Staples Opens First-of-Its-Kind Online Retail Store Shelf Slots for New Crowdfunded Products

The debut of the online store marks the first time a retailer has used crowdfunding to determine market demand and social support in choosing products to carry

By Robert Hoskins

Framingham, Massachusetts – The winners of the inaugural Crowd2Shelf Contest debut on Staples’ new entrepreneurial store at Staples.com/fundable. Created by Fundable and sponsored by Staples, the Crowd2Shelf Contest drew thousands of startups across the country competing for a chance to crowdfund their way to Staples. The Crowd2Shelf Contest was also made possible by the business strategy firm Sprosty Network.

Staples Carries New Crowdfunding Products via Online Stores

Contestants demonstrated demand for their innovative products by gathering votes and crowdfunding pledges. A panel of innovation experts, including Fundable and Staples representatives, chose the winners based on votes, success of crowdfunding campaigns, and each judges’ understanding of what it takes for a startup to be successful.

The debut of the online store marks the first time a retailer has used crowdfunding to determine market demand and social support in choosing products to carry.

“We’re proud to showcase our Crowd2Shelf entrepreneurs through our new online store and help them launch their ideas,” said Daniel Reilly, Director of Product Design and Innovation at Staples. “We were incredibly impressed with the caliber of startup product companies that participated and are thrilled to offer our customers these innovative new products to help them make more happen.”

The winning products and contestants include:

• Folding Bluetooth keyboard
  Jorno – Los Angeles, Calif. (exclusive to Staples)

• Remote-controlled recessed LED lighting
  EVA – Wilmington, DE (exclusive to Staples)

• Outlet-mounted Bluetooth music player
  The Plug Radio – Hollywood, Calif. (exclusive to Staples)

• Smartphone-controlled lighting
  Plum – Austin, Texas

• Secure tablet holder
  nHand – Tulsa, Oklahoma

“We’re pleased to see the winners of the Crowd2shelf contest now available on Staples.com,” said Wil Schroter, CEO, Fundable. “The contest has been an incredible journey for each of these startup companies, and given each of them the opportunity of a lifetime to turn a great idea into a household name.”

Staples makes it easy to make more happen with more products and more ways to shop. Through its world-class retail, online and delivery capabilities, Staples lets customers shop however and whenever they want, whether it’s in-store, online or on mobile devices.

Fundable is one of the largest business crowdfunding platform with nearly $200 million in commitments and exclusively dedicated to helping businesses. Different from any other crowdfunding platform, Fundable offers both rewards and equity business crowdfunding options. Fundable is a part of the Startups.co platform, the world’s largest startup launch platform with tools to help startups and entrepreneurs at any stage of their business.

Sprosty Network is a business strategy and innovation firm helping clients re-imagine technology and the delivery of products, services, and experiences. They have worked for companies ranging from Fortune 50 retailers to startups, and bring a wealth of expertise in leading and developing consumer technology, wireless solutions, and emerging technologies.

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New U.S. Hybrid Rewards and Equity-Based Crowdfunding Site Based in Columbus, OH Surpasses $100 Million Milestone

The Fundable crowdfunding site allows entrepreneurs to launch rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns first, followed by equity crowdfunding campaigns backed by accredited equity investors

By Robert Hoskins

Columbus, OH – In a prelude to what may become the industry norm, Fundable.com announced that backers and accredited investors have pledged over $100 million in funding commitments for both rewards-based and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns. During the past 18 months, startups across all industries have utilized Fundable to move their businesses forward. Different from any other crowdfunding platform, Fundable is dedicated exclusively to helping businesses as they seek early stage growth capital. The crowdfunding platform claims to be receiving over 15,000 new company registrations each month.

The Fundable crowdfunding site allows entrepreneurs to launch rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns first, followed by equity crowdfunding campaigns backed by accredited equity investors

According to Fundable CEO Wil Schroter, “We are thrilled with the incredible success that companies have found through Fundable. It’s amazing to see companies using funding to grow real businesses that are creating jobs and making an impact on the economy.” A veteran entrepreneur himself, Schroter has nearly 20 years of experience founding successful venture-backed startups. Schroter knew firsthand that access to early stage capital was a critical problem for emerging entrepreneurs, and wanted to create a platform to solve this.

Schroter says, “the success of Fundable’s hybrid rewards and equity system proves the need for additional expansion capital after a successful rewards campaign. Companies can prove demand for their business through a rewards campaign, and then meet demand and continue to grow through an equity crowdfunding campaign.”

Due to Kickstarter’s and Indiegogo’s lack of equity investment options,  successful crowdfunding campaigns are the taking the next step on Fundable when seeking addition rounds of funding.  For example, HIDDEN, Ube and Uncharted Play all utilized Fundable to raise additional expansion capital.

Unlike Kickstarter, which experienced a huge backlash from Oculus backers that cried foul when their early rewards -based  crowdfunding campaign raised $2.4 million dollars to launch the virtual reality computer goggles product line, Fundable can follow initial seed funding rounds with equity investment deals.

But just like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and more than another 1,000 crowdfunding platforms worldwide, Fundable is not allowed by the SEC to allow unaccredited investors to invest in equity investment deals.

Hopefully by the 3rd quarter of 2014 the rest of United States will be given the opportunity to strike it rich by investing in small startups.  If pledgers are willing to back a set of Oculus goggles for $300 to jump start a business, the same backers should certainly should have been allowed to recoup their investment when Oculus accepted a $2 billion buyout from Facebook.  According to Forbes, that $300 investment risk would have paid hobby investors a whopping $20,000 return on investment on their investment.

Fundable.com is one of the largest business crowdfunding platforms, with over $100 million in commitments, and is dedicated exclusively to helping entrepreneurs. Different from any other crowdfunding platform, Fundable offers both rewards and equity business crowdfunding options.

In an upcoming crowdfunding trend, Fundable recently acquired LaunchRock, a premiere tool for launching startup ideas, in order to acquire over 500,000 registered startup companies, 10 million users, and 15,000 companies.

The crowdfunding site is the brain child of veteran entrepreneurs who have raised countless venture capital and angel investment rounds to finance early stage growth startups.

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Fundable Research Pegs Crowdfunding Industry to Inject $65 Billion in 2014

Fundable Infographic Predicts Crowfunding Industry Growth in 2014 to Inject $65 Billion and Create 270,0000 Jobs

By Robert Hoskins

Fundable.com’s infographic below details some great facts for people who are writing business plans and reporters looking for some great stats to quote for blogs, online media outlets and print/broadcast media.  These numbers are going to grow as more and more people become aware of the booming crowdfunding industry.

This is just the beginning, but report reports, white paper and trade press articles continue to paint a rosy picture for the accelerated Crowdfunding industry growth rate that is predicted for the combined fundraising economic stimulus forecast for donation-based, equity-based and perks/rewards crowdfunding campaigns in 2014.

Fundable’s Crowdfunding Statistics predict that:

• In 2014, Crowdfunding will add 270,000 jobs and inject $65,000,000,000 into the worldwide economy.
• Crowdfunding companies create 1 new job for every $37,702 invested/donated.
• For every $1 invested in Crowdfunding startups leads to $6.36 in revenue.
• At this growth rate, Crowdfunding will contribute $500 billion in funding per year by 2020.
• This $500 billion in funding will generate $3.2 trillion in economic value per year by
• In tandem, Crowdfunding will create 2.2 million new jobs by 2020

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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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Private Equity, Angel Networks and Broker Dealers Ready for Crowdfunding

‘Rich Man’s Crowd Funding‘

by My Say, Contributor

Private Equity, funds, angel networks and broker dealers are embracing the technology underpinning crowdfunding with its standards of deal presentation and distribution channels to potential investors.

According to Jouko Ahvenainen, Chairman and co-founder of Grow VC, “At Grow VC Group we work with many broker dealers to offer our platform as a service for their use. Through GrowVC they can easily transfer many offline activities and investors to an online marketplace as a strategy to get more investors and make their operations more effective.”

The use of this technology by broker dealers was presented to the National InvestmentBanker Association in Spring 2012 and today we have seen recent movements with SoMoLend and CrowdFunder signing up with the leading broker dealer Gate Technologies, whose back end crowdfunding platform is run by visionary CEO Vince Molinari. We will see the two to three dozen dedicated crowdfunding for equity sites partner up with broker dealers in Q1 2013 and start pursuing SEC broker dealer transactions under the “Rich Man’s Crowd Funding” option in wait for crowdfunding for equity to become legal.

Leading players in the market like Crowdfunder, SeedInvest, CircleUp, Launcht, WeFunder, Fundable, Indiegogo, Rockethub and Crowd Valley will be the new broker dealers joining the industry in 2013 although Kickstarter will not enter this segment. These firms are the new blood in the market and are leveraging this technology.

“I believe the jury is out on who the winners will be in the long run relative to the crowd platforms,” says Steven Cinelli. “Much like an investment bank, issuers will opt for those platforms that build a history of getting deals done. It’s all about successful distribution.”

CircleUp has already done half a dozen projects as a broker dealer with their license held by WR Hambrecht & Co. The fact crowdfunding for equity is delayed pushes these sites to start brokering “Rich Man’s Crowd Funding.”

Read more…