IgnitionDeck Acquires Crowdfunding Assets Fundify and CrowdPress to Power Star Citizen-Class Fundraising Campaigns on WordPress

The growing software developer has embarked on a strategy to buy up  and integrate the world’s most powerful crowdfunding tools on the WordPress platform in order to build best-of-breed fundraising platforms

 By Robert Hoskins

Apollo Beach, Florida – IgnitionDeck, Inc. announced that it has acquired two of the most popular and powerful tools that offer customers a  no-commission-fee crowdfunding platform. Fundify was purchased from Astoundify and CrowdPress was purchased from BoxyStudio. These assets position IgnitionDeck as a powerful force in the crowdfunding industry and gives the company a dominant position within one of the leading online publishing platforms, WordPress, which accounts for more than 60 million websites worldwide.

IgnitionDeck – The Crowdfunding Industry’s Most Popular WordPress Platform Templates

IgnitionDeck’s No-Commission-Fee crowdfunding tools let fundraisers host their own donation pages, keep all of the money that they raise, and control their relationship with users. Self-hosted campaigns offer a professional-looking and money-saving alternative to sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which charge commissions on all funds raised, limit fundraising time periods, impose their own branding, and control the communications between fundraisers and donors.

A crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter campaign that raises $2 million would pay a platform commission fee of 5% or $100,000 for doing nothing more than allowing a client to upload a video, write a crowdfunding profile and add up to 20 perks.  A similar campaign running on Indiegogo that falls $1 short of its goal would pay a 9% commission or $180,000.

For example, Star Citizen, one of the most funded crowdfunding campaigns in history utilized a Kickstarter campaign, running between October 19th and November 19th, 2012. It raised $2,134,374, but had to pay a Kickstarter commission fee of approximately $106,718.

Roberts Space Industries, Chris Robert’s  Star Citizen is the Most Funded Crowdfunding Campaign in History, Dwarfing Kickstarter and Indiegogo

To circumvent paying this fee for their second crowdfunding campaign, Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts turned to IgnitionDeck to help him host his own fundraising campaign using his video game’s website, Roberts Space Industries, versus going with Kickstarter.  Star Citizen used IgnitionDeck for the first $13 million, thus at 5%, saved ~$650,000 by going IgnitionDeck direct.

After that, Star Citizen hired Turbulent to further customize the Star Citizen/Roberts Space Industries site and as of July 13, 2014, the Star Citizen campaign had raised approximately $48,050,064 from 498,029 pledges, which is more than any Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign.

Customers that have a large community of followers and feel comfortable in setting a goal of $2 million or more on Kickstarter would save a minimum of $100,000 by hosting an IgnitionDeck crowdfunding campaign on their own website. The more money raised, the more IgnitionDeck will save them.

After the experience with such a successful crowdfunding campaign, the IgnitionDeck management team realized that they needed more functionality.  Of all the tools they analyzed, it was clear that buying the functionality that the Fundify and CrowdPress themes provided would be strategic to the future direction of IgnitionDeck’s WordPress crowdfunding platform.

Launched in 2012, Fundify soon became one of the most popular tools for hosting multiple crowdfunding projects simultaneously, enabling people to “be their own Kickstarter.” The CrowdPress design theme provides a customizable front-end to Fundify’s functionality. All of these solutions– IgnitionDeck, Fundify, and CrowdPress– let hosts avoid the typical 4% to 9% commissions levied by commercial crowdfunding sites, have sold thousands of copies, and enjoy active user communities.

According to IgnitionDeck co-founder Nathan Hangen, “The IgnitionDeck and Astoundify teams have had multiple positive interactions. During one recent conversation, we began toying with the idea of bringing Fundify into the IgnitionDeck product suite. Within weeks, both teams knew it was the right thing to do, agreed on the terms, and shook hands.” Says Astoundify co-founder Adam Pickering, “We’re proud of Fundify, and all of the success and good will that it has generated. We are glad to see it become part of the IgnitionDeck family– it’s a perfect match.”

In January 2014, Indiegogo announced Indiegogo Outpost, which replicates IgnitionDeck’s ability to embed a crowdfunding campaign on a host’s website. The Outpost feature was scheduled for release Q1 2014, but it has not yet been delivered as of this writing.

The Fundify theme only costs $60. IgnitionDeck yearly license fees range between $79 and $349. WordPress hosting for a 90-day campaign costs about $20.  All forms of online crowdfunding incur transaction fees from a payment processor such as Amazon, PayPal, Stripe or WePay.

WordPress is a robust publishing system that takes most non-computer literature users a day or so to learn. The other option is to hire  a WordPress consultant who is familiar with off-the-shelf tools like IgnitionDeck and Fundify to create and launch a custom crowdfunding site for you.

In addition to standalone crowdfunding platforms for single campaigns, the IgnitionDeck Enterprise Edition allows anyone to build a full-scale, white-labeled crowdfunding site that can be branded and setup to compete directly with Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

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Indiegogo Principal Adam Chapnick Bets Big on Real Estate Crowdfunding, Joins Upstart Platform AssetAvenue

Former Principal Exits VC-Darling Indiegogo to Oversee Strategy at Commercial Real Estate Platform Up-and-Comer

By Robert Hoskins

Los Angeles, CA  – Adam Chapnick believes real estate crowdfunding is on the precipice of becoming a major disrupting force in real estate investing, and chose to join AssetAvenue’s team of highly experienced real estate and technology professionals, betting big on a newcomer in one of the fastest-growing segments of the crowdfunding market.

New Equity Crowdfunding Platform Kicks Off by Closing First Deal in Manhattan’s Exclusive Trump Palace Within 48 Hours of Launch

The  former principal and employee number one with leading crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, announced that he is leaving the industry giant to join real estate crowdfunding company AssetAvenue. The company’s first completed deal raised $485,000 from investors in less than 48 hours to acquire a commercial real estate loan backed by office space in New York City’s prestigious Trump Palace.

“AssetAvenue’s disruptive vision and the team’s industry expertise are what set the company apart. The leadership team has decades of combined real estate experience, and they’re focused on breaking barriers, which is music to my ears,” said Chapnick. “When AssetAvenue CEO David Manshoory shared the scale of what he’s aiming to accomplish, I knew this was a mission I wanted to be a part of and the team I had to join. I can’t wait for the impact we’re going to make together.”

Chapnick joined Indiegogo as its first employee in 2009 and quickly helped the company grow into new markets and become one of the most successful crowdfunding platforms in the world. The company, which recently announced it raised a $40 million Series B round in January led by prominent investors Kleiner Perkins and Institutional Venture Partners, has hosted more than 200,000 campaigns to date in over 175 countries, four languages and five currencies.

Chapnick will be AssetAvenue’s chief strategy officer, bringing his expansive network and crowdfunding expertise to revolutionize the real estate investment experience for real estate sponsors, lenders and retail and institutional investors.

“We are thrilled that Adam has chosen AssetAvenue as his next home out of all the opportunities available to him,” said Manshoory. “We’re excited to couple one of the thought leaders in the crowdfunding industry with our real estate team to create an exceptional experience for our community.”

“Crowdfunding as a whole has been an incredibly revolutionary force in so many business verticals. It was thrilling to help drive this growth as the original player in the space,” added Chapnick. “Looking forward, those of us who are steeped in crowdfunding have seen real estate as the next explosive opportunity, given the sheer market size, coupled with all of its financial benefits to investors.”

Headquartered in Los Angeles, AssetAvenue is led by a management team leveraging a combined $10 billion in commercial real estate acquisitions experience. The company was founded in December 2013 by CEO David Manshoory, a seasoned real estate professional and successful entrepreneur with a track record of building rapid-growth companies.

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Leading Equity Investment Crowdfunding Platform in Israel Closes $25 Million Series B Funding Round

According to OurCrowd, based on published data, latest round of fund is the largest investment round in the equity crowdfunding sector to date

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd, a leading global equity crowdfunding platform, announced the closing of a $25 million Series B funding round. This round, according to OurCrowd and published data, is the largest investment round in the equity crowdfunding sector to date. The investment will be used both to further expand OurCrowd activities in Israel and worldwide, and to provide general partner funding participation for each OurCrowd deal on its website. Terms of the investment, and the list of participants in the round, were not disclosed.

Israel’s OurCrowd Closes $25 Million Dollar Series B Funding Round for Equity Crowdfunding Platform

OurCrowd CEO, Jon Medved, stated: “We are delighted to have closed this major funding milestone for OurCrowd. As we look back on our first year since launching in February 2013, we are gratified by the support of our global community of 4,000 accredited investors, our talented group of entrepreneurs and the 36 portfolio company teams. This additional funding will allow us to extend our global leadership in equity crowdfunding for early stage companies.”

OurCrowd, which began its activity by investing in early stage Israeli companies, has become the world’s largest equity crowdfunding firm in terms of dollars invested into companies through its platform. In addition to its own current $25 million Series B round, and its previous $5.5 million Series A funding round (Feb 2013), to date OurCrowd has raised another $43 million for its 36 portfolio companies from accredited investors in 26 different countries.

OurCrowd is already extending its global reach: four of its last ten equity crowdfunding deals were for companies based outside of Israel. Portfolio company round size has grown from several hundred thousand dollars per deal to a new high of over $3 million in a single deal. Eighteen portfolio companies have already raised more than $1 million each through OurCrowd’s platform.

Geoff Levy, the former CEO and Chairman of Investec Bank Australia and member of OurCrowd’s Advisory Board, who is an investor in the current round said, “OurCrowd’s emergence as the global leader in equity crowdfunding is now supported by a significant funding round. This new fuel will allow the management team to continue to execute the business plan and bring a wide group of new investors to the exciting tech startup scene worldwide. From their base in Israel, the ‘Startup Nation,’ OurCrowd will now make additional headway in Israel and other global innovation hotspots.”

Andrew Heyer, Mistral Equity Partners CEO, is another individual investor in the round and has joined the OurCrowd Advisory Board. He said, “As a private equity investor, I look to invest in the best emerging companies and help to grow their great consumer brands. At Mistral, we recently led a $10 million follow-on funding round for OurCrowd’s portfolio company Abe’s Market, the leader in e-commerce for organic products. We believe that OurCrowd has proven that they can add real value to their portfolio companies. They are opening up great investments for individual investors and I am delighted to be part of this groundbreaking venture.”

OurCrowd is a hybrid VC-equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors only who wish to invest in Israeli and global early stage companies. Managed by a team of well-known investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these startups to its accredited membership. Members choose those deals they invest in via OurCrowd-managed partnerships.

OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal. OurCrowd provides post investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats.

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KarmaKrowd Protects Crowdfunder’s IP including Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights for Entrepreneurs, Inventors, Startups for Crowdfunding Campaigns

Registers Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights at USPTO for Entrepreneurs, Inventors, Startups via New Legal Services Crowdfunding Platform

The soon-to-be-launched crowdfunding platform is now accepting applications for 25 beta testers that want to receive zero-upfront-cost legal services in return for testing the new crowdfunding platform

Chicago, IL – KarmaKrowd, a new crowdfunding site that caters to inventors, startups and entrepreneurs that want to protect their intellectual property (IP) including patents, trademarks and copyrights before launching a crowdfunding campaign, officially announced its new beta testing program that will accept up to 25 applicants to help stress test the crowdfunding platform’s functionality.  All beta testers will be given zero upfront costs on legal services.

KarmaKrowd Protects Crowdfunder’s Intellectual Property (IP) by Filing Patents, Trademarks & Copyrights

“Once KarmaKrowd goes live our team of seasoned team of legal experts will form corporations, conduct patent searches, and file provisional or design patents to safeguard our client’s intellectual property prior to conducting their crowdfunding campaign,” said Cindy Summerfield, KarmaKrowd’s Founder.  “We also will be protecting our clients by conducting trademark searches and registering trademark/copyright applications, and providing other legal documentation such as non-disclosure agreements to keep our clients and their ideas safe as possible.”

In addition to legal services, the platform will also differentiate itself by offering the crowdfunding industry’s first business directory of Crowdfunding Service Providers, including advertising, email marketing, profile copywriters, perks specialists, public relations, media relations, and marketing programs that will allow crowdfunding campaign managers instant access to marketing services to help them achieve a higher success rate than campaigns that launch on Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

KarmaKrowd’s unique value-added business proposition for inventors and brand owners is to give clients zero-cost upfront legal services for corporation formation, filing a provisional patent application and/or registering the appropriate trademarks/copyrights prior to launching a crowdfunding campaign.

No other crowdfunding platform offers any of these services to its users. KarmaKrowd provides this portfolio of very valuable legal services at no initial cost to the user by recouping its legal expenses via commission fees collected on the backend of fundraising campaigns.

Upon successful beta test performance, KarmaKrowd will open its doors with 25 crowdfunding campaigns sometime in March 2014.

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More Articles on Crowdfunding IP Protection:

• Using Crowdfunding Sites Could Destroy Your Business Idea
• Don’t Forget to Protect Your Crowdfunding Business Idea
• Crowdfunding’s Impact on Start-Up Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy
• 3D Systems Suing Formlabs and Kickstarter for Patent Infringement

Indiegogo Amasses a $40 Million Dollar War Chest to Compete with Kickstarter

Promoting Crowdfunding Innovation and Worldwide Domination, Indiegogo Raises $40 million from Institutional Venture Partners and Klieiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

 By Robert Hoskins

Indiegogo announced that it has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Institutional Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The financing will be used to continue making key hires, expand globally and improve the user experience with a focus on mobile, personalization and trust. Additional funding was provided by existing investors Insight Venture Partners, MHS Capital, Metamorphic Ventures and ff Venture Capital.

Indiegogo Crowdfunding Platform Now Armed and Ready to Compete Globally

As one of the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, Indiegogo has hosted more than 190,000 campaigns from nearly 190 countries. In the past two years, funds raised on Indiegogo have grown by 1,000% and the company has expanded to 85 employees, opening its new headquarters in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco last year. With this financing, the company will be growing its team in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, as well as expanding internationally. Indiegogo’s online platform supports contributions in five currencies (U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, euro, pound sterling and Australian dollar) and four languages (English, German, French and Spanish).

“We’re committed to making Indiegogo the world’s funding engine and giving people access to capital worldwide. With IVP and KPCB’s support, we can rapidly take critical steps to help more and more people fund what matters to them,” said Slava Rubin, founder and CEO of Indiegogo.

“Indiegogo is playing a central role in the transformation of the global economy,” said John Doerr, general partner at KPCB. “We are excited to partner with Indiegogo to help support the dreams and aspirations of the Indiegogo community and continue establishing Indiegogo as the leading international platform for funding new ideas and innovation.”

“Indiegogo’s flexible funding model and open platform are helping it become the market leader in the rapidly growing crowdfunding space. The company is the Android of crowdfunding—easily accessible and open to all,” said Jules Maltz, general partner at IVP.

Indiegogo is democratizing access to funding by allowing anyone, anywhere to raise money. As a result of this commitment to empowerment and diversity, Indiegogo has featured some of the most innovative and influential crowdfunding campaigns including the following:

• Canary
• Kite™ Patch by ieCrowd
• Scanadu Scout
• Skullgirls
• Ubuntu Edge by Canonical
• Tesla Museum by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal
• Protest the Hero
• Shine by Misfit Wearables
• A Vacation for Karen Klein
• The Bounce Back with Shemar Moore
• Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center partnered with the Draper Family

Indiegogo empowers people around the world to fund what matters to them. As the largest global crowdfunding platform, campaigns have launched from almost every country around the world with millions of dollars being distributed every week due to contributions made by the Indiegogo community. At its core, Indiegogo is an open platform dedicated to democratizing the way people raise funds for any project – creative, entrepreneurial or cause-related.

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Crowdfunding Press Center Releases First Global 100 Crowdfunding Web Site Index

Global 100 Crowdfunding Index Provides Crowdfunding Investor / Crowdfunder Demographic  Information, Website Traffic Statistics, SEO Keyword Search Analytics, and Upstream/Downstream Histories

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Despite the SEC’s attempt to slow the equity crowdfunding industry down, every other segment of the crowdfunding industry is breaking records worldwide as small businesses and entrepreneurs are raising billions of dollars to get their business ideas and creative projects off the ground.  If fact, by the time the SEC finally issues their formal guidelines, it may be too late to get small businesses interested in turning over any equity at all.  Why give up any control of your business, when you can successfully raise $10,000,000 through rewards-based, perks-based or donation-based crowdfunding campaigns? [Click to Tweet]

Click on the web site traffic links below to research potential crowdfunding websites and their ability to reach your crowdfunding PR campaigns desired target audience.

If your site is not listed, feel free to contact us and tell us why your site should be listed.  If you need help putting together a crowdfunding marketing campaign for your crowdfunding website or crowdfunding campaign, feel free to contact us.  We also maintain the world’s largest database of crowdfunding service providers.

Source: April 2014 SimilarWeb Website Statistics

[Click to Tweet]

Global Rank	2014 Top Crowdfunding Sites	Web Traffic Rank
1	www.kickstarter.com	964  (-244)
2	www.gofundme.com	1,245  (+4,481)
3	www.angel.co	1,274  (+9,683)
4	www.lendingclub.com	2,561  (+11,280)
5	www.fundingcircle.com	3,597  (+69,986)
6	www.indiegogo.com	3,711  (-1,361)
7	www.quirky.com	4,661  (+10,336)
8	www.youcaring.com	5,022  (+29,979)
9	www.justgiving.com	6,109  (+5,016)
10	www.giveforward.com	6,370  (+22,619)
11	www.uinvest.com.ua	7,393  (-2,037)
12	www.kiva.org	7,715  (+4,039)
13	www.crowdrise.com	8,311  (+35,678)
14	www.razoo.com	8,995  (+40,736)
15	www.donorschoose.org	9,383  (+55,327)
16	www.fundly.com	9,915  (+59,157)
17	www.pledgemusic.com	11,853  (+35,156)
18	www.crowdtilt.com	13,903  (+76,675)
19	www.firstgiving.com	14,757  (+37,294)
20	www.fundrazr.com	19,265  (+36,105)
21	www.magcloud.com	23,576  (+23,576)
22	www.realtymogul.com	25,956  (+25,956)
23	www.ulule.com	26,412  (+26,412)
24	www.rockethub.com	27,902  (+44,588)
25	www.fundable.com	28,615  (+56,490)
26	www.crowdfunder.com	32,601  (+95,725)
27	www.circleup.com	33,099  (+190,056)
28	www.fundanything.com	35,349  (+71,742)
29	www.fundrise.com	36,797  (+36,979)
30	www.seedinvest.com	41,715  (+430,930)
31	www.rockthepost.com	42,885  (+219,756)
32	www.offbeatr.com	43,967  (+43,967)
33	www.wefunder.com	47,489  (+123,062)
34	www.equitynet.com	48,247  (+587,067)
35	www.gogetfunding.com	61,405  (+78,842)
36	www.pozible.com	62,443  (+2,369)
37	www.slated.com	66,677  (+66,677)
38	www.crowdcube.com	67,493  (+18,583)
39	www.assetavenue.com	68,249  (+68,249)
40	www.fundraise.com	75,650  (+122,645)
41	www.opportunity.org	75,718  (+393,422)
42	www.assob.com.au	77,558  (+386,646)
43	www.givezooks.com	80,405  (+299,806)
44	www.pave.com	81,226  (+444,764)
45	www.peerform.com	83,521  (+994,913)
46	www.ourcrowd.com	88,850  (+308,003)
47	www.pubslush.com	95,418  (+95,418)
48	www.dragoninnovation.com	98,127  (+98,127)
49	www.appbackr.com	100,023  (+105,911)
50	www.crowdemand.com	115,618  (+115,618)
51	www.microgiving.com	115,267  (+585,065)
52	www.wazoku.com	115,402  (+115,402)
New	www.flashfunders.com	133,637  (new)
53	www.give2gether.com	128,130  (+655,961)
54	www.seedandspark.com	132,384  (+435,961)
55	www.fundedbyme.com	157,351  (+22,468)
56	www.sterlingfunder.com	162,355  (+2,810,783)
57	www.piggybackr.com	167,853  (+423,875)
58	www.pledgie.com	176,929  (+47,337)
New	www.zeczec.com	190,148  (+190,148)
59	www.launcht.com	196,394  (+230,943)
60	www.bolstr.com	235,082  (+805,974)
61	www.geldvoorelkaar.nl	239,031  (+238,031)
62	www.ppl.com.pt	285,111  (+285,111)
63	www.icrowd.com	295,421  (+292,145)
64	www.peerbackers.com	312,398  (+253,364)
65	www.banktothefuture.com	312,498  (+548,122)
66	www.invested.in	344,449  (+253,364)
67	www.symbid.com	386,296  (+22,212)
68	www.growvc.com	433,297  (-163,387)
69	www.somolend.com	433,891  (+408,760)
70	www.faithlauncher.com	447,005  (+438,283)
71	www.crowdit.com	480,625  (+194,246)
73	www.crowdvalley.com	527,534 (+116,320)
74	www.givetobenefit.com	532,139  (+233,567)
75	www.pledgecents.com	540,265  (+3,168,277)
76	www.appsfunder.com	570,311  (-105,800)
77	www.artistshare.com	622,060  (+622,060)
78	www.cMEcompete.com	678,296  (+4,130,838)
79	www.foodstart.com	692,712  (+29,824)
80	www.solarmosaic.com	754,410  (-399,359)
81	www.alumnifinder.com	876,496  (-966,058)
82	www.propellr.com	880,890  (-126,480)
83	www.fundafeast.com	992,504  (+992,504)
84	www.funderhut.com	1,106,925  (+775,099)
85	www.massivemov.com	1,119,512  (-295,027)
86	www.jumpstartcity.com	1,127,431  (+399,385)
87	www.sprigster.com	1,113,545  (+3,001,889)
88	www.crowdhelps.com	1,518,364  (+2,519,368)
New	www.crowdfundingpays.com	1,612,636  new
89	www.venturehealth.com	1,743,989  (+15,277,419)
90	www.clickstartme.com	1,791,606  (-894,227)
91	www.techmoola.com	2,000,288  (+848,486)
92	www.fundageek.com	2,376,689  (-4,678,913)
93	www.fansnextdoor.com	2,587,922  (+35,789)
94	www.ArtSpire.org	2,614,373  (+2,682,752)
95	www.crowdfundingbank.com	2,735,695  (-343,103)
96	www.ipledg.com	2,841,472  (-1,375,367)
97	www.dreambank.org	4,727,020  (-854,041)
98	www.startacure.com	3,462,978  (+5,050,952)
99	www.crowdequity.com	4,853,323  (+5,513,168)
100	www.getspringboarded.com	8,005,621  (-3,514,142)

Many readers first visit the Crowdfunding Press Center to learn more about the booming crowdfunding industry and try to get a handle on how to select the best crowdfunding  website to launch a fundraising campaign and learn what it takes to plan a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Launching a crowdfunding campaign is nothing more than a fancy way to describe a typical product/service marketing launch. The only real difference between a crowdfunding campaign and an old-fashioned product marketing/PR launch is the time period for collecting money.

In the past, companies have created new products, built company websites and used marketing, advertising, social networks and PR campaigns to raise awareness among the correct target audience to entice new/existing customers to buy their product or service.

eCommerce or the process of collecting money online is nothing new.  Collecting money or pre-selling a product/service, however, is a totally new concept and seems to be working very well.  Marketers love it because they can actually test demand for a product or service prior to investing a lot of time, effort and money to bring a product to market.

If a crowdfunding campaigns fails, entrepreneurs will actually save a lot of money that would have been invested in a new business that probably would have failed in a couple of years.  If the crowdfunding campaign is a successful and you raise several million dollars, you can bet that venture capitalists and angel investors will be very interested in buying equity stock the old fashioned way.

The one question that everyone wants to get answered is what is the best crowdfunding website to utilize when launching a fundraising campaign.  The answer is simple.  Like advertising or generating publicity in any communications medium, the most important question to answer is who is the desired target audience of donors and what kind of demographics/psychographics can be utilized to create effective marketing messages to convince the masses to donate money to your cause, creative project or new business idea.

Once the target audience has been identified it is easy to target media usage patterns to find the right mix of media outlets needed to achieve both reach and frequency to reach the correct target audience with the perfect message for the lowest cost -per-thousand (CPM). This is how marketeers have been conducting marketing campaigns for almost a century.

In today’s world, reach and frequency is tied directly to search engine optimization (SEO) and social networks along with traditional media outlets.

To help marketing/PR executives as well as crowdfunding campaign managers discover this type of information, we have analyzed what we consider to be the top 100 crowdfunding sites worldwide.  We ranked crowdfunding websites by their global website traffic as well as numerous other analytics including traffic stats, search analytics, audience readership, reviews, backlinks and upstream/downstream websites generating traffic.

It will not take long before media reps, media outlets and website auditing companies jump into crowdfunding market to start providing in-depth research reports, crowdfunding website audit statements and other readership studies that detail their website’s ability to reach the desired pool of investors/donors via their crowdfunding platform or website.

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Crowdtilt Raises $12 Million in Series A Funding to Support Explosive Crowdfunding Industry Growth

By Robert Hoskins

To meet the growing demand for crowdfunding financial services, Crowdtilt announced the close of their $12 million Series A funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Sean Parker, SV Angel, DCM, as well as CrunchFund, Alexis Ohanian, Elad Gil, Naval Ravikant, Sam Altman, Matt Mullenweg, Dave Morin and Justin Kan. Also joining Crowdtilt’s board of directors is Jeff Jordan, partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former CEO of OpenTable.

Crowdtilt Closes $12 Million Series A Funding Led by Andreessen Horowitz

The investment will support the explosive growth of the company, while further improving the product and user experience. Crowdtilt is being used for everything from collecting money for a fantasy football league among friends, all the way to an entire community rallying together to save their iconic toy store from closure.

“Our product and team are kicking ass, so we want to further invest in growing and expanding both. Our ultimate goal is still to help groups do more with each other, and this funding allows us to double down on various extensions of our product, such as our API, to further that goal,” said James Beshara, CEO of Crowdtilt.

Crowdtilt’s API, currently in closed beta, also allows anyone to create their own crowdfunding application, such as group payments, pre-sales commerce options, complete standalone crowdfunding applications or even social fundraising sites.

“Manual processes for coordinating payments across groups is inefficient and increasingly obsolete. Crowdtilt has built a highly efficient platform that is being used by all kinds of groups for all kinds of use cases — buying movie or concert tickets, collaborating on gift or travel spending, even funding school programs or public works projects. It is a robust collaborative payments platform for an increasingly collaborative web,” said Jeff Jordan, partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

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Want to generate news for your Crowdfunding PR campaign?  Select one of the following categories and post your press release:  Business , Cities, Communities, Crowdfunding Platforms, Education, Film, Music, Entertainment, Games, Videos, Social Good, Solar, Renewable Energy, Software, Hardware, and Technology Gadgets.   Don’t see your category listed? Tell us to add it and we will.

Both Crowdfunding platform owners and Crowdfunding campaign managers and PR staff can post their news and press releases into these free discussion forums to promote maximum social media exposure.

New Crowdfunding Portal PROJECT 5650 Seeking Accredited Investors in Atlanta

By Robert Hoskins

Mini America Development announces new crowdunding web portal based in Atlanta, Georgia featuring American made products and something dubbed as PROJECT 5650.

Mini America Development Launches Project 5650 Crowdfunding Platform

“We are very excited about our new web portal, www.miniamerica.org, and the new fundraising opportunity, PROJECT 5650,” said Eric de Groot, managing general partner of Mini America Development. “Look for more information about a press conference, promotions and presentations very soon.”

Mini America Development is not only looking for accredited investors, but also wants to provide an affordable opportunity for Americans from around the U.S. to support the goals of entrepreneurs to come together and celebrate patriotism in this educational theme park.

“Project 5650 is a groundbreaking opportunity,” de Groot explained. “We are looking for 56 ‘Mini-Pioneers’ in each of the 50 states. Each of the state’s 56 people would represent the signers of the 1776 Declaration of Independence. Project 5650 creates a total network of 2,800 ‘mini founding pioneers’ who will help shape Mini America, focus on the promotion of Made in America products and services, and use networking opportunities.”

By contributing $50.00, devoted and patriotic citizens can be the first in their state to become a member of a foundation that connects, transforms and builds this great country. Darrellene Lindsey, founder of Darrellene Designs in Plano, Texas, is Mini America’s first official vendor. All mini pioneers will receive a Made in the USA coaster designed byDarrellene Designs. In addition, one lucky winner will have a street named after them in Mini America.

Marketing Executive Donna Wise is enthusiastic about the future commenting, “We are very excited about the new web portal, www.miniamerica.org, and the new fundraising opportunity, PROJECT 5650. Look for more information about a press conference, promotions and presentations very soon.”

On April 18, 2013, Atlanta-based The Ritz Group will host the Chumming for Crowdfunding networking meeting during their Shark Attack event. Larry White, CEO of the company has invited de Groot to be ‘bait’ and present Project 5650 and other Mini America Crowdfunding campaigns to the panel, also known as sharks.

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Want to generate news for your Crowdfunding PR campaign?  Select one of the following categories and post your press release:  Business , Cities, Communities, Crowdfunding Platforms, Education, Film, Music, Entertainment, Games, Videos, Social Good, Solar, Renewable Energy, Software, Hardware, and Technology Gadgets.   Don’t see your category listed? Tell us to add it and we will.

Both Crowdfunding platform owners and Crowdfunding campaign managers and PR staff can post their news and press releases into these free discussion forums to promote maximum social media exposure.

SoMoLend Crowdfunding Community Outreach Program Enlightens Small Businesses and Investors Nationwide on Crowdfunding Best Practices

By Robert Hoskins

As the thrist for crowdunding information continues to grow, Candace Kline, SoMoLend’s CEO, strives to keep up with demand to meet the need from small businesses and investors on how to get involved with the crowdfunding industry.  Klein is traveling to multiple locations across the country this spring to promote the crowdfunding industry’s value-added benefits that will augment the current venture capital marketplace by infusing hundreds of billions of dollars for startups, entrepreneurs and existing business that need money to expand operations.

SoMoLend Crowdfunding Community Outreach Program Enlightens Small Businesses and Investors Nationwide on Crowdfunding Best Practices

“The demand is escalating for information on alternative access to capital, the ability to increase personal wealth, the state of regulatory affairs and the different platforms available in the crowdfunding marketplace,” says Klein. “I am excited and lucky to be at the forefront of this new crowdfunding industry with the ability to share this information with small businesses and investors,” adds Klein.

The Ritz Group in partnership with NowStreet is hosting a live Shark Tank event on April 18, where Klein will act as a an “Icon Shark” for the event at the City Club in Atlanta, GA. NowStreet, founded by Dara Albright, is a financial media company. The event features three Icon Sharks, who will act as experts in crowdfunding versus three of the best individuals selected from the virtual Pitch Tank. The purpose of the event is to bring increased awareness to the crowdfunding industry.

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council is hosting the Ohio River Valley Women’s Business Council Regional Conference on April 23, at the Embassy Suites in Charleston, WV, where Klein will be a guest speaker. The event is an opportunity for women business owners to engage in networking, corporate round tables and one-on-one meetings with corporate procurement managers.

The Cleveland Business Connects (CBC) Magazine presents the Female Entrepreneur Summit at the Wyndham in Cleveland, OH, on April 24, where Klein will be speaking on the panel “Funding Your Business and Legal Resources”. Klein, as an entrepreneur, attorney, and advocate for women business owners, offers a unique perspective and expertise on this panel topic.

The Milken Institute Global Conference, on April 29, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angles, CA, features Klein as a panelist on the topic “Crowdfunding for Startups and Small Businesses”. The purpose of this panel is to discuss how to maximize the promise of crowdfunding while minimizing the risks to entrepreneurs and investors.

Klein will be attending the Missouri Venture Forum Entrepreneurial Roundtable Series at the Sheraton Clayton Plaza in Clayton, MO, on May 16, where she will be a member of the “Money in the Crowd Panel”. The purpose of this event is to discuss what crowdfunding is in general, and if it is a good option for entrepreneurs and investors.

SoMoLend is the leading debt-based, crowdfunding platform that connects small business borrowers with individual and organizational lenders in a local area. SoMoLend.com automates the loan application process, as well as interest negotiations, funding progress and payments, and also provides fundraising campaign tools.

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Select one of the following categories and post your press release: Business , Cities, Communities, Crowdfunding Platforms, Education, Film, Music, Entertainment, Games, Videos, Social Good, Solar, Renewable Energy and Software, Hardware, and Technology Gadgets.   Don’t see your category listed? Tell us to add it and we will.

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iCrowd Rolls Out Crowdfunding Validated Experts Program to Help New Crowdfunding Campaign Managers

New Features Announced for on iCrowd Crowdfunding Platform

iCrowd Rolls Out Crowdfunding Validated Experts Program to Help New Crowdfunding Campaign Managers

From Brad McGee, iCrowd CEO:

We are excited to introduce a number of site enhancements to make your experience with iCrowd more rewarding!  While you will notice little things throughout the site, here are some of the features that make us the most excited:
1.  Introducing Validated Experts.  iCrowd announces its first selection of Validated Experts. Validated Experts can provide significant value to the iCrowd community through their thought leadership and expertise.  Validated Experts will be clearly recognizable throughout the site.  To see them quickly, See our separate announcement for more information.
2.  We’ve enhanced the user view.  Throughout the site, we’ve created a new look for members that provides an in-depth view at a glance.  And, you can expand the information you see with just a click.  You can even invite users to your Advisory Board or Group directly from this new view.  Invite your friends.  You’re enjoying your experience on iCrowd, so let your friends in on your secret.  We make it easier to invite friends to join you. Now you can upload a CSV file with email addresses and send invitations.  Most email services allow you to export your contacts in CSV format.  Hey friends, join the iCrowd!
3.  Groups now have tags.  You can add tags to your Group to help users find you better.  When users search for Groups, they can enter a tag name and see what Groups meet their criteria.  Also, they can search for Groups under the Tags tab in the menu bar.  This is a powerful tool to find just the right Group and help promote your Group to others.
4.  Send messages to your Followers.  You can send a message directly from your Dashboard to those people who have chosen to Follow you.  It’s a great way to keep your Followers informed.
5.  Photos are now clickable.  Yeah, we noticed that we have a tendency to click on a person’s photo, not their name, to see their profile.  But nothing happened.  We fixed that.  Click away!
6.  We got rid of those weird profile photos.  When you uploaded your profile photo, you may have noticed that it got distorted when you created your thumbnail.  Some people appreciated the ability to add or subtract a few pounds or inches, but we thought the distortion was a distraction.  Now your photo will retain its original proportions.  If your profile photo looks strange, you might want to try uploading it again.  If it still looks strange, well, we can’t help you with that!
7.  See the votes on your answers in Ask the iCrowd.  If you answered a question and later was curious how many votes you got, you discovered that it did not show you that value for your own answer.  Now it’s fixed!
8.  See the new activity for your Advisory Boards or Groups.  On your Dashboard, you can now see the recent activity in your Advisory Boards or your Groups without having to check each one individually.
9.  Not enough characters?  We thought so too.  In discussions, comments, and email, you told us that we were too limiting in the number of characters we would allow for your entries.  We’ve greatly expanded these, so type away!  Why use one word when twenty will do?
Sure, there are a lot of other features we added and changed, but these are the highlights.  Let us know what else we can do to improve your iCrowd experience.  We’re working on a long list of new ways to help you out.