Crowdfunding Industry Petitions the SEC to Raise Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg. CF) Private Equity Fundraising Cap to $20 Million

Crowdfunding experts cite zero fraud; competent issuers have been able to raise serious capital from investors that believe in their products or services; and, retail investors, for the first time in recent history, now have a transparent, systematic way to invest in startups

Sherwood Neiss, Crowdfund Capital Advisors, testifies at the SEC

In a letter to the SEC dated July 19^th, the Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) industry’s largest equity crowdfunding platforms and industry influencers provided data and analysis to support increasing the Regulation Crowdfunding cap to $20 million.

The letter comes after SEC Chairman Clayton said in a live chat with FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook, “I continue to worry that retail investors do not have access to as broad a slice of our capital markets as I would like them to have. Said another way, you have private capital and public capital. Retail investors can really only participate in the public capital, and to the extent private capital has become so robust, you’ve shrunk opportunities. That bothers me a bit. If that trend continues, a much more select group is participating in the growth of the economy.”

The following bullet points below and the following analysis is provided to support the increase in Reg. CF.

Since the launch of Regulation Crowdfunding:

• Over 1,000 companies have filed with the SEC to raise money on online platforms that are registered with FINRA to facilitate capital formation.
• Over $137M has been committed to these issuers. 95% ($130.4M) of that capital was funded and invested into 715 companies (68.5% success rate).
• These 715 companies are supporting 4,172 jobs and producing over $249 million n revenue.
• Issuers have filed in almost every state in the Union.
• Issuers have been funded in 80 industries, according to Morningstar’s Global Equity Classification Structure.

The fundraising cap should be adjusted because:

• There has been zero fraud, competent issuers have been able to raise serious capital from investors that believe in their products or services, and retail investors (for the first time in recent history) have a transparent, systematic way to back companies they believe in.
• Successfully funded companies are supporting and creating valuable jobs and providing substantial economic activity in a broad range of locally important industries all around the United States.
• The initial cap of $1 million was meant to be adjusted. Only once since the launch of Regulation Crowdfunding has this been adjusted and at the time only by $70,000. Such de minimus adjustments do not fully allow meritorious issuers to fully benefit from this new form of online finance nor expand the opportunity for issuers seeking to raise in excess of $1 million.
• The current $1 million level is now far below what startups and SMEs need for seed stage capital. May 2018 data indicates that the median sized funding round for Angel or Seed stage companies in the US is $2 million. This means that even for the smallest funding round the current limits do not allow an issuer to raise their entire round via Regulation Crowdfunding. This dramatically increases costs and time spent on raising capital by US businesses. This reduces the number of American innovators and job creators in the United States.
• While the “funding gap” that Regulation Crowdfunding was meant to address is filling the void. The funding “opportunity” really comes from those small/medium firms that are seeking to raise up to $20 million. Raising funds under $20 million has become increasingly challenging as Venture Capital/Private Equity has moved upstream over the past decade. Raising the cap will allow issuers that wish to utilize this form of online finance the ability to raise in excess of $1 million and tap their local investors without having to deal with the costly, time consuming process of either filing a full prospectus with the SEC or spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a private offering.
• Many companies forego Regulation Crowdfunding in favor of Reg D, 506(c), because of the low Reg CF limit. This has the effect of reduced disclosure to investors, since Form D provides less information even than Form C. In addition, ordinary investors are cut out of some of the most attractive deals that have already attracted institutional funding, which seems unfair and counter to one of the goals of Reg CF.
• Both the United Kingdom and Germany have adjusted their caps to 8 million EUR (US$9.4 million). The United States should not be a follower, but instead a leader.

People are being asked to call their Senators and Representatives to ask them to support increasing the cap and helping small businesses access capital, create jobs and foster local innovation.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

Top 10 Equity Crowdfunding New Investment Opportunities for Investors and VCs in 2018

Top 10 Investing Opportunities for Investors and Venture Capitalists in 2018

By Robert Hoskins

Top 10 Equity Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities for Investors and VCs in 2018

What technologies will represent the best equity investment opportunities for investors and venture capitalists in 2018?

1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Go Mainstream
2. Seeing Is Believing: VR and AR Become Critical Business Tools
   
3. Obey the Sound of My Voice: Voice-Driven Apps Filter Out the Noise
   
4. Apples and Oranges: Ag-Tech Disrupts the World’s Oldest Industry
   
5. Industrial and Agricultural Drones Set to Take Off
   
6. Is That a Doctor in Your Pocket? Digital Revolutionizes Healthcare
   
7. Here, There, Everywhere: Blockchain Applications Finally Take Hold
   
8. Boldly Going Where No Company Has Gone Before: Space-Tech
9. Cyber Security for Critical Infrastructure Becomes Vital
   
10. Autonomous Driving Picks Up Speed

1. Artificial Intel/Machine Learning Go Mainstream

Driven by exponentially faster computing power and cloud computing, “teaching machines” is becoming easier and more scalable, enabling AI to go mainstream across a wide range of industries: including consumer marketing and retail, entertainment, digital health, and newer areas like autonomous driving and advanced robotics.

More and more startups are building applications which will solve real world problems by applying AI in areas that can truly have an impact on the quality of our lives.

2. Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Business Tools

Did you know that in operating rooms across the US, brain surgeons are already using Virtual Reality (VR) to rehearse and simulate surgery in order to be more effective?  VR and Augmented Reality (AR) is not just about show business, entertainment, and 3D gaming, but also about saving lives, industrial solutions, and infrastructure.

VR and AR are about to go mainstream and will be used across a wide range of sectors from sports analytics to building airplane wings. These are definitely interesting technologies to keep an eye on!

3. Voice-Driven Apps Filter Out Background Noise

Have you ever tried using Siri in a car going over 50 Mph?  Or talking to Alexa with the kids making noise in the background? Good Luck! As we all know it does not work.

However, the era of voice driven computing is coming. In the last 10 years, the world has moved from primarily using keyboards to swiping and using touch-screens. In the next five years users will move to talking to our devices as the primary mode of man to machine communication.

Core voice recognition software has become almost perfect at understanding the human voice and getting our words correct. The missing ingredient is its ability to enable our machines to get a clear signal and cancel background noise so that Siri really can HEAR what we are saying.

4. Ag-Tech Disrupts the World’s Oldest Industry – Farming

The world’s oldest industry of growing crops has not been known for its technological flexibility. However, these days Agriculture-related technologies are blooming for different reasons.

Traditionally farming is a family owned business and we now see how second generation of farmers are much more techie and open to adopt advanced farming technologies. In addition, the last two years have seen mass consolidation between leading players in AgTech creating deep pockets and a big appetite for acquisitions.

5. Industrial and Agricultural Drones Take Off

Over the past couple of years, more and more buzz is hitting the airwaves about Amazon and others using drones to deliver packages to your doorstep or bring you fast food on demand.

While this sounds pretty cool, more interesting and profitable uses of drone technologies probably lie within industrial and agricultural markets.

Drones are already playing critical roles in facility security, mining, oil and gas exploration, crop protection and surveying landmass. Building industrial scale drones with light-weight, long-lasting batteries, which are robust and reliable seems to be a temporary roadblock, but companies that can advance these technologies are worth watching closely.

6. Digital Healthcare Puts a Doctor in Your Pocket

As much as we try not to overuse this term, artificial intelligence is actually a powerful factor in the rapidly growing digital health sector. Enable regular people as well as healthcare personnel crunch historic data sets from electronic medical records from way back when — to the latest data that is now being collected from wearables in order to increase our quality of life and perhaps even prevent deaths.

The same will be true for computer vision and machine learning technologies that enable the bio-tech and life sciences industries to begin extracting new insights and diagnostics from images.

7. Blockchain Applications Finally Take Hold

Timing is everything! In the buzzword competition of 2017, blockchain was the hands-down winner.   Since then, there have been missteps and pivots for this important financial technology. Many Venture Capitalists (VCs) have been disappointed with their investments in this sector; however, now is the time to begin taking a fresh look as this technology matures and evolves beyond Bitcoin across multiple applications such as: sharing economy, data security, logistics, and of course, banking and finance.

8. SpaceTech Goes Where No One has Gone Before

The Space Tech sector is usually dominated by governments and states , but is rapidly opening up to private ventures and prestigious VC funds are seeking to begin building space portfolios that will enable these ventures to take off.

In terms of funding needs, what used to be super-expensive is becoming much more affordable, with standardization of hardware protocols as well as general cost reductions of consumer electronics. Satellites can now be built and launched for less than half a million dollars, creating exciting opportunities to commercialize the technology.

9. Cyber Security for Infrastructure Becomes Critical

Are you worried about your car getting hacked? How about cyber criminals sneaking in through your air conditioner or refrigerator?  Cybersecurity is not new; and in fact, the investing landscape is quite crowded, and the playing field is highly competitive.

The key shift in Cyber Security for investing in the next few years will be a move from protecting IT infrastructure to protecting all infrastructure. Companies are now designing full-proof solutions to protect everything such as automobiles, electric grids and everything in between.

10. Autonomous Driving Picks Up Speed

Everyone knows that autonomous driving is coming. The question is when?  Thanks to the development of core technology and expertise of leading Autonomous Driving companies such as Waze and Mobileye, the world is sure to become a global hub of automotive innovation.

(Source: Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO)

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

New Cannabis Compliance Company Now Raising Seed Stage Capital via Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on GrowthFountain.com

Herbal Compliance Co.’s Reg. CF Investment Opportunity Allows Investors to Invest in the Booming Marijuana Industry to Help Recreational and Medical Marijuana Companies Stay within Legal Guidelines in 26 Different States throughout the United States

By Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR

Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas – The Herbal Compliance Co. announced the launch of its compliance consulting services for legal medical cannabis and hemp businesses. This unique company will also be partnering with GrowthFountain to$1 million by selling equity through a unique form of investor fundraising called Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF).

Twenty-six states and DC currently have laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form

Herbal Compliance fills a need created by differences in marijuana legislation at the state and federal levels. While it is currently legal in 26 states and the District of Columbia to grow and sell marijuana for medical purposes, it is still illegal on a federal level, resulting in thousands of conflicts between state and federal regulations.

New Cannabis Compliance Company Launches Public Crowdfunding Effort with GrowthFountain

“Understanding the laws governing medical marijuana and hemp is our core competency,” explains Chuck Carpenter, Herbal Compliance’s President. “But we also offer other types of business consulting like inventory management, branding, and employee education. Our mission is to help companies in this new area of American enterprise to grow and thrive.”

To fully fund their startup, Herbal Compliance is using a new form of funding enabled by recent changes in securities law in the JOBS Act called Regulation Crowdfunding. The rules for this sort of investing went into effect May 2016, allowing non-accredited investors to participate in a funding round for a private company for the first time in history.

“We’re excited to help Herbal Compliance raise the money they need to grow,” says Abe Orden, GrowthFountain’s Operations Manager. “For the first time in 80 years, average Americans now have the opportunity to support and invest in local businesses and entrepreneurs they believe in.”

Herbal Compliance’s campaign started on June 6, 2017 and will continue through Oct. 4, 2017. Their aim is to raise between $100,000 and $1 million with a minimum buy-in of $100 per investor.

The Herbal Compliance Co. provides companies in the legal medical cannabis and hemp business with services to ensure that they remain compliant with the law. Services include design and buildout, equipment fulfillment, regulator compliance, remote inventory control and reporting, vendor relationships, brand and marketing, and tax management and education.

GrowthFountain Capital LLC is a Regulation Crowdfunding platform aimed at simplifying fundraising and helping businesses build collateral. GrowthFountain is registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA.

# # #

Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins runs one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding PR, social media and marketing agencies that has amassed a huge social media following and is dedicated to supporting a wide variety of donation, rewards and equity crowdfunding campaigns.

Crowdfunding PR Offers Startups New Service to Build Investor Databases for Title III and Title IV Reg. A+ Mini IPO Crowdfunding Campaigns to Target Precise Lists of Angel, Venture Capital and Private Equity Investors

Investor relations teams can now search through over 175,000 angel, equity and venture capital investors, analyze 575,000 of their prior investments and then target a very precise list of potential investors

By Robert Hoskins

Crowdfunding PR Shows Startups How to Build Investor Databases for Title III and Title IV, Reg. A+ Crowdfunding Campaigns to Target Precise Lists of Angel, Private Equity and VC Investors

New York City, New York – Crowdfunding PR’s new investor marketing database service allows equity crowdfunding campaign managers to drill down inside private equity and venture capital firms to find highly-qualified principals, partners, portfolio managers and family offices with the highest propensity to invest in their type of product/service and do sorts by vertical business segments, by geographical locations and by types of deals such as seed capital, private equity, series A/B, late-stage funding rounds and many, many other searchable financial database sorting characteristics, variables and demographics.

“The greatest challenge for startups, entrepreneurs and growing small businesses is finding potential angel investors, private equity investors and/or building out their own private investment syndicate of investors with a high propensity to invest in similar types deals as the one they want to pitch to investors,” said Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR’s Director of Investor Relations. “The same need is present for the hundreds of new equity crowdfunding platforms that have launched new equity crowdfunding platforms in the past twelve months. Crowdfunding PR can utilize the investor database to market any deal on any equity crowdfunding platform to a very wide, but yet very precise and carefully selected list of angel, private equity and VC investors.”

The new investor database provides private investment information on the end-to-end fundraising process. From initial exits to fund returns, it offers the best information available for the complete lifecycle of private investing. This includes Limited Partner (LP) commitments, fundraising, remaining dry powder in funds, deals, company evaluations and fund performance as well as the service providers, executives, and lead partners behind the deals.

The private investor database provides clients with access to stats to build pitch books, contacts to setup road tours, run private and public comps, source co-investors, model cash flows, conduct competitive analysis, follow the entire venture capital (VC) marketplace, build and expand investor networks, target deal makers and identify private equity (PE) and VC firms actively doing deals. The quality of work that can be turned around on a compressed timeline is nothing short of amazing and will be 10 times more efficient and 3 times to 5 times more accurate than other types of private investment information that can be found online via Google and LinkedIn.

If your startup or existing business needs help building and an investor database, creating an effective pitch deck, building a direct email marketing program and/or scheduling an investor “dog and pony” roadshow, please call Robert Hoskins at (512) 627-6622 or contact him via @Crowdfunding_PR on Twitter.

Crowdfunding PR’s
Investor Marketing Database

Access a Huge Database of Potential Investors

• Angels
• VCs
• Portfolio Managers
• Lead Partners
• Deal Details
• Partners

Drill Down to Develop Precise Investor Targets

• Deal experience
• Board seats
• Biography
• Education
• LinkedIn profiles
• LinkedIn connections
• Phone and email contact information

Analyze Investor’s Past/Current Deals

• Angel & seed
• Venture
• Buyouts
• Secondary transactions
• Mergers & acquisitions
• Debt financings
• Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)
• Valuations, terms & multiples
• Cap tables
• Participants
• Deal history
• Exits & IPOs

Perform Competitive Analysis of Funded Companies/Deal Structures

• Startup and angel-backed companies
• Venture capital-backed companies
• Private equity-backed companies
• Mature private companies
• Public companies
• Strategic acquirers
• Key private company financials
• Full public company fundamentals

Gather In-depth Competitor News & Big Data Analytics

• News stories
• Quarterly reports
• Data visualization
• Custom analytics

# # #

Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

---

Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults on a regular basis with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

VerteCore Lift™ Offers Chiropractors a Peer-Reviewed Spine Decompression Medical Device They Can Prescribe to Treat Herniated Discs, Degenerative Disc Disease, Scoliosis, Sciatica and Back Pain

 Get in Line Now if You
Want the Early Bird Special

Read the three customer testimonials from doctors that detail their own personal battle with chronic back pain and how the affordable, easy-to use “Lift™” made a big difference in returning to a normal life

By Robert Hoskins

 

Los Angeles, California – VerteCore Technologies announced a new program for Chiropractors that will allow them to lease affordable, mobile spinal decompression units that will augment scheduled chiropractic adjustment procedures. The VerteCore Lift™ can be used in a clinical setting that allows Chiropractors to offer spinal decompression in a very compact office setting that was not previously available with the large spinal decompression tables that cost $125,000 or more to install and required a very large footprint.

VerteCore Lift – Affordable, Mobile Spinal Decompression for Active Adults

The clinical version of the Lift sells for only $1,199, which makes it the most affordable spinal decompression medical technology product on the orthopedic marketplace, and multiple units can be stored in a single small cabinet.

Chiropractors can prescribe the VerteCore Lift as in-office treatment or offer it as an at-home-use solution that back pain patients can wear 20-to-30 minutes per visit/day to allow the spine to be stretched out, which allows blood, nutrients and the body’s natural healing processes to flow through the spine uninhibited to help the body repair itself by rehydrating and resorption of the herniated discs, which relieves the pressure on pinched nerves that cause most types of back-pain-related disorders.

During the VerteCore Lift’s med-tech’s product development process a number of medical doctors and pain management specialists have peer-reviewed the compact spinal decompression device and provided not only positive customer testimonials, but have made personal investments in the company in order to introduce the VerteCore “Lift” to the $57 billion Orthopedic medical device marketplace.

VerteCore Lift, Affordable, Comfortable, Mobile Spinal Decompression

The following medical professionals have had a variety of back pain related medical problems and recently had a chance to personally try on and evaluate the VerteCore Lift. All were skeptical about trying out another new promising back pain relief medical device based on their trials and tribulations with other devices such as inversion tables that did not work, gave them headaches from too much blood rushing to their head and ended up causing more pain in their ankles and knees than the relief it provided for their back pain.

But after years of spending thousands of dollars on doctor visits, MRI’s, long-term physical therapy sessions, cortisone shots, pain medications, and back surgeries, all of these medical professionals were just like a wide cross-section of the American population that were willing to try anything to get rid of their chronic back pain. And when they did they were surprised at how well the “Lift” performed.

Dr. Mark J. Mulvihill, Ph.D., Vice-Pres., X-Rx, Cambridge, MA

“I woke up on Christmas Day six years ago and my leg hurt extremely bad and I thought maybe I had pulled a hamstring. After several doctor visits and an MRI exam I was diagnosed with Sciatica, which was being caused by a herniated L5 S1 disc.

For five years I went through extensive physical therapy, cortisone shots, and many types of pain medications, which caused problems with my digestive tract and gave me pretty bad heartburn.

I have tried many back pain devices that are advertised on TV, but the only one that gave me any type of relief was an inversion table where you hang upside down and let gravity stretch the spine with the body’s weight. While it gave me temporary back pain relief, I am tall and weigh around 200 pounds. Putting that much pressure on my knees and ankles hurt and negated the effects of my back pain relief. It also gave me headaches because of the blood that rushed to my head while hanging upside down.

Before all of this started I was a competitive golfer and the back pain basically forced me into early retirement. I longed to play the game, but I simply could not because I could not rotate my back at all without excessive pain.

By nature and due to my medical education I am very skeptical when it comes to trying out new back pain devices, but a friend of a friend introduced me to Paul Leake. We agreed to meet during a business trip, which was actually good because travel usually is an excruciatingly painful experience for people with back pain.

Paul Leake, Managing Director, VerteCore Technologies

We met and after wearing the VerteCore Lift for 20 minutes my back pain was completely gone. For the first time in years, I could actually sit up easily from a laying down position. It was incredible. I felt so good the next day that instead of sitting on the sidelines as usual, I spent a full day sliding around slippery slides at the local water park with my family. It was an awesome feeling.

A good friend of mine, Dr. David Curtis, also suffers from back pain associated with degenerative disc disease, which left him with six herniated discs. One day we played 36 holes of golf and both of our backs were sore so I mentioned that I had the VerteCore Lift with me. We took turns wearing the Lift for 20 minutes each and the pain relief was immediate.

It worked so well that David wanted to purchase a Lift and was disappointed that my device was a demo unit and that they would not be available until an upcoming Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that will be launched sometime in April 2016.

If you have any type of back pain caused by herniated discs and pinched nerves, I highly recommend that you try a VerteCore Lift. It is simple, cost-effective and very easy to put on and wear during a 20-minute doctor visit or buying your own Lift so that you can wear it during your normal daily routine.

 

Dr. David Curtis, Ph.D., Psychologist, based in Long Island, New York

“My story is similar to Mark’s. I was diagnosed two years ago with degenerative disc disease and by the time I had my first MRI, the exam showed that I had six herniated discs.

Like Mark, my back pain made it tough to play golf. So when he called and asked me if I wanted to play a round of golf I wanted to say no, but he said that he had a new med-tech device that would decompress the spine and help reduce my back pain. When I tried it on, much to my surprise it did and I felt the decompression effects for the whole day. And I only wore it for 20 minutes.

What surprised me is how simple the device was to operate and how much better I felt. I would highly recommend a ‘Lift’ to anyone with back pain. Simple back pain relief is a good thing for everyone.”

Dr. Richard F. Mestayer, Medical Doctor/Psychiatrist, Springfield, Louisiana

“The VerteCore Lift was introduced to me through a good friend, Stanley Cooper. He told me some very positive things about the med-tech spine decompression device and I became very interested in the product due to my own person experience with chronic back pain.

Unfortunately for me, I have had back surgery twice with the final one being a “Fusion.” So instead, I had several patients try it on at my office and it was very clear from their facial expressions that it was doing a good job at melting away their pain.

As an MD, I think that the VerteCore Lift would have been very helpful to me during the years prior to my surgery. The VerteCore Lift is not designed to help patients with fusions, but I wish that it had been available when I began having my back pain. I feel confident that if I had healed better from my earlier minor back injuries that I probably could have completely avoided undergoing back surgery altogether.

I would definitely recommend that all future patients try a VerteCore Lift before contemplating irreversible back surgery. You will be glad you did.”

If you would like to pre-order single units or purchase volume quantities before the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign begins, please fill out the contact form at http://vertecore.com or call Paul Leake direct at (601) 807-2148.

The company is currently recruiting sales people, resellers, distributors, and manufacturing representatives. The Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign is going to offer a 40% discount (save $240) on both the clinical and consumer models on the first 500 units to be pre-sold. About 200 orders have already been placed.

Get in line now if you want the Early Bird Special

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AlgoValue Rolls Out Easy-to-Use “Enterprise Valuator,” a Highly Advanced Automated “N” Process which Valuates Both Private and Publicly Traded Companies

Its growing suite of solutions provides fast, accurate, and cost-effective valuations for accounting firms, VCs, private investors, startups, law firms as well as crowdfunding and secondary market platforms

By Robert Hoskins

New York City, New York – AlgoValue announced the latest product in the company’s unique line of valuation products and solutions: Enterprise Valuator. The easy to use Enterprise Valuator is based on a highly advanced automated “N” process which valuates both private and traded companies and uses the same methodology followed by valuation firms, investment banks, and major worldwide accounting firms, including the ‘Big 4’. The solution easily enables users to valuate any company – whether or not it is at seed stage, generating revenue, or profitable. With instant access to a database of current and historical multiples from over 11,000 comparable traded companies, Enterprise Valuator delivers results in minutes.

AlgoValue “Enterprise Valuator” for Both Private and Public Traded Companies

Founded in Tel Aviv in 2011 by former PriceWaterhouseCoopers valuation experts Raphael Meyara and Tsachi Hageg, AlgoValue is streamlining the way valuations are performed. The company has enjoyed a rapid rise in usership, with a wide client base that includes accounting firms, valuation firms, VCs, private investors, startups, and law firms – as well as crowdfunding and secondary market platforms. Its growing suite of solutions provides fast, accurate, and cost-effective results that empower users and bring transparency to valuations done for a wide variety of purposes (financial reporting, tax compliance, capital raising, negotiating term sheets, pricing private share placements and trades, management/board decision making, and more). Furthermore, all of AlgoValue’s products are AICPA, US GAAP, and IFRS compliant.

Schedule a demo with AlgoValue’s experts.

AlgoValue’s Enterprise Valuator perfectly complements the company’s other products: the Term Sheet Analyzer^TM, and the 409A/ASC 820 Compliance Wizard^TM. The Term Sheet Analyzer is a one-stop solution for calculating ‘what-if’ scenarios and simulations of equity financing events and the creation of investment waterfalls. The Compliance Wizard offers an efficient, comprehensive solution for performing and auditing valuations of equity securities of private companies for tax (409A) and financial reporting (ASC 820). Both products provide a complete solution which avoids costly Excel errors.

As with all of AlgoValue’s solutions, users can share the inputs and outputs of Enterprise Valuator in a secure, real-time environment with all parties involved in any valuation or transaction pricing exercise. Enterprise Valuator is attractively priced at $60 U.S. per month per user, including unlimited use of the software.

“The Enterprise Valuator – by using multiples of comparable companies – gives our team a highly effective, easy-to-use tool for the valuation of traded companies, private companies, and startups. And the pricing can’t be beat!”

# # #

(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

Hoskins is one of the crowdfunding industry’s foremost crowdfunding advocates and has amassed a huge social media following that is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns. Due to the overwhelming demand from the general public for crowdfunding information, he empowers entrepreneurs with some of the internet’s most affordable ($20) online crowdfunding training classes, which provide insight to startups around the world on a 24 x 7 basis.

Hoskins adamantly believes that the crowdfunding industry will empower everyone in the United States to rediscover the possibility of living the American dream with a little hard work, a great business idea and the dedication to researching, planning and launching a well-thought-out crowdfunding campaign. He consults on a regular basis with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

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New Equity Crowdfunding Platform iAngels.co Raises $2.25 Million Seed Round from Accredited Investors Who Want to Invest Alongside the Experts

iAngels became the 15^th company to successfully raise funds through the iAngels equity crowdfunding site, raising $1.25 million from some of Israel’s most successful super angel investors

By Robert Hoskins

Tel Aviv, Israel – iAngels is a leading equity crowdfunding platform that enables private investors to co-invest with Startup Nation’s leading angels and gain access to exclusive early-stage opportunities. The iAngels site recently announced that it has raised a $2.25 million Seed Round led by Roman Abramovich’s fund, Millhouse Capital.

iAngels is a leading equity crowdfunding platform that enables private investors to co-invest with Startup Nation’s leading angels and gain access to exclusive early-stage opportunities

iAngels became the 15^th company to successfully raise funds through the iAngels online platform, raising $1.25 million from some of Israel’s most successful angels, and an additional $1 million from its global community of investors within two days.

“We are very confident in the elite angels we’ve identified and their ability to spot the winners,” said Shelly Hod Moyal, Founding Partner at iAngels. “In fact, we’ve structured our business model to take the same risk that investors take when they invest in Israeli startups through the iAngels platform.”

“With iAngels, gone are the days when the crowdfunding platform could make money without the angels themselves succeeding,” added Mor Assia, Founding Partner at iAngels. “High-Net-Worth Individuals are choosing to co-invest with leading Israeli angels through the iAngels platform because they appreciate our unique ability to find and engage Israel’s top performing angels and analyze their investment opportunities to make sound recommendations to our angel community.”

Israel’s elite angels and Roman Abramovich’s fund, Millhouse Capital, subscribe to Assia and Hod Moyal’s rationale. Angel Investors who participated in the Seed Round led by Millhouse Capital include Marc Lasry, Boaz Weinstein, Alex Waislitz, Drew Schaefer, Gigi Levy, David Assia, Daniel Recanati, Yanki Margalit and Marcy Simon.

“iAngels provides unparalleled access to Israel’s best deal flow,” noted Gigi Levy Weiss, iAngels Advisor and one of Israel’s most successful angel investors. “The company’s unique model of investing alongside Israel’s top angels guarantees the quality of the selected companies and helps accredited investors worldwide beat the odds and make money from this coveted asset class.”

The year-old iAngels has already connected its investor community to a robust pipeline of high potential Israeli companies. In 2014, 15 Israeli companies successfully raised capital through the platform, led by the conviction of Israel’s top Angel investors and validated by the wisdom of the iAngels crowd. The iAngels investment portfolio includes promising companies such as TravelersBox, Hello Doctor, Webyclip, Nanorep, Drippler and Biscience.

“We cherry pick only the most promising Israeli startups, selecting only 5% of the investment opportunities we evaluate, said Assia. “Private investors around the world benefit from the due diligence performed by both iAngels and Israel’s top performing angel investors. We expect significant growth in 2015.”

iAngels is an angel investing equity crowdfunding platform that provides accredited investors around the world access to exclusive deals backed by Israel’s top performing early-stage investors under the terms they negotiated.

iAngels founders Mor Assia and Shelly Hod Moyal leverage analytics, visibility and relationships with angels and entrepreneurs to open a closed network of professional investors to the investing public.

By combining the proven experience of professional angel investors with due diligence and analysis, iAngels offers investors the most attractive early-stage investment opportunities in “Startup Nation.” 

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Why Every University and College Should Develop a Rewards-based or Equity-Based Crowdfunding Ecosystem

Crowdfunding platforms can be used to support research & development, transfer technology, protect IP, build co-working spaces and finance incubators and accelerators to launch new startups

 By Robert Hoskins

 Austin, Texas – The purpose of this equity crowdfunding article is to encourage universities and colleges to begin thinking about how schools and students might benefit from:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

The Need to Build a Crowdfunding Ecosystem

There is a new generation of “Millennials” that do not want to go to college due to the poor economy and because they do not want to start their life as young adults by incurring $50,000 or more in college loan debt. And there is a growing concern for many students that there may not be a job waiting for them when they finally graduate. 

Read more:  What is Crowdfunding?

But what if there was a way to attract more students by convincing them that they could work their way through college by researching, planning and then launching their own business while earning their college degree? This would allow some certainty about their career path and teach students how to put a lot more money in their pockets than working for a large corporation that will stick them in a cubicle for the rest of their life.

Entrepreneurship Centers

For this reason, “Entrepreneurship Centers” are becoming a huge draw for students who do not want to work for a living, but instead want to live for working. That means learning how to build new startups from the ground up.  Entrepreneurship Centers usually start with a co-working space, then adds a business incubator with mentors to guide students through the startup process and when budget permits, accelerators are created to help students raise money from angel investors, accredited investors and sometimes venture capitalists.

Co-Working Spaces for Startup Companies

The biggest challenge for incubators and accelerators are the costs associated with building a 25,000 sq. ft. co-working space, paying mentors salaries and finding experienced executives with great track records that are willing to share their wisdom and industry experience with students. There is also resistance from departing from the “old school” way of transferring technology from a university Research & Development laboratory, protecting the intellectual property and then utilizing a licensing or royalty revenue model to realize short-term deals to provide a revenue for the college or university. 

JOBS Act: Nationwide Equity Crowdfunding

Enter the 2012 JOBS Act, General Solicitation and a new Equity Crowdfunding alternative financing tool that can help startups raise seed investment capital to startup new businesses. While the SEC and NASAA seems hell bent on preventing the national guidelines from ever being released (they are three years past the official deadline mandated by President and the United States Congress), approximately 14 states such as Texas, Michigan, and Georgia have passed their own Intrastate Equity Crowdfunding Exemptions. Add to that another 15 states have a Crowdfunding Exemption in progress.

Map of United States that have approved Intrastate Equity Crowdfunding Exemptions

Source: CrowdfundingLegalHub.com

Intrastate Equity Crowdfunding Exemption

In states where intrastate equity crowdfunding is legal, any trade school, college or university can build an equity crowdfunding platform and use it to begin fundraising campaigns to raise money, not only from Angel Investors and Accredited Investors, but also from the general public who are non-accredited investors.

Read more: What is an Intrastate Equity Crowdfunding Exemption?

This means anyone can take a brilliant idea, create a business plan and investor deck to support the business case, build an online equity crowdfunding profile and then use marketing campaigns to advertise the deal to millions of potential investors. Like any e-commerce site, Investors can then visit the equity crowdfunding sites to shop for deals by minimum investment amount, by products or services or by vertical business segment to find deals they want to invest in.

This means that a college or university can build an equity crowdfunding site and use it to raise money for every one of its R&D programs and streamline the entire technology transfer process so that promising technology can be transformed into startups businesses. The school collects a certain percentage from each crowdfunding campaign called a platform commission fee. For a $1 million raise and 10% platform commission fee, a college could collect a $100,000 fee from each campaign. This money could be used to fund co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators and Entrepreneurship Centers.

Creating Equity Crowdfunding Investment Syndicates

By the SEC’s securities law, a crowdfunding platform’s management team or employees cannot invest in equity campaign hosted on its own site unless they are registered broker dealer with the SEC. But a popular trend that is growing is building a college or university equity crowdfunding investment syndicate. An investment syndicate is usually led by one or more Super Angel Investors, who are seasoned veterans that have been investing in startups for 20 to 30 years and completely understanding the process of vetting deals with due diligence and understand the real risks of investing in startup companies.

Novice accredited investors with little investment experience join the investment syndicate so that they can follow or invest along side the Super Angel Investors. In addition, where it is legal, investment syndicates will pool a large pool of non-accredited investors together, who make small investments, into a single LLC and then invest the group’s money similar to how a venture capitalist invests money on the behalf of others.

Adopting an Equity Crowdfunding Ecosystem

For colleges and universities that adopt an equity crowdfunding business model might, it might completely change the way a school recruits, raises money, builds relationships with alumni and earns revenue by seeking long-term equity stakes in their students startups versus short-term licensing and royalty agreements.

Read More:  Top 100 Crowdfunding Sites in the United States

Launching an equity crowdfunding platform would not just increase a school’s earning potential, but they might dramatically change the manner in which that Millennials are taught. Instead of just course work, students would be taught at an early age to begin to engage with the world around them and plot a course for their own future destiny rather than relying on fate. Some Millennials might reject the idea of going to college, but the lure of becoming a successful entrepreneur and launching their own business while earning a college education has the potential to create one of the most vibrant and thriving economies the world has ever seen.

Even students that do not start up their own companies have an outstanding chance to benefit from the equity crowdfunding business model. All students seek a way to get some type of real world work experience usually by working as free or highly underpaid interns. Imagine the learning benefits that student would receive when applying their desired major’s education such as business administration, finance, legal or marketing to the intense equity crowdfunding process of launching a startup company.

Instead of adding a bullet point for working a menial job as a small cog in the corporate machine as an intern, students just might be fortunate enough to work on several successful crowdfunding campaigns that would highlight their professional expertise such as business planning, structuring equity finance deals marketing, PR, video production, and/or copy writing. And if the sweat equity pays off in equity crowdfunding shares, they might become extremely wealthy when that startup goes public a couple of years after they graduate. This is how many, many Silicon Valley millionaires got their start. They just did not have a term for the process, which is now branded as equity crowdfunding today.

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Understanding the Best Type of Crowdfunding Site to Support a College or University Campus

What’s the Best Type of Crowdfunding Platform to Serve a College or University Entrepreneurship Center, Co-Working Space, Incubator or Accelerator Program?

By Robert Hoskins

Understanding the Crowdfunding Funding Process

The first step in building a crowdfunding business model is to understand the various forms of crowdfunding and at what step of the business creation process each should be used.

This crowdfunding infographic is a good representation on each step of the business creation process from the business idea, generating revenue, validating marketplace demand, expanding operations and maturing into a fortune 500 company.  It also shows what type of crowdfunding is usually best to fund startups and each step of the business’ evolution.

The Crowdfunding Escalator by Crowdfund Suite Shows the Different Types of Crowdfunding

Source: CrowdfundSuite.com

Donation-based Crowdfunding – At kitchen tables, dinner parties, happy hours and dorm rooms around the world many brilliant ideas are born and discussed for the very first time. Once an idea has been pitched and vetted among friends and family and it begins to gain momentum toward the first step of crowdfunding, Donation-based Crowdfunding, which is used to scrape enough money together to begin building a business plan to figure out how much it will cost to bring a business idea to fruition and/or develop at one or more prototypes. Donation crowdfunding sites make it easy to collect money for new creative ideas as well as expand the crowdfunding campaign’s reach from just family and friends to a global audience of potential supporters.

Most donation-based crowdfunding sites are usually built to provide fundraising activities for campaigns that do not offer any rewards or perks.  They are also used to support non-profit causes.  Donations to 501(3)(c) are tax deductible and can be written off at the end of the year.  

Most universities will only build donation-based crowdfunding sites that can be used by students and faculty to collect money by students and faculty for a wide variety of projects including college educations, scholarships, research and development, campus improvements and all kinds of not-for-profit endeavors. Crowdfunding can be used for very small fundraising efforts to raising millions of dollars from alumni, foundations, institutional investors and corporate sponsors.

Donation-based crowdfunding sites will make it easy for anyone to search for, discover, research and fund their favorite pet projects on their alma mater’s campus.

Rewards-based Crowdfunding – Surprisingly enough 90% of people in the world still are not familiar with the term crowdfunding. Mention Kickstarter or IndieGoGo and most people do recognize the brand name and know its purpose and have heard of popular crowdfunding campaigns such as Oculus, Star Citizen, Coolest Cooler and the return of the Pebble Time SmartWatch.

Rewards-based campaigns are used to take ideas, concepts and prototypes to the next level. They are used in a similar fashion to how typical marketing campaigns are used to support product/service launches and rollouts with an added twist.

People with ideas build a crowdfunding profile, shoot a crowdfunding pitch video and build a list of up to 20 perks or rewards that are pre-sold to raise enough money to develop a prototype or pay for the very first manufacturing production run.  Not only do rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns validate industry demand, but they allow businesses to test market various product versions, colors and price points to gauge public interest. More importantly, they help startups generate their first revenue by pre-selling their products and services in order to raise enough money to get the business started. Gaining this type of market traction is very important to angel investors because it shows that there is an audience of people who are willing to pay for the company’s products and services. 

The best way for universities and colleges to cut their teeth on the crowdfunding business model is to launch a rewards-based crowdfunding site, which usually collects a 5% commission on the crowdfunding campaign’s total amount raised. That may not sound like much but since 2009, Kickstarter alone has raised $1.6 billion, which at 5% means $80 million over 5 years in gross revenue or an average of $16 million per year that could be used to fund a wide variety of college/university projects.

Not only are crowdfunding platforms a good source of revenue, but with the right marketing resources crowdfunding campaigns have the potential to raise a huge amount of marketplace awareness for the university’s projects, business development goals, research and development labs and technology transfer programs. All at no cost to the university because the crowdfunding campaign managers are the ones that spend money to market their crowdfunding campaign to the world.

The other reason to consider launching a rewards-based crowdfunding program is that they are easy and do not fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC or state securities board regulators because no securities are being sold. For new startups it also means that raising money does not involve selling any equity shares or giving up any control of the company’s administration.

Rewards-based crowdfunding campaign commissions can also be used by colleges/universities to establish co-working spaces and to fund college incubator and accelerator programs. Co-working spaces with at least 25,000 sq. ft. can generate millions of dollars per year in additional revenue from rent and mentorship programs.

It is important to note that rewards-based commissions combined with co-working space revenue can provide millions of dollars in seed investment capital to begin funding the next step in the process, equity-based crowdfunding sites, where schools, students, faculty and alumni can become equity investors in new startups.

Equity-based Crowdfunding – Setting up equity-based crowdfunding websites will allow schools to play the role usually enjoyed by Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists and/or Broker-Dealers. They will allow students to raise money for startups by selling debt, such as convertible notes, or selling equity shares for a certain percentage of the company to raise enough seed investment capital to produce prototypes, fund early manufacturing runs, setup distribution agreements and hire manufacturer representatives. 

Other types of equity crowdfunding involve sharing 20% of the gross profits with investors or making royalty payments on a per item sold basis until the investors receive a 3x to 5x payback on their initial investment.

Investing in startups is a risky business, but with the right education and building a small group of experienced Super Angel investors to follow, a large group of novice accredited investors can invest smaller amounts of money along side seasoned experts with a proven 25-30 year track record.

In states like Texas, Michigan, Georgia and 11 others non-accredited investors can also pool their money together to purchase equity shares of stock. This is something that has been illegal for the past 80 years, but intrastate crowdfunding exemption laws are now allowing average people to begin investing in startups just like angel investors and venture capitalists.

The aggregation of novice accredited and non-accredited investors are known as Investment Syndicates, which is the process of following expert investors.  This allows students, faculty members and the general public to learn the equity investment business and enjoy the benefits of being an insider when a great business idea is transformed from a startup company to an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

For example, a $300 investment for a single share of stock and pair of Oculus virtual reality goggles would have paid investors a return on investment of $45,000 when Facebook bought the company for $2 billion dollars.

Equity-based crowdfunding is much more complicated than rewards-based crowdfunding due to the stringent requirements needed to meet the SEC and state securities board regulatory requirements.

Unlike rewards-based crowdfunding, equity crowdfunding provides a great opportunity for business administration, legal and finance students to get hands-on experience writing business plans, structuring deals, protecting intellectual property (IP) and planning real world product/service launches that are part of every single equity crowdfunding campaign.

Working alongside experienced angel investors and venture capitalists is also a great way for students and faculty to learn the finance industry from the inside out.

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

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Want to learn more about crowdfunding campaigns or how to setup a crowdfunding platform?

Please fill out this form to get started:

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Email

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Equity Crowdfunding Provides Colleges and Universities with Easy Access to Early Stage, Seed Round Investment Capital

How Colleges / Universities Can Provide Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Equity Crowdfunding Platforms

By Robert Hoskins

Providing Easy Access to Investment Capital 

Providing easy access to seed investment capital is a great way to encourage the creative thinking of young innovators. When money is hard to get, there isn’t much point in trying to be creative. But when students realize that there is a better than average chance of putting together a good business plan and actually being able to raise money to fund their ingenious ideas, Equity crowdfunding will serve as the catalyst that stimulates economic development.

The payoff for students, faculty and universities can be tremendous. It only takes a couple of home run investments to generate a billion dollars in revenue when one of their startups is purchased or takes their company public.  

If you look at the current crop of Angel investors, the large majority got their start by working for a company that went public. Once entrepreneurs strike it rich, they want more.  They don’t cash out and retire.  They reinvest the $10 million they earned into a new pool of startups to help them achieve the same success.  This is what most people mean by mentors.

Successful entrepreneurs love to share their success stories with the next generation. The most important step is to create the first wave of entrepreneurs even if it means a small town in nowhere Texas has to pay Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists from California and New York for their consulting services to get the ball rolling.  All it takes is a small college, smart professors, a few successful investors, a Rewards or Equity-based crowdfunding platform and a team of marketing experts that understand advertising, email marketing, PR and social media.

One company that creates a 1,000 millionaires has the capability to investment up to a billion dollars back into the next round of startups. This is precisely how Silicon Valley was built. For colleges/universities that decide to add an Equity-based Crowdfunding ecosystem, it has the potential to start a huge investment domino effect that will result in a wide-spread, long-term return-on-investment for universities, its faculty, their students and the community around them.

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

 

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