General News

October 21, 2013 @ 5:50 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

The SEC has just posted notice of a meeting under the Sunshine Act to weigh proposed rules for equity crowdfunding under Section 4(a)(6) of The Securities Act of 1933. This confirms the scoop earlier this week in Bloomberg, and also confirms the fact that the… Read More

October 21, 2013 @ 11:03 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Payment processors have certainly reaped the benefits of the billions of dollars flowing through the crowdfunding space. WePay is no exception, having recently announced that they are processing as much as $1.5 million in crowdfunding contributions per day. Other quick stats… Secured their first API… Read More

October 21, 2013 @ 10:28 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Oculus VR is a crowdfunding darling, having raised a $16 million Series A round on top of another $2.4 million on Kickstarter. Now the virtual reality gaming headset manufacturer is gearing up for primetime in the form of a new, consumer-spec headset that the team… Read More

October 20, 2013 @ 1:10 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Crack The Crowd has released part one of what is to be a three-part interview with Dr. Richard Swart, who is a partner at Crowdfund Capital Advisors and the head of the crowdfunding research program at UC Berkeley. He was instrumental in the recently released… Read More

October 20, 2013 @ 12:23 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

For the better part of a year we’ve been anticipating a report that was to be the product of a joint venture by thought leaders and researchers in the crowdfunding space, distributed and supported by The World Bank. That report, entitled “Crowdfunding’s Potential for the… Read More

October 19, 2013 @ 3:28 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Only 11% of small business owners are familiar with crowdfunding as a means of capital formation for their businesses. That revelation comes via SBE Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan, who shared the information via  a survey entitled “Entrepreneurs & the Economy Survey.” The survey… Read More

October 19, 2013 @ 3:05 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

MarketersMedia is a press release distribution platform and service provider, and the company recently announced their intention to reach out to crowdfunding project creators in order to “help connect Kickstarters with more backers: by sending relevant news to relevant media and help Kickstarter campaigns reach… Read More

October 19, 2013 @ 2:57 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

VentureBeat: WePay’s API pays off, handles 648% more crowdfunding volume than last year The headline says it all… WePay is seeing some pretty impressive traction providing payment services to crowdfunding campaigns, but they’re quickly moving toward robust solutions for platforms as well. A provided API has… Read More

October 18, 2013 @ 6:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

With the debate on regulations swirling around the JOBS Act legislation and at the many intricacies of securities law, Crowdfund Insider is very pleased to announce a regular column, The Crowfunding Counselor, by noted Securities Attorney Samuel S. Guzik. Guzik, a graduate of Cornell University… Read More

October 18, 2013 @ 10:54 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Sherwood “Woodie” Neiss, Richard Swart, Doug Ellenoff and many other crowdfunding industry thought leaders have been busy in Berkeley this week participating in the Fung Institute’s Academic Symposium on Crowdfunding at UC Berkeley. Here we provide a selection of tweets from the event, which encapsulate… Read More

October 18, 2013 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfunding leader Kickstarter continues on their successful trajectory with an announcement they have now funded over 50,000 projects since launching their now ubiquitous platform.  These projects represent $834 Million in pledges by over 5 Million backers.  An incredible feat. To add some perspective to their… Read More

October 17, 2013 @ 6:55 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Updated 10/18/13 @ 11:00 AM EDT Bloomberg is reporting that the SEC is preparing to vote on a rule that would allow crowdfunding investors to self-certify their own yearly crowdfund investing limits. The JOBS Act specifies yearly limits for investors participating in crowdfunded securities. According… Read More

October 17, 2013 @ 4:01 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Under the direction of Ohio Division of Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt, the NASAA has recently released an updated list of their top investor threats for 2013. Among them: “unregulated third party service providers,” a category that would include crowdfunding portals. Seidt explained the reason for… Read More

October 16, 2013 @ 10:24 am By JD Alois  |  

Median pre-money valuations have risen dramatically over the past few years.  In 2009 seed stage companies were being valued at $2.6 Million.  In 2013 seed stage company valuations have jumped to $5.2 Million. In a report from Pitchbook, the increase in valuations is being presented… Read More

October 16, 2013 @ 8:56 am By JD Alois  |  

Mosaic, a solar project crowdfunding platform, has had a pretty amazing year.  Having only been launched to the world in early 2013 the site has captured the attention of the crowdfunding community and green energy enthusiasts everywhere. Founded in 2010 by three entrepreneurs, Bill Parish,… Read More

October 16, 2013 @ 8:28 am By JD Alois  |  

The Ignition Project joins promising entrepreneurs and accomplished angel investors for the long term.  From start up to growth and exit, the initiative wants to ignite extraordinary startup growth. Last week angel firms came together with top Atlanta entrepreneurs for the first-ever meeting of The Ignition… Read More

October 16, 2013 @ 6:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdnetic, a provider of market data solutions for the global crowdfinance industry, announced today that its private offerings content suite of companies publicly raising capital online will now be featured on Dow Jones’  finance portal, MarketWatch. MarketWatch is a leading provider in business news, personal… Read More

October 15, 2013 @ 9:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

CASE or “Crowdfunding and Securities Exemptions” for Jobs Act/Crowdfunding Finds Support. Today the Wisconsin State Senate concurred with the State Assembly and sent Rep. David Craig’s CASE (crowdfunding and securities exemptions) for Jobs Act (AB 350) to Governor Scott Walker. In response to the Senate’s… Read More

October 15, 2013 @ 1:00 pm By AngelsDen  |  

Often overlooked by entrepreneurs, the Enterprise Investment (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment (SEIS) schemes can be a big draw for potential investors. If you’re not familiar with the schemes, EIS aims to encourage investment in small trading companies in the hope that they will grow… Read More

October 15, 2013 @ 12:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recently on CNBC, Venture Capitalist John Frankel commented on how the Jobs  Act allowed General Solicitation, or advertising, for accredited investors.  Frankel did not go into detail as to how his firm would determine if applicants were accredited but acknowledged they would incorporate a process… Read More