Tagged: venture capital

January 8, 2014 @ 11:30 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Among ten bold predictions for 2014 made by Dominic Basulto in the Washington Post, one crowdfunding-related prediction sticks out: your next-door neighbor becomes a venture capitalist. It encapsulates some of the highest hopes among crowdfunding industry stakeholders and pundits. The forthcoming ability for anyone to… Read More

December 13, 2013 @ 10:56 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s venture capital firm Vulcan Capital has invested $125 million into Freedom Financial Network, a debt consolidation firm with aspirations to enter the P2P lending space. Freedom Financial Network’s core business revolves around “programs and solutions that cover everything from helping families decide on… Read More

December 13, 2013 @ 9:50 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Oculus VR has turned Kickstarter success into what is fast-becoming one of the most interesting startups in the US today. Following a $16 million series A round, the company has announced that they have now closed an additional round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz…. Read More

December 5, 2013 @ 9:37 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Misfit Wearables has raised $15.2 million in a round led by Horizons Ventures. According to an article in TechCrunch, all previous investors in Misfit Wearables also participated in the round. It’s a big vote of confidence for this emergent wearable tech company from Silicon Valley…. Read More

December 2, 2013 @ 11:34 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Polygon | How devs manage the energy of their crowdfunding communities Managing crowds during crowdfunding campaigns can be tricky business. Polygon explores that reality in this piece by interviewing a dozen game developers who successfully raised money on Kickstarter, focusing specifically on their experiences in… Read More

November 11, 2013 @ 12:05 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

PCMag | Can Crowdfunding Give the Private Space Race a Boost? PCMag takes a look at the private space race in the context of a company called the LiftPort Group. LiftPort raised over $110,000 on Kickstarter to build a prototype with an eye toward building… Read More

November 4, 2013 @ 9:32 am By Charles Luzar  |  

OurCrowd made waves recently after announcing that the Israeli equity crowdfunding platform has driven over $23 million in funding for 28 companies to date. CEO Jon Medved claims that this makes OurCrowd the “world’s largest crowdfunding-for-equity site.” RELATED | Jon Medved: OurCrowd Now The World’s Largest… Read More

October 3, 2013 @ 12:13 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Foundry Group is a VC fund focused on early-stage IT, internet and software startups. The firm has just announced the formation of FG Angels, an AngelList Syndicate that aims to funnel $2.5 million in funding into 50 companies between now and the end of 2014…. Read More

October 2, 2013 @ 10:33 am By JD Alois  |  

Median Pre Money Valuation at $15.9 Million. It should come as no surprise that the San Francisco Bay area – which includes Silicon Valley – dominates venture capital.  New York City sits squarely in second place.  The rest of the top five consists of Los… Read More

September 24, 2013 @ 10:52 am By Charles Luzar  |  

AngelList has been testing a new feature called AngelList Syndicates. Synidcates allow accredited investors to pool resources, and the syndicator can charge a carry for value adds similar to many hedge funds and VCs. AngelList explains… Here’s an example. Sara decides to invest in a… Read More

September 20, 2013 @ 10:47 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Imagine a world in which the great inventors of our day were forced to seek funding from venture capitalists and angel groups. Would Edison, Tesla, Ford and others have been successful in just such a climate? Northern Imagination would likely answer no. The YouTube user… Read More

September 20, 2013 @ 10:41 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Subutai Corporation is a Seattle-based firm founded to “create stories, games, graphic novels and filmed entertainment in an integrated style.” One interesting factoid that likely helped draw backers into their Kickstarter campaign: famed American author and game designer Neal Stephenson is a co-founder. In a… Read More

August 17, 2013 @ 12:02 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

FundersClub has become an invitation-only community in an effort to limit participation to experienced and able accredited investors. Those seeking access to FundersClub deals will now have to request an invite or receive one from an existing member. It seems to go against the ethos… Read More

July 9, 2013 @ 10:53 am By Charles Luzar  |  

GameFront’s top comment of the week this past week tackled Double Fine, Kickstarter and video games crowdfunded for donations and rewards. The commenter makes an interesting point about the lack of control a Kickstarter backer has over the trajectory of the project. “What is said… Read More

July 8, 2013 @ 10:49 am By Charles Luzar  |  

The Soho Loft has teamed with FundingPost.com for an event in New York City this August. The NYC VC, Angel and Crowd Investing Conference will bring together representatives from venture capital, angel groups and the crowdfunding space to discuss how to access capital in the 21st… Read More

June 18, 2013 @ 8:23 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Oculus VR has raised $16 million in a round with contributions from Spark Capital, Matrix Partners, Founders Fund and Formation 8. Spark Capital and Matrix Partners led the round. Spark founder Santo Politi and Matrix partner Antonio Rodriguez both acquire seats on Oculus’s Board of… Read More

May 20, 2013 @ 8:13 am By Charles Luzar  |  

A report released last month entitled Equity Crowdfunding and Venture Capital included some interesting revelations regarding what US venture capitalists and lawyers expect from equity crowdfunding. The report surveyed VCs and lawyers based in the states. Questions sought to gauge expectations about the JOBS Act’s trajectory and… Read More

May 18, 2013 @ 10:49 am By Bizactions  |  

Out of a total $6.9 billion dollars invested across the nation during the first quarter of 2013, Georgia deals accounted for $322.4 million, catapulting the state to fourth place for venture capital funding last quarter. Georgia ranked behind only California, New York and Massachusetts. The… Read More

May 17, 2013 @ 10:22 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Pebble has joined Ouya in raising $15 million in venture capital after a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign. In Pebble’s case, the round was led by Charles River Ventures and partner George Zachary. Zachary said this was the largest Series A he has ever participated in. Oh,… Read More

May 3, 2013 @ 7:35 am By Upstart Business Journal  |  

Some have said equity crowdfunding could put pressure on the venture capital industry. But data compiled by crowdfunderEquityNet suggests it will open whole different categories of upstarts for funding instead. “Crowdfunding is serving the area of capitalism that was previously underserved,”Judd Hollas, chief executive of the… Read More