Leading Crowdfunding Industry Analyst Firm, Crowdfund Capital Advisors, States Now is the Time to Update the Regulation to Further Enable Capital Formation
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filed by a company (issuer) with the SEC before starting to raise capital and discloses financial information for its current and prior fiscal years) as well as a Form C-U (a progress report that an issuer files that discloses total capital raised).
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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR
GoSun Exhibits Fuel-Free Solar Stove at Consumer Electronics (CE) 2017 to Support Equity Crowdfunding Campaign
29 JunGoSun is introducing the world’s first fuel-free solar powered grill, utilizing energy from the sun to bake, boil, fry or steam a meal for six in less than one hour, at the Metropolitan Pavilion during CE Week 2017, July 12 and 13 in New York City
By Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR
New York City, New York – In order to expand its clean-tech business, the GoSun outdoor solar grill is undertaking an equity crowdfunding raise with the assistance of SeedInvest that for as little as $500, anyone can own a piece of GoSun and its solar powered future. GoSun will be tapping is growing crowd of customers to support its crowdfunding campaign with more 11,000+ stoves sold in +60 countries, and major distribution agreements signed with major retailers such as ACE Hardware, Brookstone, Cabela’s, REI, Home Depot and in third world countries where there is no electricity, propane or natural gas to cook with.
GoSun is introducing the world’s first fuel-free solar powered grill, utilizing free, green solar energy from the sun to bake, boil, fry or steam a meal for a family of people six in less than one hour
GoSun’s line of innovative solar cookstoves can bake, boil, or fry almost anything, just by using the power of the Sun’s solar energy. It’s clean and safe: there are no fossil fuels or wood, no smoke or emissions, no hot coals, no open flames, no explosive gas, and no grease or soot, which are major detriments in many undeveloped countries.
“According to the UN, over 3 billion people, are still cooking on fuels, such as Kerosene or wood, that are harmful to their health, contributing to deforested landscapes and a cycle of poverty,” explained Patrick Sherwin, GoSun Founder and CEO. “GoSun is committed to making game-changing clean cooking devices to power the good life in both developed and developing markets. The newly released GoSun Grill is designed to provide a convenient and accessible way to cook with free, clean, green solar energy while promoting sustainability and healthy cooking.”
How GoSun Solar Stove Works
The GoSun solar stoves incorporate a proprietary vacuum tube technology that allows for fast cooking, portability, simple operation, and safe and clean cooking, without propane or charcoal. Sunlight is focused by parabolic reflectors onto the vacuum tube that converts up to 80% of solar radiation into heat that builds up to temperatures of 550°F or 288°C. Despite the high cooking temperatures, the exterior of the grill remains cool. In addition, the vacuum tube also doubles as an insulator, keeping the food hot even with clouds, or in the freezing cold conditions.
How Much Does the GoSun Solar Stove Cost?
GoSun’s cookers are available online at REI, Home Depot, Brookstone or via GoSun’s website, at prices ranging from $279 to $799.
Solar Electric Hybrid Grill
“While we are excited about everything the grill can do, we realized it was lacking one capability – cooking at night,” stated Sherwin. “So we are also developing a solar electric hybrid grill that stores the sun’s energy enabling cooking at night.”
The storage solution includes a Photovoltaic (PV) panel to capture the energy during the day and an option electrical heating element to enable cooking at night. By placing the electrical heating element on the grill and leveraging the vacuum tube’s insulation capability, the hybrid grill cooks using only a fraction of the energy of an electric stove. The hybrid version of the grill will be available in 2018.
GoSun is an innovative manufacturer of solar cookers that can heat up to 550°F and cook a meal in as little as 20 minutes with no fuel other than the sun’s free, green solar energy. What started as a simple inspiration has grown into the leading name in fuel-free cooking, delivering thousands of stoves in more than 60 countries. Visit www.GoSunStove.com for more information.
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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR
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.
HelloMD Receives $200k Boost for Dual “Form C, Series A” & “Reg. CF” Crowdfunding Raise of $1,216,314 with 27 Days Left
6 JunHelloMD launched its crowdfunding offering on the SeedInvest platform last month and has already received over $1,216,314 from over 795 investors
San Francisco, California – HelloMD – one of the nation’s largest communities of medical cannabis patients – announced that it had received an investment of $200,000 from SeedInvest’s “Selections Fund.” The money will count towards the amount HelloMD is targeting to raise from the crowdfunding platform, as well as from accredited investors in its funding round.
HelloMD launched its crowdfunding offering on the SeedInvest platform last month and has already received over $1,216,314 from over 795 investors.
HelloMD launched its crowdfunding offering on the SeedInvest platform last month and has already received over $1,216,314 from over 795 investors for app that markets marijuana products/services
“We like what HelloMD has accomplished thus far and feel it’s well positioned to capitalize as an early leader in a rapidly growing market,” stated Ryan Feit, SeedInvest CEO and Co-Founder. “Our Selections Fund invests alongside individual angel investors in some of the most promising companies on our platform,” he continued.
Since launching service in California two years ago, HelloMD has developed a rapid following among medical marijuana patients seeking to remedy things like anxiety, stress and chronic pain to more serious medical issues like cancer and epilepsy. The site connects patients, doctors, retailers and brands in an online community where advice on product selection, health & wellness and anything related to medical cannabis can be discovered.
“We are on a mission to create the largest medical cannabis community and the first national retailer of cannabis products,” stated Mark Hadfield, HelloMD’s CEO. “We are thrilled that SeedInvest recognizes the value HelloMD brings to patients everywhere, and has decided to demonstrate that with a sizable investment of their own,” he continued.
HelloMD’s rapid growth has been fueled by its extensive library of proprietary patient generated medical information (question & answers about medical cannabis) as well as articles, videos and other unique content. Additionally, over 400 business partners (retailers and cannabis brands) have partnered with the site to make information available to customers seeking information on their use of cannabis. The company plans to use the proceeds of the equity round to expand it service offerings across all 30 cannabis legal states, as well as internationally.
HelloMD is the leading digital healthcare platform for medical cannabis patients. The service allows for easy, convenient online video access to physicians for medical cannabis consultations, recommendations to qualifying patients, product advice and more.
SeedInvest is a leading equity crowdfunding platform that provides individual investors with access to pre-vetted startup investment opportunities. SeedInvest has funded over 160 startups and boasts a rapidly growing network of over 160,000 investors. SeedInvest has had over 13,000 startups apply to raise capital since inception and has only accepted 1% of those companies to feature on the platform.
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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR
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 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
29 AugThe 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
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
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.
Crowdfunding Investor Commitments Surpass $5 Million for Title III Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns that Met Their Minimum Goals
18 AugSeeking Out Great Title III, Reg. CF Investment Opportunities? Check Below for Some of the Most Popular Crowdfunding Campaigns!
Austin, TX – The new Title III rules – also known as “Regulation Crowdfunding” – enable even first-time investors to fund startups online with as little as a few hundred dollars of investments. Using Title III, Reg. CF crowdfunding, companies are able to raise up to $1 million.
Wefunder Dominating the Title III Reg CF Equity Crowdfunding Marketplace
The following are Title III crowdfunding companies with Investor Commitments that have surpassed their minimum goals as of the time of this store and broken down by crowdfunding portal:
- BeerFit: Endurance event production company featuring America’s Beer Run
- Beta Bionics, Inc.: “Bionic pancreas” to manage blood sugar levels
- Cleveland Whiskey LLC: Distillery that creates speed-aged spirits in just 24 hours
- Hawaiian Ola Brewing Corporation: Local farmers produce sustainable crops
- Hops and Grain Production, LLC: Sustainable craft brewery & taproom
- Legion M Entertainment, Inc.: Fan-owned entertainment company
- My Trail Company, PBC: Outdoor apparel and equipment company
- Red Bay Coffee Company: Wholesale specialty coffee, hand-roasted in Oakland, CA
- Shape Scale Inc.: A scale that scans your body in 3D to show changes in your body and appearance
- SlingFin, Inc.: Building a world class outdoor brand starting from the top of Mt. Everest
- SpeakEasy: Nightclub, bar, cabaret and casino in San Francisco
- Native Hostel Austin LLC: Upscale youth hostel
- MF Fire: A fire technology company leveraging advanced combustion science to engineer superior fire products
- MobileSpike, Inc.: Allows law enforcement officers to stop pursuits from the safety of their vehicle
- Snapwire: Connects mobile photographers with businesses and brands that need creative imagery
- Everipedia, Inc.: A free, easy to use wiki and commenting platform
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Weekly Update 6/13 – Top 10 Title, Crowdfunding Regulation Offerings Update Report
13 JunTop 10 Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Have Raised $711,196 Since May 16th Using Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding
Austin, Texas – Here is a update of the first round of Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding campaigns that launched on May 16th, almost a month ago. In aggregate, the crowdfunding campaigns have raised $711,196. And that figure would be much higher if we included the all 40 of the equity crowdfunding campaigns that have been approved by the SEC for issuing Title III offerings.
To give crowdfunders an idea of which platform is raising the most money, we added up the totals for each platform and so far, WeFunder is ruling the roost with 61% of all money raised:
- WeFunder.com $433,094
- NextSeed $112,500
- StartEngine $91,302
- SeedInvest $74,300
Total: $711,196
Why are some companies raising a lot of money and others are struggling? It comes down to how much money these crowdfunding campaigns are spending on marketing. Its hard to raise money unless campaigns are spending money on advertising, email, PR, social media and website marketing to raise awareness for their campaign and its products or services. Simply listing a campaign on a fundraising portal is not enough and why 60% of rewards-based campaigns fail.
For example, check out the profiles below to see their company websites, their social media credentials on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and then Google their founders names and company names to see what they have done to promote their company in the news media.
It will be easy to see what management teams have done the proper prep work and planned effective marketing campaigns and which teams haven’t even been able to cobble together a simple company website.
If a management team can’t build a simple website, how in the world can they run a successful business?
One founder commented that, “They didn’t build a website because they wanted everyone to focus on their crowdfunding campaign profile.”
Most investors will read everything they can about the company, their products/services, news stories, research reports, industry analysts projections for the marketplace, etc., etc.
The goal should be to provide enough information to remove all the fear, doubt and uncertainty from the investment sales equation and give them the urge to invest before they even start reviewing the SEC financial disclosure information on the crowdfunding portal’s website.
For example, let’s take at look at NextRX. They are on the StartEngine platform.
The good news is that they have a website, but not one shred of industry facts, figures or industry growth projections to support the fact that the Medical and Recreational Marijuana industry is currently the fastest growing industry in the United States and is expected to reach more than $22.8 billion in revenue in the next 4 years. Not one single fact about the 16 additional states that will probably sign new cannabis regulations into law during 2016 that will take the U.S. from 4 legal markets to more than 20.
Is providing some research on local or national marijuana industry markets important? Hell yes.
As an investor, I want to know, in detail, about my possibility of earning a nice return-on-investment for buying shares in their company. I would love to say this is why they haven’t raised any money, but its not. A smart investor relations team would use their current banking problem and turn it into an opportunity to expose the hurdle they face with setting up an escrow account and use the example to try and put more pressure on the financial banking system and the U.S. Government to remove marijuana as a Class One drug so banks don’t have to worry about breaking federal law.
Why not provide a Marijuana Pitch Video like this one? It practically makes the investor want to jump in before it’s too late! If the big investors are doing it, then I certainly don’t want to miss out on the next big industry that is almost guaranteed to boom in the U.S.
Why not include a Marijuana Industry Analyst Report like this that projects a $22.8 billion industry in the next 4 years. It would be kind of like investing in a liquor company right before prohibition ended.
As a reporter, perhaps I want to write a story based on the marijuana’s industry’s potential growth. But the company’s management team has failed to provide a media kit with company backgrounders, executive head shots, bios, press releases, market research, white papers, photos, graphics, etc., which means they are very inexperienced business executives and have never worked in a big corporation. To me this means this company will mostly likely fail as business because they certainly do not understand marketing, which is the key to all sales growth.
6/13 Weekly Title III, Crowdfunding Update:
1. Taxa Biotechnologies (genetic plant engineers)
Crowdfunding Platform: WeFunder
Amount Raised: $221,115
2. The Legion M Entertainment (media company)
Crowdfunding Platform: WeFunder
Amount Raised: $188,229
3. Native Hostel Austin (Luxury hostel in Austin
Crowdfunding Platform: NextSeed
Amount Raised: $112,500
4. MF Fire (an app-drive, low emissions wood stove)
Crowdfunding Platform: SeedInvest
Amount Raised: $63,300
6. Gigmor (Connecting bands with venues and gigs)
Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine
Amount Raised: $17,505
8. Treasure State Internet (fiber optic installation)
Crowdfunding Platform: WeFunder
Amount Raised: $11,800
9. GameTree (Social network for gamers)
Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine
Amount Raised: $11,060
12. NextRX Inc (Medical marijuana network pass)
Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine
Amount Raised: $0 (on hold because escrow account closed by bank)
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Top 100 Crowdfunding Sites in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and other Global Markets in 2016
1 MaySeeking 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
[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]
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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If you’d like to add your site to the Top 100 list, please fill out the form below.
Front Page PR Targets New Texas Crowdfunding Portals and Private Placement Issuers with Advertising, Marketing and PR Consulting Services
17 NovOffers Texas Crowdfunding Portals (TCPs), Texas Equity Private Placement Issuers & Texas Investors Guidance on the Best Strategies to Launch and Market Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns in Texas
Austin, Texas – Today a new Texas Crowdfunding Exemption Rule goes into effect that will give the state yet another financial tool to encourage more people with creative ideas to start new businesses in Texas. For the first time in 80 years, businesses will be able to sell equity shares in their business to more than 20 million unaccredited investors who live in Texas via new online Texas crowdfunding portals using general solicitation.
Front Page PR is one of the leading Crowdfunding PR firms in America
“Already armed with a zero income tax, low overall tax burden, sensible regulations and low housing costs, Texas is now armed with an even more powerful financial tool, Equity Crowdfunding,” said Robert Hoskins, Front Page PR’s Crowdfunding Director. “This new small business financing tool will be the key to helping businesses, entrepreneurs, and new startups in Texas raise venture capital by selling equity shares in their companies to Texas residents.”
Similar to the way that powerful and exclusive Silicon Valley venture capital firms built their wealth during the 1990s by betting on high-tech startups, every legal resident in Texas can now legally become a micro venture capitalist by investing up to $5,000 per deal in local Texas startups and existing businesses. As crowdfunded deals begin to go public, the wealth and economic development that will be created in Texas will be hard to match.
Texas offer investors a wide variety of industries to choose from including application development, software, mobile apps, communications, information technology, high-tech gadgets, video games, aerospace, aviation, bio-tech, life sciences, clean-tech, energy, oil & gas, real estate, film, entertainment, music and many other promising industries.
Already home to 1.7 million small businesses, gaining access to a market of 20+ million new potential investors combined with the SEC’s legalization of general solicitation will make Texas the best and easiest place in America to start a new business and raise venture capital.
And the seeds for a bumper crop of new Texas Crowdfunding Portals are already being planted. SeedInvest.com/Texas, TexasCrowdfunding.com, TexasEquityShares.com are already in the various stages of building their new crowdfunding portals and filing their applications with the Texas State Securities Board, but soon they will be harvesting their first round of Texas crowdfunded startups.
“SeedInvest has worked primarily with angel, venture capital and other accredited investors to match them up with startups in Texas such as Virtuix, based out of Houston,” said Marc Nathan, SeedInvest’s Managing Director of Texas. “But the Texas crowdfunding exemption will allow us to reach a much wider audience of unaccredited investors.”
“There are many great companies that connect technology startups with sophisticated investors, but we’re focused on working with businesses that want to build and grow with support from investors in their own backyard,” said Amy Forsyth, Texas Crowdfunding’s CEO. “To accomplish this goal we’re taking a different approach than most and plan to focus on featuring local small businesses and early-stage companies that are often overlooked, undervalued and under capitalized.”
“Our crowdfunding portal will be seeking high-tech crowdfunding equity issuers that are focused on Internet technologies, e-commerce, smartphone apps, digital properties and platforms, Software as a Service (SasS), etc.,” said Dusty Brogdon, Texas Equity Shares’ CEO. “We are seeking to serve mid-tier crowdfunding equity issuers with a minimum project value of $200,000+ with a long-term goal of taking the business public within two years.”
“Texas is about to see a dramatic surge in demand for Texas crowdfunding portals, equity private placement issuers and investors. Front Page PR is ready to help these companies bring their products and services to the Texas marketplace,” Hoskins continued. “Armed with the right community outreach programs needed to educate entrepreneurs and investors on the new crowdfunding rules, the possibilities for small business formation and growth in Texas will be limitless.”
Front Page PR provides a portfolio of crowdfunding marketing communications services, which will be instrumental in bringing these new crowdfunding portals to life and helping them launch successful crowdfunding campaigns for their fundraising campaign managers, including:
- Crowdfunding portal selection
- Crowdfunding deal structure
- Crowdfunding disclosure documents
- Crowdfunding profiles and pitch videos
- Community outreach strategies
- Advertising campaigns
- Email marketing campaigns
- PR/media relations campaigns
- Investor education programs
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Investors Provide $1 Million Investment to Shore Up Seed&Spark, a Crowdfunding Platform that Funds and Distributes Independent Films
12 AugThe investment in documentary and narrative films gives a huge boost to women due to the fact that within the entrepreneurship film space, 58% of all films successfully funded on Seed&Spark are led or co-led by women
Los Angeles, California — Seed&Spark closed an important round of $1 million in seed venture capital to expand its operations. In addition to the cash infusion, two seasoned film and entertainment executives will join the crowdfunding platform’s board of directors. Julie Parker Benello (co-founder of Chicken & Egg Pictures and Gamechanger Films) and producer and Veritas Prep founder Chad Troutwine (Oscar-winning Undefeated, Freakonomics, Print the Legend) will join the board later this month.
Seed&Spark is building a truly independent filmmaking community where filmmakers and audiences come together for crowd-funding, production, and streaming distribution
Earlier this year, Parker Benello, along with Chicken & Egg Pictures co-founder Wendy Ettinger, launched Gamechanger films with Dan Cogan and Geralyn Dreyfous of Impact Partners to “shift the gender disparity in the film marketplace.” Parker Benello’s commitment to women in film both in documentaries and narrative films now extends to entrepreneurship in the film space. 58% of film projects successfully funded on Seed&Spark are led or co-led by women, a statistic Seed&Spark founder and CEO Emily Best attributes to the fact that women are so marginalized in the film industry they’re willing to take a risk on newer platforms. “It could also be that our company leadership is almost entirely women.”
Says Parker Benello, “I am excited to join Seed & Spark as an advisor, given the company’s interest in promoting women directors, both documentary and narrative, on their innovative crowdfunding and streaming platform. I look forward to working with the team to help build out the company while furthering the work of many filmmakers supported by Chicken & Egg Pictures and invested in by Gamechanger Films.”
“We are honored to add two incredibly experienced film producers to our board who are deeply invested in the social impact of the films they make,” says Seed&Spark founder and CEO Emily Best. “What’s more exciting is that we have been able to communicate our company’s mission as an impact investment. We are deeply committed to building tools to give access to a greater diversity of creators—tools we believe can help creators make a sustainable living from their craft.”
“We’re not taking the approach of building this company with money. We wanted to engage the community and grow organically only on the strength of what the community finds valuable about what we’re offering. It means we’ve been able to get a long way with a tiny fraction of the money our competitors have raised. It also means that more of our resources can get poured back into the community because we don’t have so much to pay back,” says Best. “We also hope that we can demonstrate to filmmakers that the strength of this community is more powerful than money. And we can build a sustainable business this way – together!”
Says Troutwine, who most recently produced Print the Legend, which was nabbed by Netflix Originals at SXSW, “There is an exciting new frontier in distribution, one that can more greatly benefit both creators and audiences. Seed&Spark’s founding team of filmmakers understands they’re working for the audience.”
The lead in this round is the Wadsworth Family investment fund Manitou Ventures. Other investors include producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney, Catapult Film Fun co-founder Lisa Kleiner-Chanoff, Emmy-winning producer and Spacestation Founder Matthew Mills, Mitro founder Vijay Pandurangan, and angel investor Deborah Meijer among others.
Having just announced a distribution partnership with American Express, Seed&Spark plans to pursue more distribution partnerships, “to put truly independent content in front of the widest possible audiences and make sure the creators benefit,” says Best.
Seed&Spark is a truly independent film community where filmmakers and audiences join forces to fund, promote and watch the best new independent films. As a selective crowdfunding platform and curated streaming service, Seed&Spark is an online destination for engaged audiences to get involved in exceptional projects at all stages. Seed&Spark’s film specific crowdfunding tool – the “WishList” – allows supporters to buy or loan specific items to a production. Every time an audience member supports a project, they earn rewards points called “Sparks” which they can spend to watch films on the streaming platform. Supporting films gives audiences greater access to watch them.
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SeedInvest Seeks Equity Crowdfunding Accredited Investors to Raise $3 Million in Series A Funding
14 AprEquity Investment Offers Investors an Opportunity to Get In on the Ground Floor of One of America’s Leading Equity Crowdfunding Investment Sites before the SEC Approves 240 Million New Investors to Join the Equity Investment Pool when the Final Title III Guidelines are Approved by the SEC sometime in 2014
New York, NY – SeedInvest announced that it is seeking accredited investors to fund a $3 million Series A round on its own equity crowdfunding investment platform in the United States. The first $2 million has already been committed by prominent venture capital firms, including: Scout Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Avenue A Ventures, Krillion Ventures and Archer Gray.
SeedInvest.com Launches $3 Million Series A Round on Its Own Platform
SeedInvest is excited to open up the remainder of its round to individual accredited investors who would like to invest alongside the aforementioned venture capital firms. This announcement marks the first time that a US-based equity crowdfunding platform has publicly raised capital for itself. Interested investors should go to www.seedinvest.com/seedinvest to learn more about the company and the investment opportunity.
The $3 million raise will enable SeedInvest to grow its team to support its rapidly growing investor base. In conjunction with the raise, Bradley Harrison, Managing Partner at Scout Ventures, will join SeedInvest’s Board of Directors.
“SeedInvest has both the right team and vision to capitalize on one of the largest shifts of economic power to retail investors that we have experienced in our lifetime,” said Harrison. “Their results clearly prove that they are addressing a huge problem for both investors and entrepreneurs.”
Since its launch in February 2013, SeedInvest has rapidly expanded its investment base, attracting thousands of investors who are looking to collectively invest more than $125 million in startups. In addition to establishing a thriving marketplace, SeedInvest is getting deals done. The company processed more than 60 investments worth over $2 million in March alone, and grew its transaction volume by 350% in the first quarter of this year versus the previous quarter.
Unlike other platforms that keep 20% of returns, SeedInvest is completely free for investors. This has enabled SeedInvest to attract larger investors who made investments as large as $550,000 last month. As a result, SeedInvest has proven that it can deliver capital quickly and bring high-value-add investors to the table. During March, SeedInvest helped Vengo, a high-tech digital vending machine, raise $720,000 online from a combination of venture funds, family offices and individual angel investors.
“Although we have had a tremendous start to 2014, we can’t wait for the 2nd half of this year,” said Ryan Feit, CEO and co-Founder SeedInvest. “As soon as the final portion of the JOBS Act kicks-in, we will open SeedInvest to 240 million Americans who will be able to invest in startup companies for the very first time.”
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