GridShare.com Opens New Clean-Tech Equity Crowdfunding Site in San Francisco to Fund Renewable Energy Startups and Community Solar Projects

Potential investors can peruse investment opportunities in a variety of renewable energy sectors, including: solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and small hydropower

By Robert Hoskins

San Francisco, CA – GridShare.com announced the launch of its clean technology crowdfunding platform to help renewable energy and solar projects and clean-tech companies raise capital. By creating an online platform where investors can independently engage with project owners seeking funding, GridShare is positioned to be the leading force in crowdfunding for the alternative energy industry.

GridShare Enables Everyday People to Invest in Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind, GeoThermal, and HydroPower Projects in the Clean-Tech Industry around the World

GridShare is a unique online platform where renewable energy project developers and clean-tech companies from around the world post their funding needs. Potential investors can peruse investment opportunities in a variety of renewable energy sectors, including: solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and small hydropower. GridShare also intends to host funding opportunities for energy efficiency initiatives and early-stage clean technology ventures.

“Raising money has been a huge impediment to the growth of the capital-intensive renewable energy industry,” said Jack Jacobs, CEO and Co-Founder, GridShare. “Now, with GridShare’s help, a project developer or cleantech venture can tap into a new funding channel and, ultimately, spend less time fundraising and more time focusing on their core business.”

There are three different types of investment opportunities that a company may offer through GridShare: debt, equity, and donations. High net-worth individuals, or “accredited investors,” can browse projects online, read pertinent information about the venture, and then pledge funding in exchange for equity or interest. Non-accredited investors can donate funds to a project or company that offers this option. As soon as the JOBS Act crowdfunding rules are finalized, all users will be able to invest freely for equity online.

Posting a project on GridShare is free and easy. Once the GridShare team approves the project, it will be published online. Investors will then have the opportunity to review the project details, and pledge their financial support online. The offeror then contacts the investor to arrange payment and finalize investment terms.

“For too long, large banks have controlled which solar projects can be financed. Finally, project developers like Samba Energy can rely on GridShare to offer high quality solar investments to investors nationwide,” said Michael Hidary, Managing Partner, Samba Energy, a national provider of software and services for clean energy and commercial building energy efficiency. “Samba Energy can now complete more installations and private investors can gain strong, predictable returns from solar power projects.”

GridShare earns a commission from the offeror only if its funding goal is fully achieved. GridShare also offers optional services for users that prefer to sell securities through a registered broker/dealer, conduct legal transactions under the guidance of an experienced law firm, and/or develop their materials with the help of a marketing professional.

GridShare enables everyday people to invest in renewable energy projects and cleantech companies around the world. GridShare is an independent online crowdfunding platform for renewable energy projects and clean-tech companies seeking funding.  

Investors can engage directly and independently with owners and developers through the platform. By significantly expanding the funding options available to business owners and project developers, GridShare opens up the renewable energy industry to a much wider audience of investors.

The platform is clean technology agnostic, posting investment opportunities from all types of renewable energy projects and clean-tech companies.

GridShare allows renewable energy projects and clean technology companies to raise debt, equity and/or donations from investors. By diversifying the available investment opportunities, GridShare offers a more inclusive environment for non-accredited and accredited investors alike. 

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Crowdfunding Site, OurCrowd.com, Shows the World that the Equity Crowdfunding Industry is Sailing into the Global Economy Full Steam Ahead

OurCrowd evolves from participating in early seed rounds to a leadership position by successfully pooling tens of millions of dollars from top tier venture capital firms

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd leads equity crowdfunding deal that reels in $16M in Series E funding round for Borro.com, the UK-NY based, asset-backed online lender. OurCrowd was joined by Rocket Internet AG (RKET), Canaan Partners and Augmentum Capital in this funding round.

OurCrowd alone raised $6M of the capital invested, making this the single largest equity crowdfunding round ever completed and demonstrates how equity crowdfunding can complement and even lead traditional funding sources, such as venture capital.

“In under two years, OurCrowd went from participating in early seed rounds to now successfully  leading a $16M dollar major funding round together with top tier venture capital firms such as Canaan and the renowned internet company, Rocket,” said Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO. “We are delighted to be investing in quality companies like Borro, which is redefining the Fintech industry.”

Launched in the UK in 2009 and in the US in 2012, Borro has defined a new category of online personal asset-based lending. Borro focuses on providing liquidity to individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who use luxury personal assets such as watches, jewelry, supercars, fine art, antiques and high-end handbags as collateral for short term loans.

“Seven years ago, I joined the first angel investor group at Lending Club (LC) and witnessed first-hand the exponential growth of online lending,” Medved added.  “Lending Club’s IPO in December of 2014 was a pivotal point in the online lending industry and has shown that there will be multiple winners with eventual multi-billion dollar market caps. ”

Paul Aitken, CEO and Founder of Borro, said: “We are delighted with our collaboration with OurCrowd. Their ability to lead this important funding round has proven that equity crowdfunding has indeed come of age. I was excited by the quality of the investors they have brought to the table and am looking forward to their adding additional value to Borro as we move forward.”

Borro was recently ranked #8 right behind Lending Club (NYSE: LC) #6 and OnDeck #7 (NYSE: ONDK) in KPMG’s 50 Best Fintech Innovators Report. OurCrowd ranked #22 on the list.  Borro is backed by a consortium of high caliber VC investors with significant expertise in online finance.

Investing alongside OurCrowd is Rocket Internet AG, a German internet company based in Berlin that builds online startups and owns share of various internet companies including Foodpanda/Hellofood, Home24, Jabong, Jumia and Lamoda.  Other Borro investors include Canaan Partners (investor in Lending Club) and Augmentum Capital (investor in the UK’s top lending marketplace, Zopa). Borro has recruited notable financial industry veterans to its board of directors who bring a significant amount of experience to the company, including Nigel Morris (co-founder Capital One) as Chairman and Paul Grattan (ex-CEO Egg, First Direct.)

Borro launched in 2009 in the UK, and has gone on to open offices in New York and Los Angeles.  It is the leading online platform for luxury asset-backed lending and has defined a new lending category in a climate where loans to individuals, SMEs and entrepreneurs were few and far between. Borro offers loans from $5,000 – $2,000,000 secured against luxury assets including fine art, antiques, jewelry, luxury watches, fine wine, prestige and classic cars and other high-value assets. Borro investors include: Canaan Partners (Lending Club), Eden Ventures, Augmentum Capital. Borro’s board of directors includes Nigel Morris (co-founder Capital One) as Chairman, and Paul Gratton (ex-CEO Egg, First Direct).

OurCrowd is the leading hybrid venture capital equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors who wish to invest in Israeli and global early stage companies. Managed by a team of well-known investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these startups to its accredited membership. Members choose those deals they invest in via OurCrowd-managed partnerships.

OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal. OurCrowd provides post investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats. OurCrowd has raised over $100 million in equity crowdfunding for its 57 portfolio companies which include leading companies, such as: BillGuard, Consumer Physics (SCiO), BioCatch, Abe’s Market and ReWalk, OurCrowd’s first portfolio company to complete a successful IPO on the NASDAQ.

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Alternative Securities Markets Group Takes 1st Step to Become National Crowdfunding Stock Exchange

The Alternative Securities Markets Group announces that it will publicly release the Alternative Securities Market Rule Book on Monday, January 19th, 2014, one day prior to the firm registering SEC Form 1 with the SEC, the first step in making the Alternative Securities Market a Nationally Registered Crowdfunding Stock Exchange

By Robert Hoskins

Beverly Hills, California – The Alternative Securities Markets Group Corporation announced that it will be releasing to the public, on Monday, January 19th, 2015,  the entire “Alternative Securities Market Rule Book,” one full day prior to the firm’s long anticipated filing of SEC Form 1 to the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, which will be the first step in the process of having the “Alternative Securities Market” becoming recognized as a national stock exchange, and also the first public crowdfunding stock exchange.

The Alternative Securities Markets Group Corporation also announced last week that it has met all the requirements for its Broker Dealer (Alternative Securities Market, LLC, a wholly owned Subsidiary of Alternative Securities Markets Group Corporation) and Registered Investment Advisor (Alternative Securities Markets Group Corporation) Filings, and those are expected in the States of California, New York and Florida in the next week. The Alternative Securities Market is owned by Alternative Securities Market, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Alternative Securities Markets Group Corporation.

Mr. Steven J. Muehler, Chief Executive Officer of the Alternative Securities Markets Group Corporation, said that “In the opinion of the Alternative Securities Markets Group Corporation management and legal advisors, every crowdfunding website that provides any type of investment information about an issuer in regards to the issuers intentions to raise any type of investment capital, where an investor is expected to advance a cash investment to the issuer, where the investor has a reasonable expectation of a financial return, and where the issuer in return for the cash investment, gives the investor securities, these “Equity CrowdFunding Platforms” need to be either a Registered Broker-Dealer as defined by the Securities Act of 1933, or a Registered Stock Exchange with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, as defined in the Exchange Act of 1934.”

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Second Equity Crowdfunding Investing Portal, PennStarter, Begins Advertising Private Placements Under the JOBS Act

PennStarter carves out niche in the equity funding world, connecting qualified investors to early-stage public and private companies

By Robert Hoskins

PennStarter, based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, states that the 2012 JOBS Act began allowing for certain equity funding raises to be advertised through exemption Regulation D, Rule 506(c) in September, 2013. The PennStarter portal is focused on early-stage public and private companies.

PennStarter Equity Crowdfunding Platform and Broker Dealer

While many broker-dealers and issuers have been reluctant to utilize advertising as they must verify the accreditation of their investors when relying on this exemption, the PennStarter portal was designed to make the investment process both open and transparent, while ensuring strict compliance.

Company President Ron Nicklas states, “We have worked hard to put procedures in place to make the process of verifying accreditation as simple for investors as possible. For investors interested in gaining access to quality deals, we believe that the PennStarter platform offers a unique opportunity to connect with early-stage companies.”

PennStarter has carved a niche in the equity funding world, connecting qualified investors to early-stage public and private companies. For companies and their investors, PennStarter offers the security of a FINRA/SIPC member broker-dealer, and thorough due diligence is done prior to listing.

For private companies, PennStarter is uniquely positioned to help properly position them to become publically traded, should they choose to do so. Since one of the typical challenges of investing in private placements is the lack of an exit strategy, this approach has become attractive to investors.

PennStarter is currently working with two companies conducting capital raises utilizing the 506(c) exemption, and which are available only to accredited investors.

1. Touchpoint Metrics: A fully reporting, early-stage company quoted on the OTCBB under the symbol TPOI. Touchpoint Metrics is a SaaS-based customer experience software and services company working with large, medium and small enterprises to measure and improve the experiences they deliver to their customers.
2. Funding Wonder: An online lending platform, which blends finance with social networking to provide loans to small businesses. Funding Wonder plans on offering its lending opportunities to both accredited and non-accredited investors utilizing state and federally regulated Crowdfunding after its implementation.

PennStarter is a division of Pennaluna & Company and was launched in late 2013. Pennaluna & Company is a full service stockbroker focused primarily on the mining, metals and Canadian markets since 1926 and many PennStarter opportunities reflect that niche.

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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

Equity Crowdfunding Investments Surpass $16 Million on MicroVentures Broker/Dealer Crowdfunding Platform

Equity Crowdfunding Investment Milestone Hit as MicroVentures Invests in Graphicly, SupplyHog, Kickfolio and Republic Project

By Robert Hoskins

MicroVentures announced that to date accredited investors have invested $16M in startups on their equity crowdfunding platform. With investments in 34 companies, MicroVentures has now invested more with legal, accredited investors than any other equity based crowdfunding platform. MicroVentures employs a crowd-sourcing process that enables the power of the crowd to decide which startups will receive investments in an effort to provide a higher probability of successful outcomes. Further, MicroVentures has a dedicated due diligence team that screens out companies that may have potential growth inhibiting challenges.

MicroVentures Reaches $16M in Equity Crowdfunding Investments

“As we patiently wait for the SEC to enact rules around the JOBS Act, we are utilizing traditional securities laws to connect startups with great investors. This is only possible as a result of our being one of the only registered broker dealer in the space. This is the first time ever that accredited investors have had the ability to invest alongside VC’s without taking major stakes and ending up with similarly diversified portfolios. However, we may find that the crowd does an even better job at picking winners,” said Tim Sullivan, CEO of MicroVentures. “We’ve reached a milestone that proves that our platform doesn’t just ‘work’ — but that there is significant demand from smaller investors to take part in this asset class.”

MicroVentures’ platform invests primarily in seed stage startups, but will participate in follow on rounds alongside the VCs throughout the life of a company. For example, visual book publishing platform Graphicly and rich media advertisement platform Republic Project have both received multiple investments from MicroVentures as they have continued to gain traction and required additional capital to accelerate their growth. Other investments include SupplyHog, a Tennessee-based company that operates a platform that streamlines the process for buying building supplies and material online, along with Kickfolio, the first foreign management team, who have created a platform that enables developers to run iOS app demos in a standard web browser.

“Our platform has created the opportunity for our investors to invest in everything from seed stage startups to huge companies such as Twitter and Facebook through secondary transactions. We’re giving investors the chance to participate and the transparency to make decisions in a way they have traditionally never been able to,” said Sullivan.

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NowStreet Brings Wall Street Closer to Crowdfunding and P2P-Lending through Free May Crowdfunding Webinars

Free Crowdfunding webinars to ensure that broker-dealers, investment bankers, financial advisors, issuers and investors of all sizes capitalize on imminent Wall Street transformation.

By Robert Hoskins

NowStreet Media announced its “Capitalizing on Financial Innovation” webinar series, aimed at helping broker-dealers, investment bankers, financial advisors, issuers and investors of all sizes succeed in a financial industry that is in the midst of extraordinary change.

NowStreet Crowdfunding Webinars

“As the popularity for neoteric crowd-financing methods such as P2P lending and crowdfunding continues to mount, we are witnessing the rapid disintermediation of Wall Street. As a result, traditional banking and brokerage revenue models are becoming obsolete, conventional capital raising techniques are no longer viable, and investor demand for alternative assets is escalating. The objective of our webinar channel is to ensure that both the financial community as well as the investing public are properly prepared to capitalize on the imminent market transformation,” stated Dara Albright, NowStreet’s CEO.

NowStreet’s ground-breaking webinar channel features trendsetting discussions and indispensable insight from the very individuals who are shaping tomorrow’s capital markets. As part of an educational outreach program, the webinars are free to all participants.

May 16, 2013, 1pm EST

“Pre-JOBS Act Crowdfunding – The Intrastate Exemption”
Learn how intrastate crowdfunding is on the verge of setting the national crowdfunding precedent, uniting communities and inspiring local economic growth. Presented by Douglas S. Ellenoff, Partner at Ellenoff, Grossman & Schole; *Richard J. Salute, CPA, Consultant with extensive expertise in capital markets and securities regulations; Jeff Bekiares and Megan Johnson, Co-Founders of SparkMarket, the nation’s first bonafide crowdfunding portal allowing unaccredited investors to legally crowdfund via intrastate exemption.

May 30, 2013, 1pm EST

“An Inside Look at the Explosive Growth of P2P & Online Lending”
Recognized P2P thought leader, Peter Renton, Founder of Lend Academy & author of The Lending Club Story, will discuss the rapid growth of P2P & Online Lending as well as the economic implications of Google’s recent investments into Lending Club & On Deck Capital. He will also show participants how to maximize P2P returns and capitalize on the proliferation of the industry.

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Uinvest Partners with Investment Banking and Securities Brokerage Firm to Setup Ukraine Crowdfunding Platform

By Robert Hoskins

Uinvest announced a new consulting partnership with the investment banking firm WestPark Capital, Inc. to serve as the crowdfunding platform’s primary U.S.-based investment industry advisor.

Uinvest Partners with Investment Banking and Securities Brokerage Firm to Setup Ukraine Crowdfunding Platform

“Crowdfunding – is the future of our globalized business world, it’s a logical evolution, and we are happy to find a partner across the ocean who shares these thoughts with us,” said Eugene Rubin, UInvest’s CEO.

According to the letter of intent signed by WPC and UInvest in March 2013, WPC, as a primary U.S. based broker dealer consultant, will help Uinvest on creating a funding portal, as officially recognized by U.S. government – crowdfunding platform. Moreover, WPC has become an advisory partner of our company at UInvest International Conference 2013 that will take place in April 29 – May 1 in Los Angeles, CA.

UInvest is an international investment management company that makes the business cooperation between private investors and small/ medium size businesses easy and efficient. It was founded in 2007 in Ukraine, Eastern Europe. For the past six years, Ulnvest has been connecting private investors with small and medium size businesses and facilitated investment transactions with over a hundred companies resulting in more than $220 million US dollars in successful investments. Ulnvest is also known to be a regional leader in financial planning, investment, and consulting.

Uinvest’s advisory partner, WestPark Capital, Inc. is a full service investment bank, which among other categories is focused on emerging growth sectors such as healthcare, software, technology, biotechnology, financial services, manufacturing, consumer products, media and telecom industries. WestPark provides a comprehensive range of corporate finance services, including initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, private placements and corporate finance advisory services. WestPark is committed to forging lasting partnerships with emerging growth companies and the investors who back them. It is a member of FINRA/SIPC.