OurCrowd and LetsVenture Announce Collaboration on Setting Up New ‘India Investment Fund’ to Begin Investing in Indian and Israeli Entrepreneurs and Startups

OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform

By Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR

Bengaluru, India – OurCrowd, one of the landing equity crowdfunding in Israel, announced that it has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with LetsVenture, one of India’s largest angel investment syndicates for seed stage and venture capital for startups and growing businesses. As part of this partnership, OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform, giving selected Indian startups access to accredited investors globally and to business development opportunities.

OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform

OurCrowd and LetsVenture will be also be collaborating on an ‘India Fund’ to invest in Israeli, Indian and global startups. The investment into this fund would primarily be from family funds and high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in India and OurCrowd’s global network of accredited investors.

Leveraging LetsVenture’s domestic network, OurCrowd will offer Indian corporates access to the Israeli innovation ecosystem.

“Having made startup funding easy, our vision is to make angel investing easy with a focus on portfolio management (startup reporting, portfolio diversification and exits). The partnership with OurCrowd aligns with our vision of offering our investors access to some of the best startups across geographies including Israel, along with giving LetsVenture portfolio companies access to global investors for their next round of funding. In this partnership with one of the largest equity crowdfunding platforms globally, we do believe this is a win-win for both of us,” said Shanti Mohan, Co-Founder & CEO, LetsVenture.

In addition to this, LetsVenture will facilitate ‘Take to Market’ activities for OurCrowd’s portfolio companies to access the Indian market, the activities of which are under development by LetsVenture and are targeted to commence in 2018.

Commenting on the announcement, Jon Medved, OurCrowd CEO, said, “India is a critical growth market for our business with a huge number of very exciting startup investment opportunities in a range of sectors. Israel and India have a great joint heritage sharing many of the same entrepreneurial qualities that are the backbone of our economies. I am excited to be entering into this collaboration with LetsVenture, which I believe will deliver great value to our investors.”

Elias Ghosalkar, Director of Corporate Development at OurCrowd, added, “OurCrowd, with its strong global presence and established industry leadership is well poised to support the Indian startup eco-system and its stakeholders via its strategic collaboration with LetsVenture. This strategic collaboration helps build much needed bridges between the Israeli and Indian startup ecosystems, and opens the doors to tapping into high growth potential synergies. Indian investors, startups and corporates gain access to global expertise, know-how and innovation via the OurCrowd network, which will truly help put the ‘Startup India initiative’ on a fast track and further strengthen the economic linkages between Israel and India.”

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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 PR” 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.

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FinMason Launches Fin-Tech Accelerator Program that Provides Startups with Free Access to Investment Analytics

The FinSpring accelerator is a six-month program for start-ups that share a mission of educating investors / advisors in order to help them make better investment and retirement planning decisions

By Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR

Boston, Massachusetts – FinMason, a Boston-based FinTech and investment analytics firm, is helping industry start-ups overcome one of the biggest challenges faced during the development stage – accessing high quality investment analytics. The firm announced the launch of FinSpring, an initiative that will provide free access to FinRiver, a set of flexible and lightning-fast investment analytics APIs.

Finmason – Institutional Grade Analytics that Investors Actually Understand

“FinTech start-ups face tremendous competition in the marketplace and pressure from their investors to quickly achieve their business goals,” said Kendrick Wakeman, CFA, CEO and founder of FinMason. “We feel that many start-ups and potential start-ups are held back because of the time and expense of building robust analytics platforms. FinSpring lets smart entrepreneurs put analytics anywhere in their product with just a simple API call, leaving them free to focus on prototyping, getting to market and solving consumer problems.”

The FinSpring accelerator is a six-month program available to start-ups that meet four criteria: share a mission of educating investors or advisors to make more informed investment and retirement planning decisions; operational less than two years; under $500,000 in revenue; and, have raised no more than $1 million in funding.

Wealth technology start-ups accepted into the FinSpring program will have access to more than 700 analytical data types, including risk and performance metrics, aggregate factor exposures, scenario analysis and stress testing.

“Part of the strength of the APIs is their simple structure,” said Bob Leaper who runs the FinSpring program at FinMason. “You send us a simple API call containing a list of securities, a list of their weights in the portfolio, and a string of request codes telling us what analytics you want. We then perform the calculations, package the results into a JSON object, and send it back to you. Usually, we do this in under 21 milliseconds. That instantly puts a start-up on even ground with the biggest firms in the world.”

FinMason is a Boston-based financial technology and investment analytics firm dedicated to providing tools that help financial advisors and their clients move forward with confidence. FinMason’s cutting-edge platform analyzes millions of global investments and delivers institutional-grade analytics at scale via three core products:

• FinRiver provides financial technology platforms with robust analytics and proprietary data sets via lightning-fast APIs;
• FinScore Pro provides financial advisors with a quick, intuitive and uncomplicated risk assessment tool that systematically develops a mutually understandable, bright-line agreement on risk from each client and prospect; and
• FinScope provides compliance teams with a way to screen through each client portfolio every night with robust analytics to detect problems before they become problems.

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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 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.

Front Page PR Rolls Out Turnkey PR/Media Relations Service Portfolio for Franchises, Construction, Home Services (Solar & Energy Efficiency), Industrial, Manufacturing, and High-Tech Companies

For less than $5k per month, this leading public relations, social media and marketing firm will help startups, existing companies and corporations generate more website traffic and increase monthly sales

By Robert Hoskins

Maryville, Tennessee – Seeking a leading edge PR firm? Whether your company needs help generating publicity for a franchise’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not event or would benefit from generating positive PR publicity for a business-to-business (B2B) home service company that installs solar, saves money with home energy audits or offers HVAC tuneup services to help homeowners save money on monthly energy bills, Front Page PR can provide a cost-effective, turnkey growth-hacking marketing program for around $5,000+tax per month.

Front Page PR Rolls Out Turnkey PR/Media Relations Service Portfolio for Franchises, Construction, Home Services (Solar & Energy Efficiency), Industrial, Manufacturing, and High-Tech Companies

Front Page PR’s team of marketing experts can help growing companies write press releases, develop online press rooms, build social media networks, plan a digital advertising program, write search engine optimized blog pages for content marketing, generate precise databases of vertical B2B media contacts, write effective media pitches, build media relationships with the management team, find trade show panels discussion for subject matter experts to speak at and harvest email addresses for carefully-tailored email marketing programs. An excellent price for a full portfolio marketing services that is hard to beat and represents one of the most cost-effective deals in the B2B marketing industry.

“One of the most challenging decisions that most small companies face is hiring their first marketing consulting firm,” said Robert Hoskins, Front Page PR’s Director of PR and Media Relations. “Regardless of whether it’s a small startup seeking to gain market traction, a small business that wants to expand their existing business operations or a large corporation that is seeking merger and acquisition partners, our team of seasoned media relations experts can help any business move mountains with words and sway public persuasion with positive trade publication and business media interviews.”

“The average rate that most PR firms charge clients is $10,000 to $20,000 per month or $60,000 to $240,000 per year. The metric or question that all firms need to measure when evaluating their PR/media relations budget is, ‘Is my PR firm capable of generating at least $1 of media publicity for every $1 I spend on their PR consulting fees?’ ” Hoskins continued. “With that said, if a company can find a PR firm that can generate a 300% return-on-investment (ROI) for a budget of $60,000 per year, that’s equivalent to hiring three professional, seasoned marketing professionals, and/or receiving a minimum of $300,000 in positive, credible media exposure. Not many firms can deliver on this expectation, but our team can.”

Have an interest in learning more? Please give Front Page PR a call at (512) 627-6622 to learn more and to receive a free 30-minute review of your website, your social media credentials and an off-the-cuff review of what first steps might be taken to generate more website traffic, produce more business leads and how to help your sales team close deals on more new business. Front Page PR wants your business and is willing to work hard to earn your business, complete with a great ROI.

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Contact:
Robert Hoskins
Front Page PR
(512) 627-6622

OurCrowd, Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries, and Yissum Launch Incubator, Accelerator to Give Jerusalem Startups a Competitive Edge

OurCrowd’s Incubator and Accelerator will focus on emerging startups using ‘frontier technologies’ including: big data, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), fin-tech, storage, internet of things (IoT) and computer vision

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel –  OurCrowd Incubator announced new partnerships with Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries and Yissum, to operate an innovation technology incubator to support growth of early stage startups in Jerusalem. With a long track record of startup investment in Jerusalem, and as a key player in the Israeli tech ecosystem, OurCrowd is a natural fit to lead the incubator team. The incubator will focus on frontier technologies such as big data, analytics, AI, fintech, storage, IoT and computer vision.

OurCrowd, Motorola Solutions and Reliance Industries Launch Israeli Incubator, Accelerator to Give Jerusalem Startups a Competitive Edge

The incubator will be based in OurCrowd’s Jerusalem headquarters, located in the JVP Media Quarter campus, founded by MK Erel Margalit. OurCrowd will lead the incubator consortium together with partners Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI), Reliance Industries (NSE: Reliance) and Yissum Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In less than five years, OurCrowd has invested over $440M into 120 companies and eight funds. After vetting more than 6,000 companies and celebrating 13 exits, OurCrowd continues to lead the global equity crowdfunding sector for accredited investors, and make it one of the most active Venture Capitalists in the vibrant Israeli startup scene.

Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO said, “We are proud to be strengthening the Jerusalem tech-ecosystem together with strong partners such as Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries and Yissum. This represents a unique team with a global reach, incredible scale, and with deep technological, commercial and academic roots. We expect to invest in close to 50 companies over the next 10 years and further grow the formidable cadre of Jerusalem startups.”

The incubator will be part of the world famous Israeli incubator program administered by Israel’s National Innovation Authority (formerly the office of the Chief Scientist).

Eduardo Conrado, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation Office, for Motorola Solutions said, “In today’s technology environment, strong partnerships and strategic investments help accelerate innovation. The Jerusalem incubator is one element of our Israel innovation hub, which is focused on developing advanced solutions in artificial intelligence, cyber security and other fields. We are proud to be part of this important project and look forward to working with OurCrowd, Reliance and Yissum on the future of public safety technology.”

“Reliance Industries is excited to further its long-term commitment to Israel by partnering with Israel Innovation Authority jointly with OurCrowd, Motorola and Hebrew University for the Jerusalem Incubator,” said the spokesperson from Reliance Industries Limited. “We are confident of Israeli start-ups offering unique value proposition by delivering next-gen digital services. We believe the incredible technological innovation from Israel will gain immensely by addressing the huge Indian market riding on the nationwide 4G LTE digital infrastructure setup in India by Jio. This will be a significant win-win for both India and Israel.”

OurCrowd is the leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors. Managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital, and brings companies to its accredited membership of global investors. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and takes board seats. The OurCrowd community of almost 20,000 investors from over 112 countries has invested over $440M into 120 portfolio companies and funds. OurCrowd already has thirteen exits to date, two IPO’s and eleven acquisitions.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) creates innovative, mission-critical communication solutions and services that help public safety and commercial customers build safer cities and thriving communities. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of $ 50.9 billion and net profit of $ 4.6 billion for the year ended March 31, 2017. RIL’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and 4G digital services.

Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd. was founded in 1964 to protect and commercialize Hebrew University’s intellectual property. Products based on Hebrew University technologies that have been commercialized by Yissum currently generate $2 Billion in annual sales. Ranked among the top technology transfer companies in the world, Yissum has registered over 9,325 patents covering 2,600 inventions; has licensed out 880 technologies and has spun out 110 companies including Mobileye, BriefCam, CollPlant and Qlight Nanotech. Yissum’s business partners span the globe and include companies such as Syngenta, Monsanto, Roche, Novartis, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Intel, Teva and many more.

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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 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

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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 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.

Arrow Electronics Brings Technology and Design Hardware to Life with Up to $1 Million for Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaigns

Arrow Electronics and Indiegogo launches groundbreaking crowdfund-to-production service aimed at accelerating the pace of innovation for technology entrepreneurs

San Francisco, California – Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) and Indiegogo launched their groundbreaking crowdfund-to-production service, which is aimed at accelerating the pace of innovation for technology and internet of things (IoT) entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs can apply for Arrow certification on the Indiegogo platform. Arrow Electronics’ engineers will then analyze the design and manufacturability of each application. Projects deemed “ready for manufacturing” will be denoted with official “Arrow Certified” badges on their Indiegogo campaign site to let potential backers know the project is ready for production.

Every “Arrow Certified” campaign on Indiegogo that meets certain eligibility criteria can compete to receive a share of $1 million in flash-funding that Arrow will give away to 20-50 campaigns during the next 12 to 15 months. Click here for full funding details and rules.

“Arrow Certified” campaigns on Indiegogo will also lock-in up to $50,000 in benefits that help entrepreneurs succeed in prototyping and manufacturing their innovative products, which include some or all of the following:

• Direct, online access to the prototyping tools available through Arrow.com and Silicon Expert, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive database for technology component design
• Comprehensive technical reviews of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts and the quantities of each needed to manufacture a product
• Professional design-for-manufacturing product reviews and certification
• Up to $1,000 in materials for prototype development
• Free access to the Arrow Testdrive program to try out the latest innovations from leading semiconductor manufacturers with no up-front investment
• Customized marketing and promotional support on Arrow.com and through Arrow’s extensive technology-focused media network
• 10 percent off and free shipping on millions of products available through Arrow.com that will help accelerate prototyping and bringing innovations to market

In addition, a handful of “Arrow Certified” campaigns that Arrow experts deem truly technologically exceptional will qualify as “Arrow Innovator” campaigns and receive additional support, which includes some or all of the following:

• Supply chain services and contract manufacturing support worth up to $500,000
• Up to $10,000 in materials for prototype development
• A dedicated local Arrow technical concierge available for on-call or on-site support
• Perk protection that guarantees campaign backers will get their money back if for some reason the product is never manufactured—providing current and future campaign backers with increased confidence
• A fast-tracked review with Arrow’s in-house financing team to help fund the cost of getting production up and running

Arrow and Indiegogo formalized an alliance in May after Indiegogo entrepreneurs had been increasingly turning to Arrow to help transition innovative ideas into successful commercial products. Arrow is now a key component of Indiegogo’s efforts to support the entire product lifecycle for entrepreneurs on the platform.

Current and new Indiegogo technology or design campaign entrepreneurs interested in applying to become “Arrow Certified” should visit www.arrow.com/indiegogo.

“This groundbreaking crowdfund-to-production program will help so many tech entrepreneurs and startups accelerate their path to market and revenue. Halo Smart Labs didn’t have access to a formal production program like this when we were successfully crowdfunded on Indiegogo. However, we did have the good fortune of getting introduced to Arrow experts early on who helped us refine designs, source the right components, tackle first runs and scale to full production,” said Ben Stagg, Halo Smart Labs’ CEO. “Without the crowdfunding support we received on Indiegogo and without the go-to-market support we received from Arrow, we wouldn’t be preparing for the first Halo and Halo+ smart fire alarms to hit the shelves of major retailers this fall.”

“Arrow is leading IoT design and production for many of the world’s largest companies. We are broadening these capabilities to support the rising wave of innovation coming from crowdfunding,” added Arrow’s Chief Digital Officer, Matt Anderson. “The comprehensive design, manufacturing and go-to-market support that Arrow will provide Indiegogo campaigns will help IoT and technology innovators succeed in even greater numbers, making Indiegogo the only game in town when it comes to launching an IoT or technology idea.”

Indiegogo CEO’s David Mandlebrot commented, “This collaboration improves the experience for both entrepreneurs and backers on Indiegogo. Supporting the entire lifecycle for technology entrepreneurs—from idea, to funding, to manufacturing and ultimately retail selling—is a priority for Indiegogo and this collaboration with Arrow allows us to build on those efforts in an incredibly impactful way. At the same time, this alliance will enable backers to have greater confidence that they will ultimately receive their perks.”

Arrow Electronics is a global provider of products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for more than 100,000 original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers and commercial customers through a global network of more than 460 locations serving over 85 countries.

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Crowdfunding PR Rolls Out Title IV, Reg. A+ 2-Month Crowdfunding Prep Work Program to Help Startups and Existing Businesses Learn How to Launch More Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns

The Crowdfunding Prep Work Program Helps Campaign Managers Amass a Large Crowd of Followers on Social Media and Utilize PR to Generate Hundreds of News Articles on Leading Media Outlets

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Want to learn how to launch a successful Title IV, Reg. A+ equity crowdfunding campaign? To help crowdfunders achieve this elusive goal, Crowdfunding PR announced a special two-month Crowdfunding Prep Work Program that will significantly improve a crowdfunding campaign’s success rate by amplifying its management team’s social media profiles and by utilizing an effective crowdfunding PR campaign to generate hundreds of stories via electronic news media outlets prior to the crowdfunding campaign’s launch.

How to Plan a Successful Crowdfunding PR Campaign by Following this Secret Step-by-Step Process

Social Media Campaigns
Conducting a strong social media marketing campaign is one of the biggest challenges that many Title IV, Reg. A+ Crowdfunding Campaigns will face. Improving weak social media credentials for companies is critical to crowdfunding success. What many entrepreneurs and startups need to recognize is how important social media is in the world of crowdfunding.

“The very first thing that an investor/donor does when they read through a crowdfunding profile they like is to look up the company and its team members on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to check out their credentials,” said Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR’s Director of Crowdfunding Campaigns. “Having a strong resume on LinkedIn, lots of likes on Facebook and an army of followers on Twitter is crucial to determining the strength of the team and the likelihood that they have the tenacity and marketing skill set to deliver on their crowdfunding campaign’s promises.”

Public Relations/Publicity Campaigns
The second biggest task is generating stories on electronic news media outlets and blogs prior to launching a crowdfunding campaign. Not only can a well-orchestrated crowdfunding PR campaign generate hundreds of free, positive trade press articles to support the fundraising effort, but the same targeted, search-engine-optimized (SEO) press releases will continue to drive new investors, potential customers as well as sales/distribution partners to the business long after the crowdfunding campaign ends.

“Most investors/donors will do a Google search to see what they can find online for both the company and its team members,” Hoskins continued. “With a two-month crowdfunding prep work campaign there will be several pages of search engine results that link to the client’s website pages, their social media posts/profiles and the crowdfunding campaign’s temporary landing page until they launch an equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest.com, StartEngine.com, Republic.co, WeFunder.com or any other Title IV, Reg. A+ equity crowdfunding sites.

Contact Crowdfunding PR
If you would like to speak with a crowdfunding PR, social media and/or marketing expert regarding your crowdfunding campaign, please call Robert Hoskins at (512) 627-6622.

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(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.

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.

Mr. 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.

United Overseas Bank Partners with OurCrowd to Offer Equity Crowdfunding Support for Startups Participating in UOB’s Singapore FinLab Accelerator Program and other Cities throughout Asia

With a full Capital Market Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) OurCrowd is now able to market its equity crowdfunding platform in Singapore and other Asian cities

 By Robert Hoskins

Singapore/Jerusalem – United Overseas Bank (UOB) is deepening its commitment to helping startups grow into sustainable businesses by training its commercial bankers to provide clients with the most up-to-date information on alternative funding channels beyond traditional financing. More than 100 of its bankers have been trained so far.

United Overseas Bank Partners with @OurCrowd to Support Asian Startups and Small to Medium Enterprises Utilizing Equity Crowdfunding for Seed Investment Capital

The training is timely as the Bank’s strategic equity crowdfunding partner, OurCrowd, a leading global equity crowdfunding platform, was awarded a full Capital Market Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the end of July. With the license, OurCrowd is now able to market its equity crowdfunding platform in Singapore. In March this year, UOB announced it had made a US$10 million investment in OurCrowd, which invests in startups with differentiated and highly scalable technology products and services.

“We are proud of the rapid growth of our unique brand of equity crowdfunding and teaming up with UOB to advance the cutting edge of FinTech and the startup ecosystem in the region,” said Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO. “As we work together, innovative Asian companies with differentiated and highly scalable technology products and services will be able to get access to another source of funding from a global investor network to jumpstart their international expansion and business development.”

UOB’s partnership with OurCrowd reinforced the Bank’s commitment in supporting Asian SMEs and startups with end-to-end financing needs. The range of support includes UOB’s accelerator program, The FinLab, to venture debt financing through to investment banking.

Ms. Janet Young, Head of Group Channels and Digitalization, UOB, said, “We understand the ambitions of startups and emerging enterprises and want to help them grow into sustainable businesses. In the last six months, we have trained more than 100 commercial bankers to identify and to understand the type of financing for which startups can qualify. Through our initiatives, we are well-equipped to support the startup ecosystem and help them realize their full potential.”

In addition, accredited investors among UOB’s clients will now have an opportunity to broaden their investments into OurCrowd’s portfolio companies and tap into a quality deal flow across the globe.

Mr. Denes Ban, OurCrowd Partner and Managing Director, Asia, said, “Our latest approval and licence in Singapore is further validation of OurCrowd’s global footprint and it’s exciting to see immediate and impactful results, thanks to our partners at UOB and the Sassoon Investment Corporation (SIC). Singapore-based investors will now have access to our portfolio of world-class startups and tap their growth potential.”

Launched in 2013, OurCrowd has raised more than US$250 million for investment in almost 100 companies, and has already had eight companies in their portfolio either acquired by a multinational or listed publicly. Unlike traditional equity crowdfunding platforms, OurCrowd invests its own capital alongside the crowd investors in each deal as testament to their confidence in the deal. By offering investors the same terms (valuation, liquidation reference and protection) as venture capital funds, it offers accredited investors access to unrivaled investment opportunities. OurCrowd also provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors.

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Amazon Demonstrates Its Business Expertise, Provides Superior Marketing and Distribution Services for Entrepreneurs and Startups

Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Other Top Crowdfunding Sites Should Pay Attention and Start Providing a Deeper Portfolio of Marketing and Distribution Channel Services or Suffer the Consequences

By Robert Hoskins

Seattle, Washington – Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced Amazon Launchpad, a new program that makes it easy for startups to launch, market, and distribute their products to hundreds of millions of Amazon customers across the globe. The program offers a streamlined onboarding experience, custom product pages, a comprehensive marketing package, and access to Amazon’s global fulfillment network, all geared toward helping startups successfully launch their innovations and share their stories. With Amazon Launchpad, startups can overcome many of the challenges associated with launching new products by using Amazon’s retail expertise and infrastructure to create awareness and drive sales.

Amazon Launchpad for Entrepreneurs and Startups

“As the pace of innovation continues to increase within the startup community, we want to help customers discover these unique products and learn the inspiration behind them. We also know from talking to startups that bringing a new product to market successfully can be just as challenging as building it,” said Jim Adkins, Vice President, Amazon. “Amazon Launchpad gives customers access to a dedicated storefront featuring a variety of innovative new products from emerging brands. For startups, we handle inventory management, order fulfillment, customer service, and more, allowing them to focus their efforts on the innovation that results in more cool products.”

Amazon Launchpad offers participating startups:

• Brand Development: Custom product pages help bring products to life through visually-compelling imagery and videos. Founders can tell their story and connect with customers in a personal way with Q&A about the startup. Products from these emerging brands are featured in the new Amazon Launchpad store, which is dedicated to showcasing startups and their innovations.
• Customer Reach: Amazon’s most powerful marketing tools – including merchandised placements, personalized recommendations, and participation in the Amazon Vine customer reviews program – give products from startups added visibility. Startups also enjoy access to Amazon’s global fulfillment network, fast and free shipping with Amazon Prime, and customer service.
• Global Expansion: When startups are ready to reach customers outside the U.S., Amazon Launchpad can help them expand globally with cost-effective supply chain solutions and marketing programs in more than 10 Amazon marketplaces around the world.

Amazon is working with more than 25 venture capital firms, startup accelerators, and crowd-funding platforms to bring startups into the Amazon Launchpad program. Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, and Indiegogo are a few of the companies that have funded the more than 200 products currently available in the Amazon Launchpad store – which features everything from Electronics to Kitchen to Beauty items. Products from startups in the program include the Bluesmart Smart Carry-On Luggage, eero Home Wi-Fi System, Cuff DVB Smart Sport Band, Fenugreen FreshPaper Produce Saver Sheets, Electric Objects EO1 Digital Art Panel, Soma Sustainable Pitcher & Plant-Based Water Filter, Thync Mood-Changing Wearable System, and Casper Mattress, among others.

Initial feedback from some of the companies in the Amazon Launchpad program includes:

• “Launchpad makes Amazon an ideal partner for the most innovative young tech companies,” said Marc Andreessen, Co-Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz. “It’s yet another way Amazon fosters a real ecosystem of invention and creativity.”
• “At Y Combinator, our support doesn’t end on Demo Day. With Amazon Launchpad, we are reinforcing our commitment to help bring physical products to a wide audience,” said Luke Iseman, Partner, Y Combinator. “This program will help our hardware startups get in front of more users than ever before.”
• “Indiegogo empowers campaigners to turn ideas into reality through customer engagement and funding mechanisms. By partnering with Amazon Launchpad, Indiegogo entrepreneurs gain instant access to Amazon’s powerful distribution capabilities and massive audience,” said Slava Rubin, Co-Founder and CEO, Indiegogo. “I’m excited to see how this unique partnership enables startups to accelerate their growth and share their innovative products with the world.”
• “Amazon recognizes the increasing importance of fast and reliable home Wi-Fi as consumers stream more video and music than ever before and connected devices go mainstream,” said Nick Weaver, Co-Founder and CEO, eero. “We couldn’t ask for a better partner and are honored to be one of the emerging companies in the Amazon Launchpad program. We’re excited to showcase our product on the world’s largest discovery platform.”
• “Amazon Launchpad is the perfect home for our smart jewelry. This innovative way to shop lets us tell consumers the story and philosophy behind Cuff, and hopefully makes them fall in love with our product,” said Deepa Sood, Founder and CEO, Cuff. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of this initiative.”
• “I am an accidental entrepreneur – I never dreamed that FreshPaper, which started as my middle school science project, would one day be in the hands of farmers and families across the globe. But my unlikely story is only possible because of visionary partners like Amazon who believe in our product’s potential to change the way the world eats,” said Kavita Shukla, Inventor and Founder, Fenugreen FreshPaper. “By throwing their considerable weight behind ideas like FreshPaper, Amazon is using its technology and reach to make innovation accessible to all.”
• “The sheer scale that Amazon Launchpad offers a startup like Electric Objects is unparalleled,” said Jake Levine, Founder and CEO, Electric Objects. “Working closely with their team these last few months, I’ve been consistently impressed with the level of service and access that this program makes available. This partnership could be game-changing for our company, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to participate.”

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(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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SEC Details Rules for Title III Crowdfunding Investors and Crowdfunding Investment Sites

The SEC’s final Title III Crowdfunding Rule (Regulation Crowdfunding) will enable individuals to purchase securities in crowdfunding offerings subject to certain limits, require companies to disclose certain information about their business and securities offering, and create a regulatory framework for the intermediaries facilitating crowdfunding transactions

Chair Mary Jo White Gives an Overview of Title III Crowdfunding Rules

By Robert Hoskins

SEC’s Title III of the JOBS Act 

On Friday, October 30, 2015, the SEC passed the final Title III Regulation Crowdfunding Rule that will allow the offer and sale of securities through crowdfunding.  The new rules will give small businesses an additional avenue to raise capital and provide investors with important protections.  If adopted, this would complete the Commission’s major rulemaking mandated under the JOBS Act.

Title III Crowdfunding Investor Rules

The recommended rules would, among other things, enable individuals to purchase securities in crowdfunding offerings subject to certain limits, require companies to disclose certain information about their business and securities offering, and create a regulatory framework for the intermediaries facilitating crowdfunding transactions.  More specifically, the recommended rules would:

• Permit a company to raise a maximum aggregate amount of $1 million through crowdfunding offerings in a 12-month period;

• Permit individual investors, over a 12-month period, to invest in the aggregate across all crowdfunding offerings up to:
  • If either their annual income or net worth is less than $100,000, than the greater of:
    • $2,000 or
    • 5 percent of the lesser of their annual income or net worth.
  • If both their annual income and net worth are equal to or more than $100,000, 10 percent of the lesser of their annual income or net worth; and
• During the 12-month period, the aggregate amount of securities sold to an investor through all crowdfunding offerings may not exceed $100,000.

Under the recommended rules, certain companies would not be eligible to use the exemption.  Ineligible companies would include non-U.S. companies, Exchange Act reporting companies, certain investment companies, companies that are subject to disqualification under Regulation Crowdfunding, companies that have failed to comply with the annual reporting requirements under Regulation Crowdfunding during the two years immediately preceding the filing of the offering statement, and companies that have no specific business plan or have indicated that their business plan is to engage in a merger or acquisition with an unidentified company or companies.

Securities purchased in a crowdfunding transaction generally could not be resold for one year.  Holders of these securities would not count toward the threshold that requires a company to register its securities under Exchange Act Section 12(g) if the company is current in its annual reporting obligations, retains the services of a registered transfer agent and has less than $25 million in total assets as of the end of its most recently completed fiscal year.

In addition, all transactions relying on the new rules would be required to take place through an SEC-registered intermediary, either a broker-dealer or a funding portal.

Title III Crowdfunding Company Disclosures 

Companies that rely on the recommended rules to conduct a crowdfunding offering must file certain information with the Commission and provide this information to investors and the intermediary facilitating the offering, including among other things, to disclose:

• The price to the public of the securities or the method for determining the price, the target offering amount, the deadline to reach the target offering amount, and whether the company will accept investments in excess of the target offering amount;

• A discussion of the company’s financial condition;
• Financial statements of the company that, depending on the amount offered and sold during a 12-month period, are accompanied by information from the company’s tax returns, reviewed by an independent public accountant, or audited by an independent auditor.  A company offering more than $500,000 but not more than $1 million of securities relying on these rules for the first time would be permitted to provide reviewed rather than audited financial statements, unless financial statements of the company are available that have been audited by an independent auditor;

• A description of the business and the use of proceeds from the offering;
• Information about officers and directors as well as owners of 20 percent or more of the company; and
• Certain related-party transactions.

In addition, companies relying on the crowdfunding exemption would be required to file an annual report with the Commission and provide it to investors.

Title III Crowdfunding Rules for Portals

A funding portal would be required to register with the Commission on new Form Funding Portal, and become a member of a national securities association (currently, FINRA).  A company relying on the rules would be required to conduct its offering exclusively through one intermediary platform at a time.

The recommended rules would require intermediaries to, among other things:

• Provide investors with educational materials that explain, among other things, the process for investing on the platform, the types of securities being offered and information a company must provide to investors, resale restrictions, and investment limits;
• Take certain measures to reduce the risk of fraud, including having a reasonable basis for believing that a company complies with Regulation Crowdfunding and that the company has established means to keep accurate records of securities holders;
• Make information that a company is required to disclose available to the public on its platform throughout the offering period and for a minimum of 21 days before any security may be sold in the offering;
• Provide communication channels to permit discussions about offerings on the platform;
• Provide disclosure to investors about the compensation the intermediary receives;
• Accept an investment commitment from an investor only after that investor has opened an account;
• Have a reasonable basis for believing an investor complies with the investment limitations;
• Provide investors notices once they have made investment commitments and confirmations at or before completion of a transaction;
• Comply with maintenance and transmission of funds requirements; and
• Comply with completion, cancellation and reconfirmation of offerings requirements.

The rules also would prohibit intermediaries from engaging in certain activities, such as:

• Providing access to their platforms to companies that they have a reasonable basis for believing have the potential for fraud or other investor protection concerns;
• Having a financial interest in a company that is offering or selling securities on its platform unless the intermediary receives the financial interest as compensation for the services, subject to certain conditions; and
• Compensating any person for providing the intermediary with personally identifiable information of any investor or potential investor.

Regulation Crowdfunding would contain certain rules that are specific to registered funding portals consistent with their more limited activities than that of a registered broker-dealer.  The rules would prohibit funding portals from, among other things: offering investment advice or making recommendations; soliciting purchases, sales or offers to buy securities; compensating promoters and other persons for solicitations or based on the sale of securities; and holding, possessing, or handling investor funds or securities.

The rules would provide a safe harbor under which funding portals could engage in certain activities consistent with these restrictions.  The rules also would require funding portals to maintain certain books and records related to their transactions and business.

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