowdfunding, has closed $15 million in Series C financing. WePay will use the funds to boost growth through further investments in its… Read More

January 15, 2014 @ 8:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Data Release and Predictions on the Future of Crowdfunding Regulations and Market. Members of the media have been invited to attend the Coastal Shows press conference during the Crowdfund Global Expo on Friday, January 31, 2014 at 2:00PM PST. Dr. Richard Swart, the Director of Research at… Read More

January 14, 2014 @ 11:51 am By JD Alois  |  

Visual.ly, a community for visual content, has closed a Series A financing round of $8.1 million. The round was led by Crosslink Ventures and included investments from Correlation Ventures, SoftTechVC, 500 Startups, Giza Ventures, Quest Ventures, and Kapor Capital (Mitch Kapor). The funding will make… Read More

January 14, 2014 @ 7:38 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdsourcing Week is gearing up for their 2nd Annual Crowdsourcing Week conference in Singapore and they have just announced they will be accepting digital currency bitcoins for the event registration. Crowdsourcing Week claims to be the first global-scale conference to accept Bitcoins. The event organizer… Read More

January 13, 2014 @ 7:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

eShares, a company that replaces paper stock certificates with electronic shares, has announced a partnership with stock transfer agent VStock. The partnership is to provide private issuers and crowdfunding platforms with a combination of technology and stock transfer administrative services to enhance the customer experience and… Read More

January 13, 2014 @ 10:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The City of Portland wants solar energy and they are going to the crowd to raise the necessary funding.  After receiving grants in the amount of $100,000 from the Oregon Community Foundation’s Penstemon Fund, the city is looking to raise additional funding via contributions from area residents… Read More

January 13, 2014 @ 10:05 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Buffalo-based crowdfunding compliance backend service provider CrowdBouncer has announced an addition to their portfolio of services. The addition targets attorneys and other individuals involved in the due diligence process phase of capital raises. The service provides a front-end user interface that aims to streamline the… Read More

January 13, 2014 @ 8:12 am By JD Alois  |  

Venovate Holdings has announced the creation of Venovate Marketplace, a new financial services firm whose mission is to provide smarter investment alternatives to institutions, accredited investors, and their advisors, find new sources of capital for private companies, and offer liquidity to investors in crowdfunded private placements…. Read More

January 13, 2014 @ 8:02 am By JD Alois  |  

With the demand for capital for startups growing and traditional sources of funding, such as banks, venture funding and angels limited, Denmark is looking to boost crowdfunding as a more efficient source of funds for businesses.  To help advocate on behalf of the growing crowdfunding… Read More

January 11, 2014 @ 4:01 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

The State of Maine is the latest state to net a proposal to legalize intrastate crowdfunding. SP 568 and an amendment, LD 1512 (embedded), was proposed by Senator and Maine Senate President Justin Alfond (D-Portland) in the hopes of increasing access to capital for Maine… Read More

January 10, 2014 @ 11:15 am By Charles Luzar  |  

The peer-to-peer lending space is rife with news and new high-quality market entrants to kick off the new year. It’s part of the reason why I predicted that 2014 is the year that P2P lending goes mainstream. (One could make an argument that it already has,… Read More

January 10, 2014 @ 8:40 am By JD Alois  |  

  Form 1 Receives Innovation Honor at CES. Form 3D printer from Formlabs had an incredible 2013.  After raising just short of $3 Million on Kickstarter in 2012, the Cambridge, Massachusetts based company went on to raise $19 Million this past October in a funding… Read More

January 9, 2014 @ 10:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

For anyone who has actually had the luck to try out the Oculus Rift this should not come as a surprise.  The Oculus Rift “Crystal Cove” prototype has won the Best of CES 2104 prize.  The accolades continue to pore in from around the world,… Read More

January 9, 2014 @ 4:00 pm By Samuel Guzik  |  

HOW TO MAKE THE SEC REPENT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. In a previous article in Crowdfund Insider on November 4, 2013, I identified a number of serious problems with the SEC’s proposed crowdfunding regulations. I also promised readers to share my opinions on what… Read More

January 9, 2014 @ 12:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a company release the Worldwide Stock Transfer (WST), a  stock transfer agent, announced today the launch of a first of its kind platform that facilitates the investor accreditation process by connecting private companies and investors with their verifiers without requiring private documents. Worldwide Stock Transfer provides… Read More

January 9, 2014 @ 11:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfunding platform provider CommunityLeader has announced a new appointment.  CEO and co-founder Joseph Barizonzi has added George Stroebel to their executive team to become the company’s Chief Financial Officer. “With experience as a private investor, registered security professional, lawyer, CPA and a senior executive in… Read More

January 9, 2014 @ 10:47 am By JD Alois  |  

The Aspen Investment Forum which took place this week, January 6 & 7, was challenged by the airport closure in Aspen due to a tragic plane crash.  One person died in the crash and two were injured when the private plane, inbound from Toluca, Mexico,… Read More

January 9, 2014 @ 10:10 am By JD Alois  |  

DiscoverMe will be hosting its first forum in Los Angeles this January.  The gathering will feature discussions on the impact crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, and new media play in transforming the current business landscape, bringing together over 500 inspirational creators, founders, and investors to participate in boundary-breaking… Read More

January 9, 2014 @ 9:05 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Misfit Wearables CEO Sonny Vu recently spoke at Seattle Pacific University, and as a part of his visit he sat down and was interviewed about his experience in running Misfit Wearables. He shares revelations including the fact that Misfit had VC backing before they launched… Read More