New Reality TV Crowdfunding Platform Allows Talk Shows and Reality TV Programs to Fund Their Programming

New CrowdedReality.com crowdfunding platform gives reality TV and talk show producers a chance to crowdfund their passion for programming

By Robert Hoskins

Reno, Nevada – CrowdedReality.com, created by award winning producer Adryenn Ashley, is a new crowdfunding site that allows programming creators three ways to crowdfund their shows through a system designed to reveal the reach of new shows, and to incite competition for the opportunity to sponsor or air each show. 

Dog Rescue Club App and Reality TV Show

Traditionally television programming has been kept under lock and key, with many too many gatekeepers along the way, which prevents truly independent television from ever flourishing. That’s about to change and be completely reinvented.  Independent films, reality TV shows and other types of entertainment can now raise money directly from fans to support the production of their programming concepts. 

As Ashley explains, “Over the past year we have developed relationships with over 200 brands and in discussing sponsorship needs and wants, one topic kept repeating – they wanted to know, to quantify, the social reach potential. For every new show, that’s always going to be just a best guess. Until now.” With algorithmic triggers that alert pre-screened and “vetted” sponsors, the site interacts with and introduces show-specific sponsors even before the funding cycle is complete.

Using a factor called Social Currency, tied to proprietary back end tools, CrowdedReality.com can calculate the reach and value to a sponsor and the demographic most interested in a show. This feature encourages sponsors to take action and secure their position with the show to leverage the social currency the show has built and gives potential sponsors the certainty they are looking for when choosing where to invest their marketing dollars, while leaving creative control in the hands of the show creators.

Less than a week old, CrowdedReality.com has already attracted shows from all over the country and across . The Dog Rescue Club, The Sifu: Kung Fu Redemption and The Fab Lab have all jumped on board to be the first to leverage the platform. Even veteran Reality TV star Justine Tranchita from Game of Pawns is using to launch his new spin off show, “The Branson Family”.

With a keen eye for bringing shows to life that would otherwise be shelved, CrowdedReality.com is ripe to become the foremost destination for niche content discovery.

“I wanted to create a show that will truly honor the shift in our consciousness and our desire for all things good. To do that I needed to bring across guests and products in a conversational format that bridges the New Mainstream into the Existing Mainstream. I couldn’t do that if I didn’t have creative control of the show,” say Lisa Marie, Co-Creator of Wake Up! “Here I can prove to the most conservative sponsor the viability of both the show and audience through Social Currency.”

Crowdedreality.com is indeed an evidence of the times. Social voting until now has been interruptive, or a picture within a picture for TV. An after thought. A thirty minute reel after a show runs. “We are putting the value Social Currency front and center. This is the new power in entertainment. CrowdedReality.com both helps protect the creator with their creation, giving direct access – and helps protect a sponsor or distributor with their pre-valuation of a show, reducing risk.”

And from veteran Radio and TV Crowdfunding Expert Mike Hayes, “This changes everything! CrowdedReality.com is a smart, innovative funding model that finally has found that magic in leveraging real social campaigning. Unique to this model created by the media marvel Adryenn Ashley – people are able to create social campaigns that not only support the show, bring visitors, and donors – but they add a critical piece of voting with their Social Currency – CrowdedReality.com removes the historic blocks to funding.”

And industry leaders have noticed. Across the pond in the UK, Carlo Cocuzzi, UK Business Growth Strategist was the first to suggest a UK version of the site, “CrowdedReality.com is an absolute game changer.”

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Predictions for the Top 15 Crowdfunding Trends that Will Emerge During 2015

New Developments Expected from the SEC, Texas Crowdfunding Portals, Crowdfunding Service Providers, State Banks, Corporate Crowdfunders, Non-Profits and Secondary Trading Markets

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Front Page PR predicts the top 15 crowdfunding trends that will emerge by the end of 2015 for the United States crowdfunding industry:

1. The SEC will do the right thing and surprise the U.S. by introducing rewritten Title III crowdfunding regulations formulated to appease both Wall Street and entrepreneurs.
2. Texas Incubators/Accelerators will add equity crowdfunding portals to their investment models to earn extra revenue, improve deal flow and tap 20 million unaccredited investors.
3. There will be a rising tide of third-party crowdfunding service providers needed to produce Private Placement Memorandums (PPMs) and necessary disclosure documentation.
4. State banks will seize the opportunity to create new revenue streams by setting up crowdfunding equity escrow services that larger banks will probably ignore.
5. Advertising, PR and social media firms will improve the success rate of million dollar crowdfunding campaigns to more than a 50% success rate regardless of crowdfunding site.
6. Major corporations like Sony will begin to launch substantial crowdfunding campaigns to test the market demand for their company’s latest and greatest high-tech, clean-tech, bio-tech, fin-tech and film/music products and services
7. Major corporations will follow IBM’s example by opening their own intranet crowdfunding platforms to allow employees to fast track innovative products and services by using crowdfunding campaigns to override political and corporate management roadblocks.
8. Major publishing houses will follow Reddit’s and YouTube’s example by launching their own crowdfunding platforms to harness mature electronic commerce & marketing capabilities.
9. Real Estate will lead the marketplace in offering attractive equity crowdfunding deal flow.
10. Texas will become one of the largest equity crowdfunding markets in the United States.
11. More than 50% of U.S. states will approve crowdfunding exemptions by the end of 2015.
12. By Q4 2015 a secondary market will begin to emerge for trading equity crowdfunding shares.
13. Crowdfunding investing will cause private equity investors and venture capitalists to lose their ability to take advantage of startups/entrepreneurs who will find it much easier to raise venture capital funding.
14. Non-profit fundraising organizations will move their entire fundraising operations to a pure online donation-based crowdfunding platform to substantially streamline their organizations and reduce their operating expenses.
15. As in many early growth industries, large players like GoFundMe, IndieGoGo and Kickstarter will begin buying up smaller sites to increase market share and expand their global presence.

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Contact:
Robert Hoskins
Front Page PR
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR
@FrontPage_PR
@Crowdfunding_TX

Front Page PR Unveils Top 10 Marketing Strategies to Boost 2017 Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns on Angel List, Republic, WeFunder, StartEngine or NextSeed

Does Your Angel List, IndieGoGo, Kickstarter, WeFunder, StartEngine or NextSeed Crowdfunding Campaign Need a Major Advertising, Marketing, PR or Social Media Boost to Sell More Perks, Rewards or Equity Crowdfunding Shares?

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Crowdfunding PR announced a new Top 10 List of Marketing Strategies to Boost Crowdfunding Campaigns on AngelList.com, IndieGoGo.com, Kickstarter.com, WeFunder.com, StartEngine.com, NextSeed.com or any other top crowdfunding sites in the United States. These time-tested, proven marketing strategies will help crowdfunders generate a significant amount of marketplace awareness, which in turn will provide a higher number of click-through visits and better conversion rates when pre-selling popular perks, attractive rewards or selling equity crowdfunding shares.  

Also Read: What are the Top 20 Title III Equity Crowdfunding Sites Ranked by the Most Amount of Money Raised in the U.S.

Using this Top 1o List of Crowdfunding Marketing Strategies, Front Page PR shares valuable marketing methodologies with crowdfunding campaign managers to give them a sense of direction on how to research, plan and launch very cost-effective marketing campaigns with little or no budget for a small consulting fee.  This allows bootstrapped crowdfunders to receive professional consulting services at an affordable price so that they can learn how to generate a significant boost for their crowdfunding profiles traffic before and during their fundraising campaigns.

For serious crowdfunding campaigns that have larger, well-thought out budgets and a real business plan, Front Page PR can maximize their crowdfunding marketing programs to achieve maximum reach and frequency by harnessing a combination of advertising, email marketing, event marketing, media relations, public relations, and social media to gain widespread publicity, earn organic search engine traction and accelerate that growth with paid advertising and sponsored content marketing. 

Crowdfunding PR has a 28-year track record of using successful marketing, PR and social media campaigns to launch products and services, grow businesses, build sales/distribution channels and locate customers with the highest propensity to buy a company’s products and services.

For the past 5 years, Front Page PR  has been employing these same time proven marketing skills to help clients produce successful crowdfunding campaigns.

Need Help Planning an Equity Crowdfunding Campaign?

If you would like to learn the best strategies for marketing your crowdfunding campaign and doing the proper amount of prep work before the crowdfunding campaign begins, please contact Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR at (512) 627-6622 for a free 30-minute consultation.

Top 10 Advertising, Email Marketing, Media Relations, PR & Social Media Tools to Boost Crowdfunding Campaigns

Front Page PR offers the following marketing programs for crowdfunding portals as well as their crowdfunding campaign managers.  And while crowdfunding is the buzzword for 2015, these marketing strategies will serve any entrepreneur, startup or business that wants to launch a product or service in any B2B or B2C vertical business segment. If need some help figuring out your marketing and/or crowdfunding strategies, please fill the business lead form at the bottom of this page.

1. Press Releases – A professionally written press release issued on one of the top 3 news wire services is probably one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies on the planet. Depending on the press release’s subject matter and SEO keywords, press releases will be picked up by hundreds of electronic media news outlets in the United States and around the world.

A typical press release generates around 50,000,000 gross impressions and hundreds of click-throughs to a website or crowdfunding campaign.  If you email well-written crowdfunding press releases to bloggers like me (rhoskins [at] frontpagepr.com), we may take your press release, turn it into a story and then publish it on our blog that is followed by a global network of media outlets and crowdfunding readers. All stories require a picture, graphic or logo to be accepted.

2. Writing Effective Press Releases – One of the hardest things to do in the marketing world is find a great copy writer to generate quality and relevant content. There are a number of companies that troll new Kickstarter and IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaigns offering to write press releases and put them on a wire service for a very cheap price. Front Page PR receives lots of phone calls that lost several hundred dollars and didn’t even get a press release written. The main problem with cheap PR companies is that they do not have the English language mastered. All of Front Page PR writers were born and raised in the United States, speak English as their native language and write content in Associated Press (AP) style, which is what all media outlets require.

The other consideration is how much time and effort a PR firm invests in the researching and writing of a press release. This means doing a competitive analysis of similar products and services on crowdfunding sites as well as researching top competitors via Google searches.  This process is important to be able to effectively position your company successfully against the competition.

In addition, a PR firm should spend many hours researching the editorial environments and only target media outlets that contain the highest composition of client’s correct target audience, which will need to have a high propensity to buy the products and services being offered as perks/rewards during the crowdfunding campaign.

Excellent writing requires time, effort and cannot been done effectively for less than $800 to a $1,000 per release depending on the complexity of the subject matter. More importantly, the same prep work that is done to write the press release is also critical when writing highly tailored media pitches that are sent via email and social media to entice reporters to cover a story.

For example, if you are trying to sell triangles, the PR account executive will need to research and find triangle magazines to see what type of stories are being written for their readers. The problem is that most low-priced firms do not put in the time to understand what types of stories will be accepted and which ones will be rejected. Sending a triangle story to a circle or a square magazine will never work.

And, even if by pure luck you convinced a circle reporter to write a triangle story, it would be pointless because circle readers only read circle magazines to learn about circle related products and services. They have zero interest in buying anything but circle products and services.  This sounds like a simple concept, but ask any reporter how many pitches that they receive on a daily basis that do not fit their editorial environment and they will tell you they hit the delete button in less than two seconds.

Thus, hiring a PR firm that can build a precise database of only triangle media outlets and sending only carefully crafted triangle media pitches is essential to generating positive news coverage and feature articles.

3. Social Media Networks – The second most important thing after using PR to generate positive publicity is to build a large social media network so that you’ll have a massive group of people with which to share your news and marketing materials.  

If you have network of 5,000 contacts that each have following of 5,000 contacts, you can use social media networks to reach a potential audience of 25 million people for free.  

It is very important to build social media profiles on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Twitter, WordPress and YouTube.  Have social media accounts?  Please follow us and we’ll return the favor.

Don’t have any social media accounts setup?  Need help getting started?  No problem, Front Page PR can get 10 or more social media accounts setup for you is less than a week.

It would be wise to shoot for a goal of 2,500 Friends/Likes on Facebook, 2,500 connections on LinkedIn and at least 5,000 to 10,000 real followers on Twitter. This may take several months, but needs to be done before trying to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign.

4. Sponsored Social Media Posts – If you are new to social media, it won’t take you very long to realize that building a solid base of qualified social media contacts takes a lot of time and effort.  It can sometimes be disheartening to follow several hundred people in a day only to receive a 25% response rate from people that return the favor.

The good news is that Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter all have a wide variety of digital advertising, sponsored posts and content marketing options that can significantly speed up the process of gaining likes, followers, shares and retweets.

There are so many different advertising options that it can be very confusing to know what to try first, what options work best and what kind of budget will be needed to achieve the desired response rates. Hiring an experienced social media team like Front Page PR is the best way to achieve short-term success.

 5. Content Marketing – One of the best ways to build awareness for your products and services is to utilize a content marketing strategy to distribute your company’s press releases, blog posts, photos and videos.  A very cost-effective way to start this process is to setup a free WordPress website.

A WordPress site is great for generating content and then sharing it with all of your social media accounts via its Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feed. Every time you post a new blog, a news story, photos, videos and/or URLs links, the WordPress site will automatically push the new content to all of your social media profiles at the same time with the push of one button.

6. Media Databases – The foundation for every good PR campaign is a highly targeted media database. Front Page PR uses very expensive PR database tools such as Cision, Meltwater and Vocus to do sorts on every media outlet in the United States to find reporters based on  keywords in their news coverage bios and the last several articles they have written. These services cost $3,000 to $5,000 per year, but are a critical tool is creating targeted PR campaigns. 

These tools make it very easy to do a sort and generate a list of several hundred reporters that cover a subject matter, but it is a very time consuming process to clean the list and purge reporters that do not fit the right profile. This is why high-end PR firms charge more money for our services. It is also why our success rate is significantly higher than cheaper PR firms that want to sell you their services online with a credit card without ever having the chance to talk to a live person.

If you would like save some and do the hard work yourself, Front Page PR will build PR databases for clients at $1 per contact. This will be the initial sort that contains 300 to 500 reporters based on the keywords in their writer bios. The problem is that these databases still need to be cleaned to weed out reporters that may have the right keywords in their bio, but haven’t written about the subject matter in many months or perhaps they have a negative tendency. You’ll have to Google search every single reporter on the list to find out who the best reporters are to contact.

7. Media Pitches – Conducting good research on a reporter’s beat, their last three stories and the media outlet’s editorial environment is the key to writing a persuasive media pitch. Media pitches can be sent via email and/or through social media networks based on the reporter’s preferences.  

The best strategy is to send each reporter their own personalized pitch based on what they have written over the past six weeks. Imagine how much time it takes to read the last three stories that a reporter has written and then sending each reporter a personalized media pitch for a list of 300 reporters. It requires a lot of time and effort, but the payoff is well worth the effort.

8. Media Relations – Once a PR database has been built, good PR firms like Front Page PR have very experienced media relations experts that work with the press to build relationships between their client’s executives and reporters. These relationships require a lot of time and effort to build, but will lead to many successful media interviews.

This process also involves media training executives and teaching them how to share the right kind of information with reporters. Providing reporters with news they can use is the best way to generate interviews that lead to feature articles and a long lasting relationship with each reporter. Reporters will return to their reliable sources over and over to write numerous stories once a relationship has been built. 

A good media relations pro will spend anywhere from 20 to 40 hours a week pitching reporters via email and twitter. Most junior PR people make at least $25 to $50 an hour.  This is another good example of why anyone that offers to do a press release for $300 simply cannot afford to do a good job.  Working a list of 300 reporters takes many, many hours of work.  Sometimes it takes several hours of emailing, checking schedules and making phone calls just to get one interview setup. 

9. Event Marketing –  Event marketing is a great tool to use during the bottom of the “U” also know as the “Lull” during the middle of a campaign. When planning a crowdfunding campaign’s launch date, scheduling the crowdfunding campaign so that a major trade show like CES, Cebit or Interop falls right in the middle of the campaign is an excellent strategy.  

This allows a client to generate lots of publicity for the campaign’s launch, more news at the major trade show event (where all industry reporters and industry analysts congregate), and then even more news as the campaign exceeds its fundraising goal and/or stretch goals toward the end of the campaign.

10. Email Marketing – Email marketing isn’t used as much during crowdfunding campaigns as PR and social media, but it is the most successful type of marketing that can be used to deliver paying customers to successful crowdfunding campaigns.

Most startups have a new website, but most haven’t had time to build up a good database of customers. Front Page PR can help clients build double opt-in email databases of interested customers by offering them an opportunity to learn more about a product/service, downloading a free white paper, requesting early bird discounts/coupons, subscribing to newsletters, etc.

A database of qualified customer emails is very useful for pre-selling perks and rewards and building a customer loyalty network. A large database of prospects is also an extremely useful tool when trying to build large social media networks.

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Want to talk a crowdfunding PR professional about consulting services or hiring a PR firm? Please give me a call with all of your curious crowdfunding questions!

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.

MassCatalyst Plans to Launch New Auction-Based Equity Crowdfunding Platform in January 2015 in Dallas, Texas

Unlike Rewards-based or Donation-based Crowdfunding, MassCatalyst’s Auction-Based Crowdfunding Portal Will Allow Unaccredited & Accredited Texas Investors to Bid on Equity Shares

By Robert Hoskins

Dallas, Texas – MassCatalyst plans to launch a new type of crowdfunding portal that allows investors to bid on equity shares in Texas-based companies in January 2015. The MassCatalyst platform will facilitate both equity and debt crowdfunding ventures for startups and mature companies alike.

MassCatalyst previewed its company back in September at TechCrunch Disrupt (San Francisco) and the platform’s launch couldn’t be more timely. In October, the state of Texas approved rules governing intrastate crowdfunding, which will allow non-accredited investors to take part in investment crowdfunding. Texas is the latest in a series of states seeking to eliminate wealth and income requirements for investors. MassCatalyst founders Bobby Katoli and Jonathan Startz believe that the federal equivalent (i.e., Title III of the JOBS Act) isn’t far behind.

How is MassCatalyst different from other crowdfunding platforms? Donation-based platforms like Kickstarter have paved the way for more advanced models of investment crowdfunding. Unlike other equity and debt platforms, however, MassCatalyst uses a unique auction system—the first known of its kind in the United States. The auction model allows investors to bid on the price per share for equity or the interest rate on debt auctions. The end result is a dynamic and genuine free marketplace for investments in private companies.

Two companies, Glass-Media and Curious Marketplaces, will launch crowdfunding campaigns with MassCatalyst in January 2015. Glass-Media is a marketing company, specializing in interactive projection-based storefront displays, while Curious Marketplaces facilitates community-based, online marketplaces. MassCatalyst has several other companies within the registration phase that it will be presenting to investors early next year.

Starting Dec. 15, investors and businesses can register and begin exploring the platform. MassCatalyst has also launched the The Crowdfunding Channel on YouTube with the goal of helping to educate the public on the industry and fundamental principles of investing.

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The Bruckal Group Raises $1 Million to Expand Residential Community on Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform, iFunding.com

The Denver-based Real Estate Developer Will Sell Over 30 Existing Units and Build 45 New Units Using Crowdfunding to Finance Its Business Projects

By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – iFunding announced The Bruckal Group raised $1 million on the real estate crowdfunding platform for its latest residential project. The fundraising was accomplished in 14 days, involving 45 participants from iFunding’s registered base of thousands of accredited investors. The $1 million in crowdfunded equity finance complements another half-million dollars in equity from other sources, and several million dollars via loan.

iFunding.com Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate

The financing will support the acquisition and expansion of a townhouse and condominium community in the fast-growing suburb of Aurora, Colorado. Aurora is home to a new biosciences center, air force base, and children’s hospital, and near Denver International Airport. The Bruckal Group will convert over 30 rental units on the estate into resident-owned properties, then build and sell over 45 more units on the remaining open land. This phased development approach will enable investors to receive a preferred return on equity plus return of capital relatively quickly, followed by additional profits from the new construction.

The Bruckal Group are experienced developers and operators on the west coast of the United States and Canada. The company has been renovating a 436-unit apartment complex in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently going to market with an 18-unit, high end townhouse project in Tempe, Arizona. The Bruckal Group also recently refurbished and sold a 105-apartment high-rise in Denver, Colorado.

Myles Bruckal, CEO of The Bruckal Group, explained their decision to leverage iFunding’s platform for crowdfunding because, “We had researched several crowdfunding sites and determined that iFunding was a good fit for a $1 million raise, with flexible terms for our investment plan. iFunding’s track record was outstanding. We found their team to be very thorough and responsive during the listing process. Our team looks forward to further investment collaboration together.”

iFunding’s CEO, William Skelley, said, “We were very enthusiastic about facilitating The Bruckal Group’s crowdfunded financing. They demonstrated real depth in understanding their markets and executing profitably on sizable residential projects. Because this project involved an eye-catching townhouse community in a growing neighborhood, with attractive returns over several years, this offering quickly caught the attention of many investors.”

In parallel with iFunding’s ongoing evaluation of real estate operators and properties to list for crowfunding, the company also is raising equity investment in its own company. In the first three days of listing its corporate fundraising campaign at http://www.crowdfunder.com/ifunding, iFunding raised $995,000. Accredited investors are invited to read our materials on the site and consider investing in our company.

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CrowdRabbit Launches National Crowdfunding Search Engine that Sources, Tracks and Monitors Multiple Fundraising Platforms

 Investors Can Search, Receive Listing Notifications and Improve Deal Flow Based on Personal Investing Criteria

By Robert Hoskins

Charlotte, NC – Built by a team of commercial real estate, financial services and entrepreneurship experts, CrowdRabbit is the first comprehensive searchable directory that pulls crowdfunding projects from multiple platforms in every space. In addition to the directory, investors seeking equity-based investments will have access to CrowdRabbit’s resource center.

First time investors, as well as veteran investors, can find help with choosing an investment, managing risk, learning rules and regulations, reviewing crowdfunding term glossaries and more. 

CrowdRabbit Launches National Search Engine that Sources, Tracks and Monitors Multiple Crowdfunding Platforms

With the growth of crowdfunding and the limitless platforms and sites available, it can be difficult for funders and investors to find the appropriate listings they’re seeking quickly and easily. CrowdRabbit’s mission is to provide one platform where users can find the exact listings they are looking for in all crowdfunding spaces including rewards, donations, equity, real estate, venture capital, debt and more.

“As crowdfunding becomes more and more popular, we’ve seen the need for better tools for all parties involved, including investors, project creators and others, who frequently take to the Internet to source or promote investment opportunities,” said Rob Finlay, Chief Executive Officer of CrowdRabbit. “We knew we wanted to create a solution that would bridge the gap between investors and entrepreneurs. CrowdRabbit accomplishes this goal.”

CrowdRabbit’s unique functionality allows users to easily filter through projects by category, location, desired investment amount, number of investors and more. Whether searching for a rewards-based campaign or an equity-based investment opportunity, users have the ability to find the exact projects that fit their needs.

Users are encouraged to sign up for email updates about CrowdRabbit’s latest products and investment opportunities, as well as added platform functionality. As a newly launched platform, CrowdRabbit’s functionality will be enhanced over the coming months, which will include options for saved searches, watched listings and more.

“Our goal is to become the leading directory for all who are enthusiastic about the future that crowdfunding has to offer us as entrepreneurs, investors and innovators,” said Finlay. “We’re bringing a powerful tool to the crowdfunding community, and we can’t wait to see people benefit from CrowdRabbit’s unique features.”

CrowdRabbit, which is a subsidiary of QuietStream Financial, is a crowdfunding directory established in 2014 with the goal of providing a comprehensive pool of listings from all spaces including rewards, donations, equity, real estate, venture capital, debt, and more.

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Teachers Funnel Money to IndieGoGo Crowdfunding Campaign to Teach Kids How to Play Music on Global Basis

The Apollo-M Music Library by LearntoPlayMusic.com Harnesses 300 Million Musicians to Rocket Past 35% of Its Goal in the First Three Days of Its Music Crowdfunding Campaign

By Robert Hoskins

Los Angeles, CA – The Apollo Music Platform (Apollo-M) is the latest innovation from world-leading music education publisher, LearnToPlayMusic.com, and is raising a significant amount on money on IndieGoGo from musicians worldwide. Like Spotify for downloading digital songs or Netflix for downloading to digital movies, Apollo-M gives the 300+ million musicians and music teachers worldwide unlimited access to a massive library of digital music lessons that cover all major types of popular musical instruments, genres, styles and age-groups in an easy-to-use app that can be downloaded for only $4.95.

LearnToPlayMusic’s Free Ebook and New Digital Music for Music Teachers that Help Kids Learn How to Play Music

The Apollo-M crowdfunding campaign launched with a goal of raising $100,000 and building invaluable music community support. The response has been remarkable with the campaign exceeding expectations, achieving ‘35% funded’ in just 3 days.

“The appeal of Apollo-M is in having everything that a beginner or professional musician needs to pursue their music dreams, or a music teacher needs to teach their students, in one affordable place,” said Gary Turner, CEO of LearnToPlayMusic.com. “It’s like Netflix for the world of musicians. Instead of paying $25 for one lesson book, anyone can subscribe for just $4.95 per month (free if you’re a teacher), and get unlimited access to the best lessons, eBooks, videos, podcasts, web TV shows, digital sheet music and digital tools for learning and playing music.”

Apollo-M Music Learning Platform Provides Everything a Music Teacher Needs to Teach Kids How to Play Music

Apollo-M works on any smart phone, tablet, or home computer and can be used online and offline. Users can play along with 3D game-like music instrument animations and get interactive feedback on how well they have played, and a digital toolkit offers band backing tracks, recording and mixing, tuner, and chord and scale finder functions.

“There really is no other app or website that comes close to matching Apollo-M’s features and value,” said Turner.

“The platform is also a great opportunity for music teachers,” added Turner. “We’re offering free subscriptions to professionals who use the platform as a teaching tool, or distribute their original music lesson content through Apollo-M’s ‘Pay-per-view Revenue Program.'”

“Apollo-M really is the next evolution in music learning,” Turner added. “Our crowdfunding campaign allows everyone to be directly involved in Apollo-M’s continuing development and we’re offering some cool, exclusive perks to supporters of the platform.”

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Vignet’D Lauches Record $2.9M Equity Crowdfunding Campaign for Investors on Symbid in the Netherlands

The company has already completed funding from informal investors, but now seeks the participation and knowledge of Symbid’s 27,000 active investors

By Robert Hoskins

Rotterdam, The Netherlands – Vignet’D plans to break records on the Symbid (OTCQB: SBID) equity crowdfunding platform by seeking $2.9 million (EUR 2.3m) in investment from Symbid’s investment community. Symbid became the first publicly listed crowdfunding platform worldwide in December 2013.  If successful, this will be the largest campaign ever at Symbid, one of the first investment crowdfunding platforms worldwide, while also ranking among the largest equity crowdfunding campaigns globally. Vignet’D expects to build on the success of their campaign by going public on the AIM London Stock Exchange in 2015.

The Vignet’D has a digital agency specialising in mobile strategies & concepts that ensures deep engagement with your customer. Scanning the product package or using AR techniques allows you to use multimedia to further enhance your product’s message.

Unlimited Crowdfunding Potential
By fluidly integrating digital codes into packaging designs, Vignet’D aims to transform a simple box or carton into a powerful marketing communication tool. While scanning codes with a smartphone is not necessarily new, the company’s emphasis on the whole user experience from shelf to social media is revolutionizing consumer packaging. Vignet’D specializes in an integrated approach to marketing strategy, app development, interactive and package design.

The company creates everything in-house to ensure that the final experience is both beautiful and engaging: consumers are stimulated to access additional content, ranging from nutritional information to online games. The invisibility of the code means manufacturers can also use Vignet’D technology to prevent product imitations. The commitment to a fully interactive design, with safeguards against fakes, means Vignet’D is able to take retail packaging into new directions which traditional 2D barcodes (like the QR code) could not.

Although a young company, Vignet’D has already had several successful demo projects with global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers and retailers. Game developers and publishers, including Rovio (Angry birds) and Triangle Studios, are pursuing the Vignet’D technology because of its clear potential for merchandising.

The Added Value of Crowdfunding Campaign Launches
Vignet’D is now seeking funding to further develop this groundbreaking technology and scale up their marketing and sales activities globally. The company has already completed funding from informal investors, but now seeks the participation and knowledge of Symbid’s 27,000 active investors: the crowd.

“With our solid partnerships and tested products, Vignet’D has already been validated by the market for its huge global potential,” said CEO Martin Bril. “For us this campaign is about more than just finding investment. We want the crowd’s involvement, their experience, their ideas and ultimately the extra value this generates. Together with Symbid we want to give investors large and small the opportunity to buy a stake in our company’s future.”

The sheer business potential of Vignet’D is a sign that the investment crowdfunding industry is making significant progress, with Symbid leading the way.

“After the exponential growth we’ve been seeing here at Symbid, for us this campaign is a large cherry on the cake,” said Korstiaan Zandvliet, Symbid CEO and co-founder. “As crowdfunding matures and people begin to realize its true potential, it’s crucial that Symbid continues to attract innovative, high-growth startups like Vignet’D. We see 2015 as a big year for the Symbid funding platform.”

International Ambitions
When the $2.9m funding target is reached, Vignet’D will not only become the largest Symbid campaign ever, but also one of the largest investment crowdfunding campaigns worldwide. However, in line with their strategy of international expansion, the company plans to complete another crowdfunding campaign in Germany with Symbid.

Founded in April 2011 as one of the first investment crowdfunding platforms worldwide, Symbid allows non-accredited investors to invest online in start-ups and SMEs with as little as EUR 20 in exchange for shares in those companies. Based in the Netherlands, Symbid has emerged as a global leader in investment crowdfunding due to our innovative technological infrastructure, user-friendly interface and commitment to providing a secure funding environment for both investors and entrepreneurs.

The Symbid team’s extensive experience with start-ups means entrepreneurs choosing our platform receive all the coaching and advice necessary for a successful campaign. This, in turn, ensures that investors using the Symbid platform can be confident in the profitability of their investment.

As of December 2014, Symbid has successfully funded over 65 start-ups for a total capital sum of $7,000,000.

In 2015 the company is expected to expand its product portfolio with several new (alternative and traditional) financial services in order to develop the Symbid platform towards an online fundraising network. Meanwhile, Symbid anticipates a European roll-out of its investment crowdfunding platform beginning in Q4 2014.

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CrowdStreet Offers Equity Crowdfunding $2.7 Million Investment Opportunity for Accredited Commercial Real Estate Investors

Crowdfunding Real Estate Marketplace Offers Accredited Investors Opportunity to Capitalize on High-Growth Dallas Metro Area

By Robert Hoskins

Portland, OR – CrowdStreet announced it has listed an equity investment opportunity for Timber Oaks, an 11-building, Class A multifamily property in the Dallas metro area. The opportunity is sponsored by Windmill Investments, a privately held, Oregon-based real estate investment and operating company.

CrowdStreet Real Estate Equity Crowdfunding Platform in Indianapolis, Indiana

By listing on CrowdStreet, Windmill Investments is raising $2.7 million from accredited investors toward the $18.4 million purchase of a 180-unit, 190,920 square foot complex built in 2010 and located in Midlothian, Texas. With 98 percent occupancy and an acquisition price of $102,000 per unit, the targeted investor IRR is 17.7 percent with average annual cash-on-cash returns to investors of 7.1 percent.

“We are pleased to announce CrowdStreet’s first posting of a multifamily investment opportunity,” said Tore Steen, CrowdStreet’s CEO. “As a Class A property with a high occupancy rate located in a market with strong local job and population growth, Timber Oaks represents the kind of institutional-quality investment that CrowdStreet seeks.”

Investors in Timber Oaks will own an equity percentage interest of Timber Oaks Apartments, teaming up with Windmill Investments, an experienced multifamily owner and operator with more than 1,300 units under management in Oregon, Texas and South Carolina.

“The Timber Oaks project offers CrowdStreet investors a great opportunity to participate in a quality project in a strong market. The Midlothian area has seen a population explosion of more than 136 percent during the last decade and continues to grow,” said Dan Carter, founder of Windmill Investments. “I believe that crowdfunding is the future of commercial real estate investment because it eliminates the middleman and puts investors directly in touch with firms, like Windmill, that have a proven track record of acquiring and operating real estate.”

CrowdStreet provides a crowdfunding marketplace that connects accredited investors with institutional-quality commercial real estate investments. Accredited investors access an intuitively designed portal to find properties, manage offers, track investment performance and build a commercial real estate portfolio.

With its cloud-based fundraising and investor relationship management platform, CrowdStreet offers real estate operators, funds and private equity companies an online vehicle to raise capital and manage relationships with new and existing investors more efficiently and cost effectively.

Windmill Investments LLC is a private real estate investment firm. With over 100 years of collective experience, Windmill seeks out high cash flow multifamily apartments located in growth regions of the U.S. and applies operational expertise to consistently deliver double-digit returns.

EquityRound.com Signs Deal to Refer Qualified Accredited Investors to FundAmercia

FundAmerica to Serve as Investment Banking Firm and Administrative Support for EquityRound.com

By Robert Hoskins

San Diego, CA – Capital Services Group entered into a strategic alliance with FundAmerica Securities whereby EquityRound.com, Capital Services Group’s online marketplace for companies raising capital under Rule 506(c) will refer interested, qualified accredited investors to FundAmerica to provide sales and transaction related services relating to offerings posted on EquityRound.com.

EquityRound.com an online investor website for emerging growth companies to market their offerings under Rule 506(c)

Capital Services Group Founder and CEO, Thomas Carter, said that “We are pleased to have established this relationship with FundAmerica. Its management team has substantial experience in the financial services industry, as well as having held positions at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) which underscores our commitment to building a truly best-in-class Rule 506(c) marketing platform.”

“We are excited to partner with Capital Services Group,” said Jonathan Self, FundAmerica’s FinOp and COO, “As one of the leading platforms in the country they are doing exciting things as they assist businesses in getting the funding they need to succeed and create new jobs.”

FundAmerica Securities provides organizations with securities back-office and compliance services as they raise capital via the Rule 506(c) exemption of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933. The company’s related business, FundAmerica Technologies provides critical technology services to portals and issuers who are engaging in technology-driven fundraising by selling equity and debt securities to investors pursuant to 506(b), 506(c) (aka Title II of the Jobs Act) and, once rules are approved, 4(a)(6) (aka Title III of the JOBS Act) offerings.

Based in San Diego, California, Capital Services Group provides emerging growth companies with resources and support to more efficiently access growth capital and investor support, including investment packaging, direct public offering, shareholder communications. Capital Services Group owns and operates EquityRound.com an online investor website for emerging growth companies to market their offerings under Rule 506(c). 

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