Opinion

June 6, 2014 @ 4:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kickstarter maintains a page on their site listing prohibited items from their platform.  Apparently they recently tightened up their restrictions on health devices, apps etc.  As pointed out by MobiHealthNews, Kickstarter now prohibits anything that is “heavily regulated”.  Think health – FDA etc.   Below… Read More

June 6, 2014 @ 8:37 am By Barry James  |  

Crowdfunding Sees Growing Regulatory Support. “We are now looking for areas where the system itself needs to adapt to new technology or broader change – rather than the other way round. We want to ensure that positive developments, the ones that promise to improve the lives of… Read More

June 5, 2014 @ 11:30 am By Ludwine Dekker  |  

Last February Europe, Fleur Pellerin, the former minister of SME’s & Digital Economy, introduced a first draft that outlines a separate legal status for crowdfunding platforms in France. Though France was and still is lagging within the crowdfunding industry in terms of volume and entrepreneurial… Read More

June 2, 2014 @ 4:00 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Bringing the world’s first battery-free locating tag into the spotlight, Texas-based technology company WeTag launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for its brand new device, iFind. The product is powered by the company’s patent pending technologies and is the first Bluetooth item locator that requires… Read More

June 2, 2014 @ 8:00 am By Georgia Quinn  |  

Groucho Marx said he refused to be a member of any club that would accept him, but he never heard of Lending Club. When walking through their offices in downtown San Francisco, past the foosball and ping pong tables, mini golf course that mazes around… Read More

May 27, 2014 @ 10:17 am By JD Alois  |  

The Australian Small Scale Offerings Board, otherwise known as ASSOB, has been a recognized trailblazer of sorts in the investment crowdfunding world.  The platform has raised over $138 million for more than 300 small companies over the past few years.  ASSOB has been an oft… Read More

May 27, 2014 @ 8:15 am By Richard Swart  |  

After more than two years of waiting, the news from Capitol Hill is not good.  The JOBS Act was a political compromise passed by Congress in 2012 due to several layered political agendas. Unfortunately, the provisions of the JOBS act, as enacted in Title III,… Read More

May 25, 2014 @ 2:10 pm By NIKOLAUS CORRELL  |  

Its no secret: the University of Colorado receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds that sponsor our research. My lab alone racks up expenditures of $800,000 a year to pay for post-doc and graduate student salary, tuition, materials and travel. Isn’t it preposterous… Read More

May 23, 2014 @ 10:52 am By Ludwine Dekker  |  

Greg Anderson posted an interesting question in the beginning of 2013: “Should we celebrate equity crowdfunding at the first investment or first exit?”. More and more savvy (crowdfunding) investors like Nelson Gray and Daniel Isenberg are leaning towards the latter, pointing out the problems of… Read More

May 22, 2014 @ 9:05 am By Stefano D'Aniello  |  

Last month, I attended the Second Real Estate Crowdfunding Conference, hosted by the Soho Loft, in New York. The first iteration of this event was only this past fall. After just a few months, the increase in attendance, and the difference in the type of… Read More

May 21, 2014 @ 7:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Just last week Crowdfund Insider was sharing an article by Attorney Tom Sharbaugh on how many states have found a way to go ahead with crowdfunding without the delay and burdens involved with the Federal crowdfunding exemption.  This week we have another attorney, Anthony Zeoli, who… Read More

May 19, 2014 @ 7:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Sure the deadline has passed for comment letters regarding Title III of the JOBS Act or Regulation CF as some now call it. But as will happen – they continue to trickle in while the staff at the SEC ruminate on how final rules should… Read More

May 16, 2014 @ 8:30 am By Tom Sharbaugh  |  

The new crowdfunding provisions in the “Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012” (which is often referred to as the “JOBS Act of 2012”) have received a lot of attention: Title III of the Act exempts certain crowdfundings from the registration requirements of the federal… Read More

May 16, 2014 @ 7:26 am By JD Alois  |  

This past April, Crowdsourcing Week held their global conference in Singapore.  The gathering included many presentations on the global movement of crowdsourcing as well as multiple sessions on crowdfunding.  Paul Niederer, founder of and CEO of ASSOB – an equity crowdfunding platform based in Australia… Read More

May 14, 2014 @ 3:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, has declared that Peer to Peer (P2P) lending – part of the nascent crowdfunding revolution – is destined to hit the $1 Trillion mark by 2025 – a little more than a decade away.  Foundation Capital is a… Read More

May 12, 2014 @ 8:30 am By Sherwood Neiss & Jason Best  |  

One of the benefits of helping launch and continuing to work with the global equity and debt crowdfunding movement is the innovative companies that show up at our door. These organizations are changing a number of industries and none of them are kids in garages… Read More

May 10, 2014 @ 9:23 am By JD Alois  |  

The Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) recently posted a comment letter on the SEC web site regarding JOBS Act implementation.  The comment letter was in direct response to the recommendations provided by the Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) who recently met – reviewing their requests for… Read More

May 8, 2014 @ 9:00 am By Ludwine Dekker  |  

Crowdfunding is hopelessly dependent on traditional funding sectors to educate a new generation of investors and fully develop the industry. The alternative funding industry values its’ own innovative and somewhat ‘rebellious’ character – two characteristics the traditional financial industry isn’t well known for. On top… Read More

May 6, 2014 @ 8:30 am By Joe Wallin  |  

The state of Washington recently passed its own intrastate equity crowdfunding law.  Washington is following a growing number of states that have recognized the benefits to streamlining the capital formation process for small businesses and startups – something the JOBS Act was supposed to achieve… Read More

May 5, 2014 @ 7:30 am By Samuel Guzik  |  

For those of you who were too busy to notice, U.S. Congressman Patrick McHenry introduced three draft bills into the House Financial Services Committee last week.  One of them, if it were to become law, would open up the U.S. equity crowdfunding world in ways… Read More