Digitzs Shatters Glass Ceiling and Hits #1 Spot On CNBC’s Top 50 Crowdfinance Index

Digitzs Crowdfunding Round Closes Soon On Crowdfunder; Female Founded Fintech Company Disrupts Payments and Equity Crowdfunding

By Robert Hoskins

Santa Monica, California – Digitzs reached the coveted number one spot on the CNBC Crowdfinance 50 Index with over $7 Million in commitments for the niche payment processing startup. Digitzs is the first female founded company to reach the number one position since the index launched on CNBC in early 2015 and holds the number one position for the largest capital raise by a female founded company since Title II of the JOBS Act came into effect in the fall of 2013.

The CNBC Index tracks real time capital commitments received by the top 50 private U.S. companies via securities-based crowdfunding sites. Digitzs is currently fundraising on leading equity crowdfunding site Crowdfunder, and has raised more money than any female founder in Crowdfunder’s history.

According to Bloomberg, women-led technology companies are more capital-efficient, achieving 35 percent higher return on investment. “Digitzs CEO and Founder, Laura Wagner, is an innovative leader with grit, hustle and intellect,” noted Crowdfunder President, Steven McClurg. “She is driven to deliver near-term value for her investors, customers and co-founders.”

Wagner, a successful entrepreneur with 20-years in the payments space, has compiled a founding team of leaders in the space, including PayPal’s first CFO, David Jaques; former Head of Worldwide Payments for Apple, Edward Katzin and Visa’s Linda Perry (named Most Influential Women in Payments three years in a row); Ben Way, a world-renowned startup technologist, and Stacey Moore, an award winning technologist, strategist and entrepreneur.

“As the former head of Acquiring at Visa for 17 years, I am familiar with virtually every payment processor in the U.S., from small to large and everything in between. Digitzs has the most disruptive platform and business model I’ve seen to date,” notes Co-Founder Linda Perry.

“Virtually 100% of Digitzs’ startup funding thus far has come from team members, family, friends and the crowd,” noted Digitzs CEO & Founder, Laura Wagner. “As we bring this round to a successful close, we look forward to delivering unprecedented value back to our customers, investors and team.”

Digitzs makes payments painless for white label platforms that process ticket payments for events, donation payments for nonprofits and rent payments for property managers. Though viewed as the “Invisible Internet” by most consumers and end users, Accenture says niche cloud-based business management software platforms are a top-five 2016 trend. Digitzs’ team comes from PayPal, Visa and Apple and the company has amassed $1 billion in potential processing interest from potential platform customers.

Crowdfunder is one of the leading equity crowdfunding platforms for sourcing and funding early stage ventures with a network of over 130,000 entrepreneurs and investors. Crowdfunder provides the opportunity for direct online investment into single ventures. Companies listing on Crowdfunder are typically early-stage startups, many of which are backed by leading Venture Capital firms and private investors.

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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.

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Kite Shield Equity Crowdfunding Campaign Promises to Make Humans Nearly Invisible to “aedes egeypti” Mosquitoes that Carry the Zika Virus in Florida

Kite Shield is a 100% DEET-free spray which when applied renders humans virtually invisible to mosquitoes (including aedes egeypti) by blocking the mosquito’s olfactory sense of smell which it uses to locate humans

By Robert Hoskins

Riverside, CA – ieCrowd announced that it is conducting an equity crowdfunding round conducted on Crowdfunder.com that has already surpassed its goals twice within two weeks of its listing, and the company is already into its third extended funding mode. ieCrowd has two breakthrough technologies including one that gives cell phones the sense of smell and a spray that makes humans practically invisible to mosquitoes. ieCrowd’s campaign can be found at https://www.crowdfunder.com/iecrowd.

Kite Shield: DEET-free Mosquito Repellent Spray is an effective, 3rd-party validated mosquito repellent that is shipping now as the result of a 2013 Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that raised $587,884 from 12,131 backers that funded the project to 743% of its original goal on August 30, 2013.

Kite Shield, is a 100% DEET-free spray which when applied renders humans virtually invisible to mosquitoes, including aedes egeypti that carry the Zika Virus in Florida

ieCrowd has also broken into “CNBC’s Crowdfinance 50 Index,” rising rapidly to emerge within the top 10 companies employing crowdfunding to finance its growth.

“We are thrilled that allowing individual investors, and not just big banks or funds, to invest in a company dedicated to addressing some of our biggest global health challenges is resounding so well,” said Amro Albanna, CEO of ieCrowd. “Our leadership in the concept of ‘crowd capitalism’ is growing a significant community of investors worldwide.”

The company’s lead product, Kite Shield, is a 100% DEET-free spray which when applied renders humans virtually invisible to mosquitoes (including aedes egeypti that carry the Zika Virus) by blocking the mosquito’s olfactory sense of smell which it uses to locate humans.

ieCrowd’s second technology, Nuuma, is a nanotube chip that gives cellphones and other smart devices the ability to smell by enabling such devices to measure air pollution, alcohol in exhaled breath, food spoilage and even bad breath. Additionally, using Nuuma to potentially detect various diseases at their earliest stage through breath analysis is of key interest to several leading medical institutions.

ieCrowd is a company focused on bringing health innovations to the marketplace. ieCrowd partners with leading research institutions and scientists to secure commercialization rights to develop life, health, and wellness innovations into transformative products. For more information about ieCrowd, visit http://www.ieCrowd.com or call 951-824-8669, ext 1503.

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Top 100 Crowdfunding Sites in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and other Global Markets in 2016

Seeking the Top 100 Crowdfunding Sites
in the United States or the Rest of the World? See Our Updated 2016 Rankings!

Crowdfunding PR’s 2016 Top 100 Global Crowdfunding Sites

 By Robert Hoskins

[Click Here to Tweet this Top 100 List to Your Business Colleagues]

United States – We have updated our List of the Top 100 Global Crowdfunding Sites for 2016 in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and other global markets.  

Clicking on the website traffic ranking links below will take readers to one of the most insightful resources of information that details each website’s traffic ranking; the number of unique visitors per month; the average time spent on each site per visit; and the number of pages viewed per each visit.

Of more interest to crowdfunding campaign managers will be the precise ratio of social media, content marketing, search engine marketing, email marketing and display advertising that is being utilized by each crowdfunding site’s marketing campaigns to drive readers and investors to their crowdfunding profiles.

GoFundMe vs Kickstarter SimilarWeb Stats

Even though these numbers reflect the aggregation of all of a given portal’s crowdfunding campaigns marketing efforts, they offer direct evidence of what is working and what is not.  Note the difference on how much social media and display advertising is being used by the Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites compared the lower 90 crowdfunding sites. 

This information can be used by crowdfunding sites as well as their crowdfunders to get a thorough understanding on how to plan future marketing campaigns that will have a higher than average success rate.

Want to know how Kickstarter has just retaken GoFundMe as the world’s #1 crowdfunding platform? Click on the Global Rank number links below and then use the comparison tool to show side-by-side comparisons of SEO keywords, link referrals, and social media usage. See the bottom of the page for more crowdfunding marketing tips.

[Click Here to Tweet this Top 100 List of Crowdfunding Sites]

2016 Rank	© Front Page PR	Global Rank
#1 (2015: #2)	www.kickstarter.com	692
#2 (2015: #1)	www.gofundme.com	1,805
#3 (2015: #4)	www.indiegogo.com	2,126
#4 (2015: #3)	www.angel.co	4,550
#5 (2015: #5)	www.lendingclub.com	9,781
#6 (2015: #6)	www.justgiving.com	10,950
#7 (2015: #9)	www.ulule.com	15,943
#8 (2015: #7)	www.youcaring.com	22,315
#9 (2015: #8)	www.kiva.org	24,366
#10 (2015: #12)	www.crowdrise.com	24,617
#11 (2015: #10)	www.donorschoose.org	33,737
#12 (2015: #16)	www.fundingcircle.com	37,717
#13 (2015: #11)	www.pledgemusic.com	42,380
#14 (2015: #13)	www.tilt.com	51,509
#15 (2015: #50)	www.seedandspark.com	64,606
#16 (2015: #22)	www.circleup.com	68,095
#17 (2015: #24)	www.kickante.com.br	69,483
#18 (2015: #15)	www.crowdcube.com	73,968
#19 (2015: new)	www.seedrs.com	90,162
#20 (2015: #28)	www.gogetfunding.com	97,023
#21 (2015: #29)	www.fundrise.com	117,386
#22 (2015: #20)	www.firstgiving.com	117,598
#23 (2015: #17)	www.razoo.com	126,920
#24 (2015: #14)	www.giveforward.com	126,939
#25 (2015: #38)	www.seedinvest.com	135,275
#26 (2015: #18)	www.fundly.com	140,609
#27 (2015: #27)	www.zeczec.com	151,454
#28 (2015: #25)	www.crowdfunder.com	158,984
#29 (2015: #23)	www.fundable.com	185,100
#30 (2015: #19)	www.pozible.com	189,422
#31 (2015: new)	www.companisto.com	201,708
#32 (2015: new)	www.wiseed.com	211,628
#33 (2015: #21)	www.fundrazr.com	214,382
#34 (2015: #31)	www.experiment.com	217,304
#35 (2015: #53)	www.peerform.com	222,324
#36 (2015: #53)	www.startengine.com	227,165
#37 (2015: new)	www.seedmatch.de	227,277
#38 (2015: #86)	www.bnktothefuture.com	279,553
#39 (2015: new)	www.fundersclub.com	284,743
#40 (2015: #45)	www.ourcrowd.com	286,808
#41 (2015: #26)	www.equitynet.com	293,867
#42 (2015: new)	www.syndicateroom.com	293,940
#43 (2015: #32)	www.realtymogul.com	332,585
#44 (2015: #42)	www.pledgie.com	351,524
#45 (2015: #39)	www.slated.com	354,964
#46 (2015: #44)	www.fundanything.com	361,785
#47 (2015: #40)	www.patchofland.com	364,803
#48 (2015: #33)	www.geldvoorelkaar.nl	367,546
#48 (2015: new)	www.anaxago.com	392,914
#49 (2015: #48)	www.ppl.com.pt	407,009
#50 (2015: #30)	www.fundedbyme.com	410,994
#51 (2015: #41)	www.givezooks.com	443,766
#52 (2015: #76)	www.joinmosaic.com	472,517
#53 (2015: #43)	www.microventures.com	504,408
#54 (2015: #new)	www.invesdor.com	520,978
#55 (2015: #37)	www.offbeatr.com	526,705
#56 (2015: #36)	www.wefunder.com	586,450
#57 (2015: #57)	www.plumfund.com	603,093
#58 (2015: #65)	www.crowdstreet.com	616,566
#59 (2015: #49)	www.dragoninnovation.com	635,079
#60 (2015: #52)	www.opportunity.org	669,915
#61 (2015: #61)	www.flashfunders.com	693,854
#62 (2015: #58)	www.fundraise.com	744,583
#63 (2015: #46)	www.pave.com	748,172
#64 (2015: #64)	www.symbid.com	884,303
#65 (2015: #68)	pitchfunder.asufoundation.org	1,072,918
#66 (2015: #34)	www.onevest.com	1,098,541
#67 (2015: #66)	www.assetavenue.com	1,124,447
#68 (2015: #69)	www.artistshare.com	1,135,924
#69 (2015: #70)	www.nextseed.com	1,138,179
#70 (2015: #63)	www.piggybackr.com	1,162,479
#71 (2015: #62)	www.trucrowd.com	1,246,018
#72 (2015: #60)	www.barnraiser.us	1,288,466
#73 (2015: #54)	www.bolstr.com	1,477,216
#74 (2015: #59)	www.earlyshares.com	1,585,544
#75 (2015: #80)	www.pledgecents.com	1,597,425
#76 (2015: #82)	www.crowd2fund.com	1,776,210
#77 (2015: #47)	www.growvc.com	1,791,220
#78 (2015: #87)	www.acquirerealestate.com	1,989,566
#79 (2015: #71)	www.appsfunder.com	2,649,175
#80 (2015: #78)	www.dreamfunded.com	2,760,699
#81 (2015: #72)	www.assob.com.au	2,767,540
#82 (2015: #90)	www.massivemov.com	3,234,838
#83 (2015: #55)	www.investx.com	3,486,195
#84 (2015: #75)	www.faithlauncher.com	3,605,295
#85 (2015: #75)	www.crudefunders.com	3,792,211
#86 (2015: #84)	www.texasenetworks.com	3,923,796
#87 (2015: #51)	www.pubslush.com	4,078,981
#88 (2015: #73)	www.foodstart.com	4,358,969
#89 (2015: #56)	www.uinvest.com.ua	4,483,866
#90 (2015: #79)	www.propellr.com	4,516,046
#91 (2015: #85)	www.icrowd.com	4,629,191
#92 (2015: #67)	www.microgiving.com	4,757,890
#93 (2015: #81)	www.massventure.com	5,544,974
#94 (2015: New)	www.offerboard.com	5,968,517
#95 (2015: #99)	www.cMEcompete.com	6,363,051
#96 (2015: #83)	www.ipledg.com	6,460,243
#97 (2015: #93)	www.funderhut.com	6,764,561
#98 (2015: #97)	www.crowdfundingbank.com	7,068,480
#99 (2015: #77)	www.crowdfundingpays.com	7,667,040
#100 (2015: #88)	www.sterlingfunder.com	7,951,827

Source: Feb 2016 SimilarWeb Website Statistics

Crowdfunding PR’s goal is simple. We want to make it possible for crowdfunders to shop for  crowdfunding platforms in a similar manner to the way media planners/buyers used to analyze ABC and BPA audit statements to buy advertisements in the business-to-business trade publication industry, where important media buying decisions were based on straight mathematics, not popularity or random guessing.

For example, would you rather run a crowdfunding campaign on a site where visitors are looking at 2-3 pages in around 3 minute’s time or a site where buyers are spending 6 to 11 minutes reviewing 6 to 10 pages?

This is the difference between shoppers who are visiting a site to see a particular crowdfunding campaign based on a marketing campaign versus people who are visiting a site to explore and actually shop around to find good deals to buy or invest their money.

This is why launching a campaign on Kickstarter or GoFundMe does not guarantee success. While Kickstarter, GoFundMe or Indiegogo may be the largest sites in the world, people are only spending enough time to shop through more than 2 to 3 crowdfunding profiles before they exit. While other sites like Razoo.com, DonorsChoose.org, and FundingCircle.com have visitors that stay more than 6 to 11 minutes and view 6 to 10 pages.

When researching, planning and executing successful marketing programs for both crowdfunding platforms as well as their individual crowdfunding customer profiles, it is extremely important to see what is driving the most traffic to any given crowdfunding site.  Success is usually determined not only by what site the crowdfunding campaign is being hosted on, but also the marketing programs being harnessed to drive potential donors/investors to a specific crowdfunding profile.

Clicking on each link above will allow media planners/buyers to understand what role direct traffic (content marketing), search engines (SEO, PPC Advertising), social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Quora), email marketing and display advertising (Google Display, Outbrain, AppNexus) are having on the success of crowdfunding campaigns.

For example, when planning a social media strategy, one of the most popular questions we get asked is – what social media networks are driving the most visitor traffic? Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, Reddit, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram? The links above will make this answer crystal clear.

Not satisfied with your position on the list? Front Page PR’s team of crowdfunding PR, social media and marketing experts can help crowdfunding sites and crowdfunding campaigns plan the perfect mix of integrated marketing programs to significantly improve the amount of website traffic being driven to any given fundraising campaign or crowdfunding platform.

Feel free to call (512) 627-6622 with questions or request help to improve your website statistics before June.

More Top 100 Crowdfunding Site Lists:

• Top 100 Global Crowdfunding Sites
• Top 100 Equity Crowdfunding Sites
• Top 100 Real Estate Crowdfunding Sites
• Top 100 Reward/Perks Crowdfunding Sites
• Top 10 Donations Crowdfunding Sites
• Top 10 University Crowdfunding Sites
• Top 10 Texas Equity Crowdfunding Sites
• Top 10 Crowdfunding Cities

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Carlson Wireless Launches $5 Million Crowdfunder.com Equity Crowdfunding Campaign to Raise Money to Deploy TV White Space 802.22 Broadband Wireless Networks

The New FCC-Approved “Super Wi-Fi” TV White Space Radios will make it possible to serve 4 billion people living in 3rd world developing countries, 90% of which do not have access to the Internet

 By Robert Hoskins

Sunnyvale, California – Carlson Wireless Technologies announced a $5 million Crowdfunder.com equity crowdfunding campaign to develop and deploy its a global leader in TV White Space (TVWS) unlicensed broadband wireless technology. At speeds of up 25-Mbps, which is three times faster than current technology, and half the cost, Carlson’s RuralConnect Generation 3 TVWS radios (470 to 698 MHz) will offer a superior broadband wireless solution than is currently available in the marketplace. These white space wireless radios will make it possible to build wireless networks in underserved rural areas where there is a huge pent up demand from millions of customers that currently do not have any form of broadband internet access.

Carlson Wireless Technologies Launches Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on Crowdfunder for RuralConnect TV White Space Radio Gen3

In order to transform its FCC-approved prototype into a mass produced reality for worldwide distribution, Carlson Wireless is offering the private placement memorandum and is currently selling equity shares to raise investment venture capital. 

The equity fundraising will enable completion of both the software and hardware for the new product, as well as provide working capital for the first Generation 3 production run, with an expected release to market before the end of 2015. Carlson Wireless currently has a presence on the equity crowdfunding platforms AngelList and Crowdfunder.

This funding will allow Carlson Wireless to help fuel world-wide Internet connectivity through next generation dynamic spectrum wireless communication systems. By helping the company fund the final stages of this project, investors can be a part of this fundamental economic and social change.  

Globally, there are 4 billion people without access to the Internet, 90% of which are from the developing world. Domestically, millions of Americans in rural areas lack access to broadband connectivity due to current market and technological constraints.

Carlson Wireless developed the FCC Certified RuralConnect as a solution that provides affordable broadband Internet access by transmitting signals over vacant TV frequencies. Using this spectrum, the RuralConnect signal penetrates foliage and travels around hills to provide broadband in rural and remote locations throughout the world that cannot be served by traditional line-of-sight radio technology.

RuralConnect can cover an area up to 20 km in diameter, with the ability to deploy a hotspot using minimal infrastructure. TVWS technology also expands the capability of businesses and governments to extend communications and private networks such as: small cell sites, smart cities, the Internet of Things (M2M), utilities, oil & gas operations, public safety, wireless backhaul, security, video surveillance and more.  Moreover, acceptance of the technology is accelerating worldwide, with regulatory approvals earlier this year in Canada and the U.K.

In the United States, the abandoned television frequencies are primarily in the upper UHF 700-Megahertz band, covering  TV channels 52 to 69 (698 to 806 MHz).  This new spectrum became available as TV broadcasters migrated from analog to digital broadcasting technology.

Digital transmission uses much smaller slices of spectrum and can be packed into adjacent channels, while analog ones cannot. This means that the band can be “compressed” into fewer channels, while still allowing for more transmissions. In addition to white space assigned for technical reasons, there is also unused radio spectrum which has either never been used, or is becoming free as a result of technical changes. 

For more than a decade, Carlson Wireless has designed and developed products to deliver high-speed Internet and wireline-quality voice connectivity to rural communities and businesses with remote operations. Specializing in hard-to-reach regions, Carlson Wireless provides fixed-wireless systems using TV White Space and microwave technology to deliver voice and data connections.

Working with customers, trial participants, and other industry leaders, Carlson Wireless has created a third-generation product that will exhibit the enhanced throughput and superior propagation characteristics required by the market at an attractive price point. The RuralConnect Generation 3 will utilize channel bonding in order to triple Internet connection speeds up to 25 Mbps, reduce latency, and support four times as many users per sector; all under the new IEEE 802.22 standard.

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iFunding Raising $2 Million with Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on Crowdfunder

After raising nearly $30 million for real estate projects, iFunding is now crowdfunding its own equity crowdfunding site

By Robert Hoskins

New York City, New York – iFunding, the company that makes real estate investing simple through crowdfunding, announces it is raising a corporate financing round of up to $2 million. The round of financing uses the same types of crowdfunding techniques that iFunding applies to its day-to-day business in real estate investment. This is another sign of evolution in the crowdfunding sector and real estate financing.

iFunding.com Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate

iFunding will use the funds for expanded operations, technology enhancements, marketing and sales. It is performing this fundraising through a Crowdfunder crowdfunding campaign.  Crowdfunder has over 77,000 registered users and $56 million committed across investments to-date. This current financing round follows on earlier investments by select strategic partners, customers and colleagues into the company. A “Series A” venture round is planned for 2015.

iFunding is one of the longest-operating real estate crowdfunding sites, connecting thousands of registered investors with real estate developers and opportunities to finance their building projects. The company has raised tens of millions of dollars for projects ranging from new home construction or refurbishments, to commercial spaces, condominium communities, mobile home parks, apartments and mixed-use urban facilities. iFunding has been covered in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, Seeking Alpha, Real Estate Weekly, The Real Deal, Realty Today, Multi-Housing News and Urban Land magazine.

Accredited investors wishing to participate in iFunding’s fundraising can visit the Crowdfunder investment portal for more information. On the project web page, readers will find information including a strategy and investment presentation, and introductory video.

Founder and CEO of iFunding, William Skelley, noted “Our team is excited to have been working with thousands of investors and real estate developers in our first full year of operations. Now, we plan to expand our real estate operations, enhance our technology platform with more user-friendly features, and broaden our marketing and sales activities to reach more investors and developers. Our growth also creates a compelling case for investors to participate in this early success stage of our company.”

Co-Founder, Sohin Shah, added, “The crowdfunding approach to our own fundraising was an easy decision for us. It opens this opportunity to a broad audience, as people can own shares in iFunding for as little as $10,000.”

iFunding has chosen Crowdfunder to list its fundraising campaign. Entrepreneurs use the platform to tell the story of their business and raise investment from a community of institutional and individual accredited investors. iFunding selected Crowdfunder because of the volume of investor activity on the site, and the easy-to-use web application that supports investor research and interactive communications. iFunding’s goal is a $1 million raise, with a $2m maximum, on Crowdfunder.

iFunding also is partnering with Accredify for online verification of an individual’s accredited investor status. Instead of individuals having to manually verify status each time they invest in private placements, Accredify securely automates verification via tax records or collects letters stating one’s liquid assets. The platform also allows investors to share their accredited status easily across multiple investments they make, all the while keeping sensitive information confidential.

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After Raising $6.2 Million for Pono Music on Kickstarter, Neil Young is Now Selling Piece of the Action So Fans Can Buy Equity Shares in the Company

In a move for what may become the “new norm” in crowdfunding, Accredited Investors can now purchase shares in PonoMusic for as little as $5,000 and become an part owners of the company

By Robert Hoskins

San Francisco, California – PonoMusic’s revolution is stirring unprecedented interest in the music community’s high-resolution digital music market, as the startup’s successful Kickstarter campaign recently raised $6.2M from over 18,000 backers — the third largest Kickstarter campaign ever — far surpassing even the campaign initiated by Oculus Rift.

In a move for what may become the new norm in crowdfunding, Accredited Investors can now purchase shares in PonoMusic for as little as $5,000 and become an part owners of the company

Now Neil Young and PonoMusic are continuing their crowdfunding momentum by launching an equity crowdfunding campaign exclusively on Crowdfunder.com at PonoMusic on Crowdfunder. Accredited investors can invest as little as $5,000 and become an equity owner in PonoMusic alongside Neil.

Neil and the team at PonoMusic are excited about democratizing the investment process of PonoMusic by giving their Kickstarter backers, and anyone who loves music, the opportunity to now invest and become an owner in Pono.

Oculus Rift previously raised over $2.0M via Kickstarter, then sold to Facebook for $2 Billion. If their Kickstarter backers had been given the opportunity to invest in Oculus Rift through equity crowdfunding, they would likely have seen a significant return on their investment, but they didn’t — which stirred quite a backlash at the time.

Neil Young conceived of the idea behind PonoMusic to breathe life back into the experience and quality of audio in the digital age of highly compressed, poor quality music files such as MP3s. There’s recently been a huge resurgence of analog vinyl records among music lovers desiring true, undistorted sound. Yet the true, organic, nuanced experience most vinyl delivers hasn’t been convenient or portable, until now. PonoMusic offers a complete digital ecosystem, including a premium portable music player paired with a comprehensive digital music store offering high resolution music files with up to 30x more sound data than low-res MP3 files. PonoMusic is supported by all major music labels and their huge growing catalogues of premium quality digital music.

Says Crowdfunder’s CEO, Chance Barnett, “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Neil and his team to democratize the opportunity to invest in PonoMusic. Neil and his team get it; that’s why they’re going the route today’s most successful startups follow: first validating their business through pre-sales of their product on Kickstarter, then raising investment via our leading equity crowdfunding platform and rapidly growing base of institutional and individual accredited investors.”

Says PonoMusic’s visionary, Neil Young, “Pono is an artist-driven movement to rescue music and the art of recorded sound for posterity. It’s about the people who make the music, about the way it sounds to the artists when they record it in the studio and about preserving the original sound created by artists over the history of recorded sound. It’s also about fans hearing what we hear and that hasn’t happened in a long time. We wanted music lovers everywhere to be a part of this from the beginning and have an opportunity to help us launch this new music ecosystem into the world, together.”

“Pono” is Hawaiian for righteous. What righteous means to our founder Neil Young is honoring the artist’s intention. That’s why he’s been on a quest, for a few years now, to revive the magic that has been squeezed out of digital music. Through Pono, you no longer have to choose between quality and convenience when listening to music — you can have both. This is the fundamental idea behind PonoMusic.

Pono’s mission is to provide the best possible listening experience of your favorite music. PonoMusic is not a new audio file format or standard. PonoMusic is an end-to-end ecosystem for music lovers to get access to and enjoy their favorite music exactly as the artist created it, at the recording resolution they chose in the studio. PonoMusic is more than just a high-resolution music store and player; it is a grassroots movement to keep the heart of music beating.

Crowdfunder is where the power of crowdfunding meets investing. Entrepreneurs use the company’s platform to tell the story of their business and raise investment from a community of institutional and individual accredited investors. The company played a significant role in JOBS Act legislation, creating the new market for equity crowdfunding that brings private investing online and creates positive impact and economic opportunity.

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Equity Crowdfunding Campaign Targets $100 Million Personal Submarine and Superyacht Market

DeepFlight launches Crowdfunder.com Series A fundraising campaign to fund the next evolution of super yacht submarines and meet the booming demand for the deep sea exploration and tourism industry

By Robert Hoskins

Point Richmond, CA – DeepFlight has launched a Series A round Crowdfunder.com equity crowdfunding campaign to address an estimated $100 million market for personal submarines for the superyacht and tourism markets. The Company has already established initial sales to early adopters, including the late adventurer, Steve Fossett; venture capitalist, Tom Perkins; the founder of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz; Sir Richard Branson, and others. The goal of the campaign is to raise $2.5 million to support the next evolution of the DeepFlight submarines and dominate the market for private submarine ownership, as well as access the emerging market of undersea tourism.

Led by industry pioneer, Graham Hawkes, DeepFlight has invested the last twenty years perfecting the DeepFlight submarines through five generations of working prototypes. The Company’s flagship technology, DeepFlight Super Falcon, is a fundamentally new type of submarine whose patented winged design offers the unparalleled experience of underwater flight and the unique safety of automatic return to the surface. Over the last two years, DeepFlight has refined its product roadmap with five different craft, optimized for the various market segments. While several other companies have recognized the market potential for personal submarines, none have adapted their designs for large-scale recreational use.

DeepFlight presently generates revenues through sales and service contracts, and currently has contracts in-house worth over $3 million. The Company’s first sales have been to high net worth individuals (HNWI), including superyacht owners. Its near term business model is to continue to target the $10 billion global superyacht market, with the goal of equipping 1% of the superyacht fleet with DeepFlight craft by 2020 for a projected $80 million in revenues. Additionally, the Company has delivered DeepFlight craft to two resort locations and the Company anticipates continuing to expand its revenues from resort and tourism operations..

DeepFlight is taking advantage of Title II of the Jobs Act which has recently allowed private businesses to generally solicit and publicly raise money from accredited investors via equity crowdfunding. This technique is entirely different from rewards crowdfunding which does not allow for equity investments. The Company is seeking to raise $2.5 million; information regarding the equity raise is available at http://www.crowdfunder.com/deepflight. The funds will be used to build and commercialize the next generation of DeepFlight personal submarines, including its newest product line to be introduced in Q4 2014, and to expand its marketing presence in its target markets.

President of DeepFlight, Adam Wright, stated, “We are excited to launch our campaign on crowdfunder.com. Having proven our technology and established initial sales, we see a great opportunity to grow the market for undersea recreation and tourism. In the short term, the Company expects most of our orders will continue to come from individuals, however, we anticipate expanding our business to include other large-scale recreational and tourism activities.”

Tom Perkins, venture capitalist and owner of a DeepFlight Super Falcon, said, “I spent three years adventuring in the South Pacific with my DeepFlight craft, and the experience exceeded my wildest imagination. I believe DeepFlight is well-positioned, with a proven technology, to capitalize on the new possibilities for private exploration of our oceans, and to grow this company to its potential.”

Graham Hawkes, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, added, “Even though we live on an ocean planet, there are few commercially available technologies that can provide an engaging underwater experience to a large number of users. From the beginning, our DeepFlight submersibles have captured the public’s imagination, and I am thrilled that we are now able to invite the public to support our initiatives to open the oceans to a larger audience. I look forward to introducing our newest product line in the coming year, and I am fully confident that our DeepFlight personal submarines will expand the market for undersea recreation.”

DeepFlight, formerly Hawkes Ocean Technologies, was founded in 1996 by world-renowned engineer, Graham Hawkes, with the goal of innovating underwater technologies to expand human access to the oceans. In 2012, the Company pivoted from a research and development organization to focus on commercializing its submarines for the recreation and tourism markets. The Company’s flagship technology, DeepFlight Super Falcon, is a fundamentally new type of manned underwater vehicle that is a combination of submersible and high-performance aircraft. DeepFlight is globally recognized for its series of advanced personal submarines, designed, built and operated for the private owner and recreational markets, including the superyacht and tourism industries.

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SEC Lifts Ban on General Solicitation; Implements First Phase of JOBS Act for Reg. D, Title II Accredited Investors

SEC Lifts 80-Year Ban on the General Solicitation of Private Placement Equity Investments

By Robert Hoskins

Today, the United States finally inched its way toward the full implementation of the JOBS Act passed in April 2012, required by federal law to be in place by January 2013, but still not fully realized as intended by President Obama and the both houses of the U.S. Congress.

SEC Crowdfunding Call for Comments on November 15, 2013

“We want this new market and the private markets in general to thrive in a safe and efficient manner, and these rules we adopted and proposed are designed to facilitate that objective,” said Mary Jo White, Chairwoman of the SEC. “As we fulfill our mission to facilitate capital formation and maintain fair and efficient markets, the Commission must always focus on strong investor protections.”

Until the general solicitation ban was lifted, hedge funds, VCs, and startups had to quietly raise that money, soliciting by word of mouth and other forms of private communication. Now companies can buy ads, launch PR campaigns, leverage social media and openly announce that they’re seeking investors.

The addition of general solicitation is expected to fuel a new cottage industry of investor matching-making websites that aim to broaden the investment pool to financial stalwarts outside the stanchly protected investment circles of Silicon Valley.

“With general solicitation it will be much easier for investors to find companies they are passionate about supporting,” said Mike Norman of crowdfunding website, WeFunder. The new rule will hopefully open up the capital-starved startup market to the majority of investors. According to WeFunder’s website, only 3% of the US’s 8 million accredited investors are active in the tech startup space.

For example, leading startup investing platform, RockThePost, announced last week that its equity crowdfunding website will provide the following equity crowdfunding investment services:

1. Prominent featuring of startups publicly announcing investment rounds
2. Investor verification system that shifts the burden off startups
3. Secure transactions where Escrow accounts act as a safe haven for early committed investors
4. Full transparency – third party identity checks and legal business verification, crowdsourced due diligence, bank-level security
5. Smart matching of investors to startup investments that match their preferences

Equity crowdfunding sites such as Angelist, Circleup, Crowdfunder, FundersClub, RockThePost and Wefunder are important the nascent industry because according to the Center for Venture Research, only 258,000 investors have made an angel investment out of the 8.7 million accredited investor households eligible to invest in the U.S.

The general solicitation ban lift will allow startups to publicly fundraise via methods such as equity crowdfunding, harnessing the power of the internet and social media to reach potential investors in all corners of the country.

According to a Forbes article, many states have decided not to wait on the SEC. Kansas, the first state to enact laws requiring the registration of sales of securities to the general public 100 years ago, turned out to be the first in the U.S. to enact an “intrastate” Invest Kansas Exemption law. The state of Georgia passed the Invest Georgia Exemption that provides even more freedom for crowdfunding than the Kansas exemption. North Carolina’s House passed a crowdfunding bill that is expected to move to the full legislature in an updated form and be signed into law next year. The state of Washington is currently teeing up crowdfunding legislation and other states will likely follow suit.

Tanya Prive, a co-founder of RockthePost, points out that “One of the other issues I’ve seen is that there are plenty of startups with a large customer base that they cannot tap into for capital support under existing regulations. These people are the biggest fans and evangelists of the brand, who might be first in line to invest. Once the user base is able to engage with their beloved company in fundraising mode via an investment crowdfunding platform, the company will be able to capitalize on the crowd’s interest in their success and accelerate the fundraising process by converting customers into investors.”

“So although there are strings attached to the ruling, lifting the ban on general solicitation – an 80-year-old rule – will help investors connect with entrepreneurs, and vice versa. The decision also weighs in the favor of entrepreneurs and investors who live outside places like Silicon Valley, where old-school networking and personal connections are how financing deals typically happen,” said Eric Markowitz, crowdfunding reporter for Inc. Magazine. “By lifting the ban, entrepreneurs living outside traditional tech hubs may find it easier to connect with investors, raise money, and grow their start-ups without having to necessarily relocate.”

Although large players like private equity firms Bain Capital and Blackstone Group LP could take advantage of the chance to use television ad campaigns, many lawyers and regulators close to the industry have said that they expect smaller funds with fewer resources to test the new rule first.

“By allowing issuers to solicit to a broader group of potential investors, the SEC has showed its commitment to democratizing the investing process and putting an end to yesterday’s ‘old boy’ investor networks,” said Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive of SecondMarket Inc., a marketplace for private shares.

The next important date to watch for is October 31, 2013, when the 2nd wave of SEC crowdfunding guidelines are expected to be issued for Title III investors that will allow unaccredited investors to participate in private placement investments.

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More News on the SEC’s New General Solicitation Rules:

1. SEC Lifts Ban On General Solicitation, Allowing Startups

2. SEC Approves JOBS Act Requirement to Lift General Solicitation Ban

3. Starting Today, Startups Can Broadcast Their Fundraising From the Rooftops

4. The General Solicitation Ban Lift Can Change Startup Investing Forever

5. Crowdfunding Will Flourish Regardless Of What The SEC Does

6. Game Changer: SEC Lifts General Solicitation Ban

7. Boon for Start-ups: SEC Lifts Ban on General Solicitation

8. SEC lifts longtime advertising ban for hedge funds, others

9. SEC Lifts Ban on General Solicitation in Certain Private Placements

10. S.E.C. Lifts Advertising Ban on Private Investments

11. SEC Votes to Ease 80-Year-Old Ban on Private-Investment Ads

12. SEC Lifts Ban on Hedge Fund Ads

13. SEC Lifts 80-year-Old Ban on Advertisements for Private Investors

14. SEC lifts advertising ban on private investments: How it affects you

15. SEC Votes to Lift Ban on Hedge Fund Advertising

Front Page PR Offers Broker Dealers General Solicitation Campaigns to Market the Oncoming Wave of Equity Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities to the Next Generation of U.S. Accredited Investors

SEC legalizes Crowdfunding marketing, PR and social media campaigns to solicit investments from Reg. D accredited investors, which include, in general, people with a net worth (excluding their residence) of $1 million, income of $200,000 a year (or $300,000 with their spouse), officers and directors of the issuer and various institutions that have more than $5 million in assets

By Robert Hoskins, Front Page Public Relations

Front Page PR announced new turnkey Crowdfunding marketing programs for FINRA-registered broker dealers that want to begin planning advertising, marketing, media relations, PR and social media campaigns to reach a target audience of accredited investors that have remained allusive for the past 30 years due to securities laws.  On July 10, 2013, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to lift rules that strictly prohibited the use of mass marketing strategies to promote investment opportunities to potential investors.

Beginning September 2013, leading broker dealers that want to make a big push into one of the most promising financial opportunities in the last eighty years can now begin working with Front Page PR’s team of marketing experts to start planning targeted marketing campaigns to reach this lucrative new audience of prospective accredited investors.

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July 10, 2013 SEC Guidelines passed for Crowdfunding and Title II of the 2012 JOBS Act:

• Eliminating the Prohibition Against General Solicitation & General Advertising in Rule 506 and Rule 144A Offerings
• Amendments to Regulation D, Form D and Rule 156 under the Securities Act

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“Aggressive broker dealers are already partnering with popular equity crowdfunding sites such as Circleup.com and MicroVentures.com in order to begin marketing to investment early adopters who are joining popular crowdfunding sites in droves,” said Robert Hoskins, Front Page PR’s Director of Media Relations.  “Adding to the crowdfunding marketing opportunity is the pent-up demand that has been building over the past five years as entrepreneurs and small businesses that have been rejected over and over when seeking traditional bank and small business loans.”

“On the flip side of the crowdfunding market opportunity are millions of qualified investors in the U.S who meet the official SEC guidelines to become accredited investors, which can participate in new equity crowdfunding opportunities, but are unaware of their unique credentials,” Hoskins continued.  “These potential investors have large sums of money sitting in their bank accounts, savings plans and 401k retirement accounts because they simply cannot find attractive deals that will provide a decent return on their investment.”

On September 2, 2013, broker dealers will be able to put together marketing campaigns to educate new investors on the potential to invest in lucrative crowdfunding investment opportunities as well as the best strategies on how to find and evaluate good deals that have serious potential as well as time proven strategies on how to identify red flags and eliminate deals that do not.

Front Page PR encourages broker dealers and equity crowdfunding platforms to contact the firm to begin planning marketing campaigns prior to September 2, 2013, the date when the race begins to build new relationships with millions of new accredited investors via mass marketing communication strategies.

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Related SEC Crowdfunding Guideline Articles:

• The Crowdfunding Gold Rush
• CrowdCheck Offers Crowdfunding Compliance Management for New Reg. D and Accredited Investor Marketing Programs
• Mary Jo White, SEC Approves JOBS Act Requirement to Lift General Solicitation Ban on Crowdfunding for Accredited Investors
• Crowdfunding Press Center Releases the First Global 100 Crowdfunding Site Index
• Crowdfunding Sites Scoot Around a Regulatory Traffic Jam
• Rich Man’s Crowd Funding
• Jeff Pulver’s Zula Equity Crowdfunding Campaign Pushes Israel’s OurCrowd into the Worldwide Lead of Broker Dealer Crowdfunding Deals
• SEC Lifts Ban on Advertising to Accredited Investors
• SEC: Startups can now advertise they are fundraising; crowdfunding has to wait
• SEC Lifts Ban Against General Solicitation, Allowing Startups To Advertise That They’re Fundraising

Top 100 Crowdfunding Sites for Equity-based, Rewards-based, Perks-based and Donation-based Fundraising Campaigns

Click Here to Review the 2015 Top 10 Rated Crowdfunding Sites to Help Anyone Launch a Fundraising Campaign to Raise Money to Bring Creative New Business Ideas to Fruition

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Thinking about launching a Crowdfunding campaign to raise money to fund your creative business idea and bring it to fruition?  The Crowdfunding Press Center provides regular news reports on new Crowdfunding sites that have opened their doors to help entrepreneurs and small businesses launch fundraising campaigns to help bring their ingenious business ideas to fruition.

Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites for 2014

The big question that most crowdfunding campaign managers want to know is what crowdfunding site is the best to launch their fundraising campaign? Kickstarter vs. Indiegogo, which crowdfunding site is better? Or would one of the other crowdfunding sites outlined below be a better match for their precise crowdfunding goals and objectives.

Directory of Recently Launched Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• 99Funding
• AlumniFunder
• BanktotheFuture
• Bellavate
• Big-Concepts
• ClickStartMe
• cMEcompete
• Crowd Valley
• Crowdcube
• Crowdfund It Today
• Crowdfunder
• Crowdit
• CrowdTilt
• Foodstart
• Fundable
• FunderHut
• Fundly
• give2gether
• GivetoBenefit
• iCrowd
• KrowdKidz
• Launcht
• Mini America
• PiggyBackr
• Pik a Venture
• PledgeCents
• RockthePost
• Seed&Spark
• SeedInvest
• Start a Cure
• Sterlingfunder
• UInvest
• VentureHealth
• WeFunder
• YouCaring

Directory of the Top Rewards-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• ArtSpire
• Crowdtilt
• Feed the Muse
• FunderThunder
• IndieGoGo Crowdfunding
• iPledg
• Kickstarter Crowdfunding
• MassiveMov
• RocketHub
• Springboard
• TechMoola

Directory of the Top Disaster-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• Go Fund Me
• HelpersUnite.com

Directory of the Top Non-Profit-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• Crowdrise
• Fractured Atlas
• Fundly
• Razoo
• Start Some Good
• USA Projects

Directory of the Top Music-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• ArtistShare
• Hifidelics
• PledgeMusic
• Sellaband

Directory of the Top Film-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• Offbeatr
• Slated
• VODO

Directory of the Top Design-Based Crowdfunding Prototyping Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• FabLabs
• Inventors Warehouse
• NextFab Studio
• NYC Resistor
• TechShop

Directory of the Top Sports-Based Crowdfunding Sites:

• Involved Fan

Directory of the Top Publishing-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• Magcloud
• PubSlush
• Unbound

Directory of the Top Photojournalism-Based Crowdfunding Sites

• Emphas.is

Directory of the Top Arts & Crafts-Based Crowdfunding Sites:

• Etsy

Directory of the Top International-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• Buzz Entrepreneur – France
• Fund R Venture – United Kingdom
• Geldvoorelkarr – Netherland
• Indulu.be – Hungary
• New Jelly – Norway
• PPL – Portugal
• Starteed – Italy
• The Crowd Angel – Spain
• Ulule – France
• WazoKu – United Kingdom
• WEBclusive – Netherlands

Directory of the Top Crowdfunding Accelerators, Boot Camps, and Incubators:

• AlphaLab
• Capital Factory
• DreamIt Ventures
• Good Company Ventures
• Junto Partners
• Seed Hatchery
• TechStars
• Y-Combinator

Directory of the Top Lending-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• Funding Circle
• Kiva
• Lending Club
• Funding Circle
• SoMoLend

Directory of the Top Donation-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• Fundrazr
• GiveForward
• Pifworld
• Rally

Directory of the Top Equity-Based Crowdfunding Sites: [Click to Tweet]

• ASSOB
• Angel List
• AppsFunder
• CircleUp
• EarlyShares
• FundedbyMe
• GrowthGroup
• GrowVC
• I-Bankers Direct
• inCube Ventures
• MicroVentures
• OurCrowd
• Pozible – Australia
• Quirky

Directory of White-Label Crowdfunding Site Providers: [Click to Tweet]

• CrowdfundHQ
• CrowdfundingSite
• Crowd Fund Magic
• Crowdforce
• Crowdhoster
• Crowdtilt
• Fundrazr
• Hayduke Labs
• IgnitionDeck
• Invested.in
• Katipult
• Launcht
• Mimoona
• Selfstarter
• Thrinacia
• Towema.com

Directory of the Top Securities-Based White-Label Crowdfunding Site Providers: [Click to Tweet]

• Community Leader
• CrowdValley

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• Kickback Machine: The World’s Best Tool for Researching Kickstarter Crowdfunding Platform Campaign Successes vs. Failures
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• Top 10 Value-Added Business Marketing Programs that Every Crowdfunding Platform, Portal or Fundraising Website Needs to Attract Potential Investors and Fundraising Profile Managers
• Front Page PR Unveils Crowdfunding PR Program for Crowdfunding Platforms that Pays for Itself
• Equity crowdfunding by unaccredited investors is legal in exactly one place in North America
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• Kid-Friendly Crowdfunding Platforms – ‘Piggybackr’ Teaches Youth the Power of Crowdfunding (TrendHunter.com)