Crowdfundraiser Rolls Out New Regulation A+ Crowdfunding Sites to Support Equity Crowdfunding for Accredited and Non-Accredited Investors

The new rules for Regulation A+ of the JOBS Act allow for capital raising, with some stipulation, of up to $50,000,000 from both accredited and non-accredited investors for private companies

By Robert Hoskins

Seattle, Washington – Crowdfundraiser.com announced the official release of Regulation A+ crowdfunding kickoff pricing for new companies seeking capital. As of June 19, 2015, equity crowdfunding for both accredited and non-accredited investors is now legal.

Crowdfundraiser Readies Equity Crowdfunding Platform to Host Tier 2, Title IV, Reg A+ Mini-IPOs

The deals that will begin registration with the SEC in June and will take a few months to completely cycle through, but the law is now fully in place. The new rules for Regulation A+ of the JOBS Act allow for capital raising, with some stipulation, of up to $50,000,000 from both accredited and non-accredited investors for private companies.

“We are already seeing a great deal of interest from both investors looking to invest and companies seeking capital through the Reg A+ rules,” stated Jake Durrant, Crowdfundraiser’s Managing Director. “We are not expecting this interest to abate as the new tools at the disposal of small business represent one of the greatest opportunities for small business capital formation in a generation.”

Founded in 2014, Crowdfundraiser provides expert guidance for companies seeking to navigate the waters of equity crowdfunding. With a handful of in-house and experienced securities and transactional attorneys, the company has the resources to assist any company seeking access to capital through equity crowdfunding and Regulation A+.

The company includes experienced investment bankers as well as those familiar with microcap stocks, which should provide timely assistance for crowdfunded companies that need future liquidity for investors through the public markets.

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University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School Announces 18-Month Crowdfunding Research Study that Will Explore How and Why Investors Decided to Invest in Successful Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns

 

Kauffman Foundation and Nesta Grants, Nir Vulkan, Associate Professor of Business Economics at Saïd Business School, funding explore the business of successful equity crowdfunding

By Robert Hoskins

Oxford, United Kingdom – The equity crowdfunding market is worth over £50 million a year in the UK, doubling in size last year as an increasing number of individuals look for an alternative place to invest their capital. Despite its size however, there is very little research into market dynamics, the success of campaigns to attract funding and the associated risks.

Seedrs makes it simple to buy into the businesses you believe in and share in their success

Nir Vulkan, Associate Professor of Business Economics at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, has been granted funding from the Kauffman Foundation and Nesta to explore the business of equity crowdfunding. Working with Thomas Åstebro from HEC Paris, the 18 month project will explore the criteria for success for crowdfunders and how investors make decisions on what projects to back.

“We are looking to find out how investors react when presented with different information about an investment,” said Nir Vulkan. “Do they respond more strongly to information about the founding team, to company milestones, existing investors, or previous sales made? We will be able to understand what generates success and what leads to failure, and this will have important implications for companies looking for investment of money and community expertise. More broadly our findings will be of great importance for regulators and governments both in the UK and internationally looking at the benefits and risks associated with the crowdfunding sector.”

The study is being conducted on Seedrs, one of Europe’s leading equity crowdfunding platforms. Seedrs matches investors with businesses seeking capital, conduct due diligence on the businesses, executes the investment transactions and acts as nominee on behalf of investors to protect their rights.

Seedrs was founded by Oxford MBA alumni Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva, who worked on the idea for the company as part of their Entrepreneurship Project at Oxford Saïd, mentored by Vulkan, before it was launched in July 2012. On average, over £2 million is invested through Seedrs per month, and in 2013 it became the first crowdfunding platform for equity investments to allow cross-border fundraising rounds across the EU. Seedrs has made over 2.5 years of historical data, on an anonymized basis, available to Vulkan and Åstebro for the project.

Jeff Lynn, CEO and co-founder of Seedrs, said, “It’s a great honor to work with my former Oxford tutor, Nir Vulkan, along with Thomas Åstebro on this project. Equity crowdfunding is only in its infancy, and I expect their research to prove highly valuable for practitioners and observers alike as the space continues to grow rapidly in coming years.”

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Symbid and Catena Partner Up to Offer Independent Risk Scoring With Loan-based Equity Crowdfunding

The Funding Network by Symbid, Online Funding Platform for Small Businesses, Adds Professional Third-Party Scoring

By Robert Hoskins

Rotterdam, The Netherlands – Symbid Corp. (OTCQB: SBID) announced a partnership with Catena, spin-off of leading European treasury and risk management firm, to provide INRISC, an automated credit risk scoring and pricing service for its upcoming loan crowdfunding product. The partnership means Symbid becomes one of the first online funding platforms to use an independent third party to score investment opportunities and set objective interest rates. Using standardized accounting data and fully automated processes, it represents efficient risk management for entrepreneurs and investors.

Symbid is the only platform in the Netherlands where investors become shareholders

“We’re delighted to announce this strategic partnership with Catena Investments while The Funding Network continues to grow and mature. As our monthly transaction volume exceeds $35 million it is right that we keep pushing for more professionalism,” said Korstiaan Zandvliet, co-founder and CEO of Symbid Corp. “With Catena on board, we’re confident that our upcoming loan crowdfunding product will be the most transparent on the market. Looking ahead, instant scoring and pricing will be a cornerstone of our offering to professional investors. This is a big step forward in our mission of simplifying the way small businesses are funded.”

Catena Investments, a Zanders spin-off specialising in the development of state-of-the-art financial technology solutions, will assess the credit risk of loan propositions with its INRISC service using data provided by Monitoring by Symbid. This data is, in turn, streamed via accountant reporting systems. This automated scoring and pricing process is expected to be an improvement on the market standard. Most online funding platforms continue to operate scoring models internally that allow companies have a say in the final interest rate of a loan.

“With INRISC we mean to provide the market off-the-shelf solutions that will ultimately enable the investment industry to benefit from more transparency on risk and pricing, specifically for alternative investments such as crowdfunding,” said Marco Behling of Catena Investments. “Working together with Symbid represents a unique opportunity for us to link to the day-to-day needs of the crowd with independent and state-of-the art scoring models and adequate pricing of requested credit facilities.”

The Funding Network by Symbid is a go-to platform for start-ups and small businesses in search of funding. Through advanced investing, monitoring and data tools Symbid is connecting traditional and alternative finance in a new, online model. With over $100 million provided to small businesses via The Funding Network in its first 3 months, this partnership validates Symbid as a leading European player in financial technology. Although this funding volume does not currently equate to a significant revenue stream there is potential for a monthly recurring revenue model to be added in the near future.

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Crowdfunding PR Raising Money via Wells Fargo Project Work to Build the Very 1st Equity Crowdfunding Co-Working Space, Incubator, Accelerator and Training Facility Center in Austin, Texas

Click on this image to vote YES for our Crowdfunding Co-working Incubator, Accelerator and Crowdfunding Training Facility on Wells Fargo’s Work Project Contest for Small Businesses

Show our crowdfunding campaign some love by clicking here and simply voting “Yes,” and then share this story with your friends on social media. Your one vote will help us WIN!

  By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Front Page PR’s 2015 Mission is to teach local communities how to buy distressed properties such as vacant warehouses and strip malls and invest a little bit of money to turn these properties into crowdfunding co-working spaces where entrepreneurs and startups can congregate and dream up new product/service ideas.

The Wells Fargo Works Project for Small Business. Please Click to Vote YES!

Utilizing co-working spaces, Front Page PR can teach startups via crowdfunding training classes how to use a new finance tool called “Equity Crowdfunding” to raise the sufficient seed capital needed to setup a business, transform their creative ideas into prototypes, pay for the very first manufacturing production run, and then convert these companies from fledgling startups into successful revenue generating machines.

Equity Crowdfunding was legalized in 2012 by the JOBS Act. By October 2015, the SEC should release the final Title III equity crowdfunding rules. Startups will then be able to use General Solicitation market their investment opportunities to over 180 million non-accredited investors throughout the United States. The result? Leading finance experts and venture capitalists agree that the crowdfunding industry will grow quickly into a $300 billion per year industry.

The biggest marketplace challenge is that 99% of the population is unaware of crowdfunding and will need to be trained on how to invest in new startups and how to raise money using equity crowdfunding campaigns. Our crowdfunding classes are complete, but the biggest problem we face is how to pay for an actual crowdfunding training facility, converting it into a co-working space, staffing it with experts, and then marketing the facility to the general public.

We would like to spend the $25,000 Wells Fargo prize to start the process of setting up a Crowdfunding Incubator/Accelerator facility for small businesses and utilizing it over the next two to five years to teach people how to use crowdfunding sites to raise seed investment capital. The business model should fund itself in less than 12 months based on monthly co-working memberships alone, but we need enough money to get things started.

Our Incubator will provide a directory of crowdfunding experts that mentor entrepreneurs/startups on how to use donation-based or rewards-based crowdfunding to raise enough money on sites like GoFundMe.com, Kickstarter.com, or IndieGoGo.com to get a business up and running. Our crowdfunding training classes will show startups the step-by-step process of how to conduct successful crowdfunding campaigns.

Our Accelerator will provide a directory of legal, finance and securities experts that will help businesses take their companies to next level by selling equity shares or debt in their company to investors to raise even more money. The investor training classes will show new, non-accredited investors how to vet deals and ride the coattails of super angels by utilizing investment syndicates.

Once the Incubator/Accelerator is established and producing successful startups, we plan to license the business model so that others can replicate this crowdfunding training business template anywhere in the United States, providing a tremendous boost to the US economy.

Why launch a Crowdfunding Training Center? After serving as the Director of Corporate Communications for several Fortune 50 companies, I was bitten by the entrepreneurship bug and jumped off the corporate ship in 2001.

Since then I have thrived on the joy of building industries one small company at a time and the love for sharing my accrued knowledge gained from a vast array of B2B industries, international sales & distribution channels and working with media organizations to maximize publicity.

My track record includes building a broadband wireless industry in 2001 with the Broadband Wireless Exchange Magazine, an Arizona solar industry in 2009 with the Arizona Solar Power Society and I have been working for the past three years on building a crowdfunding industry with Crowdfunding PR to score a hat trick in 2015 when the SEC approves the title III equity crowdfunding rules.

Please support our fundraising campaign to build the 1st Crowdfunding Co-Working Space, Incubator, Accelerator and Training Center in Austin, Texas. Click here and vote yes!

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The Bruckal Group Raises $1 Million to Expand Residential Community on Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform, iFunding.com

The Denver-based Real Estate Developer Will Sell Over 30 Existing Units and Build 45 New Units Using Crowdfunding to Finance Its Business Projects

By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – iFunding announced The Bruckal Group raised $1 million on the real estate crowdfunding platform for its latest residential project. The fundraising was accomplished in 14 days, involving 45 participants from iFunding’s registered base of thousands of accredited investors. The $1 million in crowdfunded equity finance complements another half-million dollars in equity from other sources, and several million dollars via loan.

iFunding.com Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate

The financing will support the acquisition and expansion of a townhouse and condominium community in the fast-growing suburb of Aurora, Colorado. Aurora is home to a new biosciences center, air force base, and children’s hospital, and near Denver International Airport. The Bruckal Group will convert over 30 rental units on the estate into resident-owned properties, then build and sell over 45 more units on the remaining open land. This phased development approach will enable investors to receive a preferred return on equity plus return of capital relatively quickly, followed by additional profits from the new construction.

The Bruckal Group are experienced developers and operators on the west coast of the United States and Canada. The company has been renovating a 436-unit apartment complex in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently going to market with an 18-unit, high end townhouse project in Tempe, Arizona. The Bruckal Group also recently refurbished and sold a 105-apartment high-rise in Denver, Colorado.

Myles Bruckal, CEO of The Bruckal Group, explained their decision to leverage iFunding’s platform for crowdfunding because, “We had researched several crowdfunding sites and determined that iFunding was a good fit for a $1 million raise, with flexible terms for our investment plan. iFunding’s track record was outstanding. We found their team to be very thorough and responsive during the listing process. Our team looks forward to further investment collaboration together.”

iFunding’s CEO, William Skelley, said, “We were very enthusiastic about facilitating The Bruckal Group’s crowdfunded financing. They demonstrated real depth in understanding their markets and executing profitably on sizable residential projects. Because this project involved an eye-catching townhouse community in a growing neighborhood, with attractive returns over several years, this offering quickly caught the attention of many investors.”

In parallel with iFunding’s ongoing evaluation of real estate operators and properties to list for crowfunding, the company also is raising equity investment in its own company. In the first three days of listing its corporate fundraising campaign at http://www.crowdfunder.com/ifunding, iFunding raised $995,000. Accredited investors are invited to read our materials on the site and consider investing in our company.

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Teachers Funnel Money to IndieGoGo Crowdfunding Campaign to Teach Kids How to Play Music on Global Basis

The Apollo-M Music Library by LearntoPlayMusic.com Harnesses 300 Million Musicians to Rocket Past 35% of Its Goal in the First Three Days of Its Music Crowdfunding Campaign

By Robert Hoskins

Los Angeles, CA – The Apollo Music Platform (Apollo-M) is the latest innovation from world-leading music education publisher, LearnToPlayMusic.com, and is raising a significant amount on money on IndieGoGo from musicians worldwide. Like Spotify for downloading digital songs or Netflix for downloading to digital movies, Apollo-M gives the 300+ million musicians and music teachers worldwide unlimited access to a massive library of digital music lessons that cover all major types of popular musical instruments, genres, styles and age-groups in an easy-to-use app that can be downloaded for only $4.95.

LearnToPlayMusic’s Free Ebook and New Digital Music for Music Teachers that Help Kids Learn How to Play Music

The Apollo-M crowdfunding campaign launched with a goal of raising $100,000 and building invaluable music community support. The response has been remarkable with the campaign exceeding expectations, achieving ‘35% funded’ in just 3 days.

“The appeal of Apollo-M is in having everything that a beginner or professional musician needs to pursue their music dreams, or a music teacher needs to teach their students, in one affordable place,” said Gary Turner, CEO of LearnToPlayMusic.com. “It’s like Netflix for the world of musicians. Instead of paying $25 for one lesson book, anyone can subscribe for just $4.95 per month (free if you’re a teacher), and get unlimited access to the best lessons, eBooks, videos, podcasts, web TV shows, digital sheet music and digital tools for learning and playing music.”

Apollo-M Music Learning Platform Provides Everything a Music Teacher Needs to Teach Kids How to Play Music

Apollo-M works on any smart phone, tablet, or home computer and can be used online and offline. Users can play along with 3D game-like music instrument animations and get interactive feedback on how well they have played, and a digital toolkit offers band backing tracks, recording and mixing, tuner, and chord and scale finder functions.

“There really is no other app or website that comes close to matching Apollo-M’s features and value,” said Turner.

“The platform is also a great opportunity for music teachers,” added Turner. “We’re offering free subscriptions to professionals who use the platform as a teaching tool, or distribute their original music lesson content through Apollo-M’s ‘Pay-per-view Revenue Program.'”

“Apollo-M really is the next evolution in music learning,” Turner added. “Our crowdfunding campaign allows everyone to be directly involved in Apollo-M’s continuing development and we’re offering some cool, exclusive perks to supporters of the platform.”

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CrowdStreet Offers Equity Crowdfunding $2.7 Million Investment Opportunity for Accredited Commercial Real Estate Investors

Crowdfunding Real Estate Marketplace Offers Accredited Investors Opportunity to Capitalize on High-Growth Dallas Metro Area

By Robert Hoskins

Portland, OR – CrowdStreet announced it has listed an equity investment opportunity for Timber Oaks, an 11-building, Class A multifamily property in the Dallas metro area. The opportunity is sponsored by Windmill Investments, a privately held, Oregon-based real estate investment and operating company.

CrowdStreet Real Estate Equity Crowdfunding Platform in Indianapolis, Indiana

By listing on CrowdStreet, Windmill Investments is raising $2.7 million from accredited investors toward the $18.4 million purchase of a 180-unit, 190,920 square foot complex built in 2010 and located in Midlothian, Texas. With 98 percent occupancy and an acquisition price of $102,000 per unit, the targeted investor IRR is 17.7 percent with average annual cash-on-cash returns to investors of 7.1 percent.

“We are pleased to announce CrowdStreet’s first posting of a multifamily investment opportunity,” said Tore Steen, CrowdStreet’s CEO. “As a Class A property with a high occupancy rate located in a market with strong local job and population growth, Timber Oaks represents the kind of institutional-quality investment that CrowdStreet seeks.”

Investors in Timber Oaks will own an equity percentage interest of Timber Oaks Apartments, teaming up with Windmill Investments, an experienced multifamily owner and operator with more than 1,300 units under management in Oregon, Texas and South Carolina.

“The Timber Oaks project offers CrowdStreet investors a great opportunity to participate in a quality project in a strong market. The Midlothian area has seen a population explosion of more than 136 percent during the last decade and continues to grow,” said Dan Carter, founder of Windmill Investments. “I believe that crowdfunding is the future of commercial real estate investment because it eliminates the middleman and puts investors directly in touch with firms, like Windmill, that have a proven track record of acquiring and operating real estate.”

CrowdStreet provides a crowdfunding marketplace that connects accredited investors with institutional-quality commercial real estate investments. Accredited investors access an intuitively designed portal to find properties, manage offers, track investment performance and build a commercial real estate portfolio.

With its cloud-based fundraising and investor relationship management platform, CrowdStreet offers real estate operators, funds and private equity companies an online vehicle to raise capital and manage relationships with new and existing investors more efficiently and cost effectively.

Windmill Investments LLC is a private real estate investment firm. With over 100 years of collective experience, Windmill seeks out high cash flow multifamily apartments located in growth regions of the U.S. and applies operational expertise to consistently deliver double-digit returns.

EquityRound.com Signs Deal to Refer Qualified Accredited Investors to FundAmercia

FundAmerica to Serve as Investment Banking Firm and Administrative Support for EquityRound.com

By Robert Hoskins

San Diego, CA – Capital Services Group entered into a strategic alliance with FundAmerica Securities whereby EquityRound.com, Capital Services Group’s online marketplace for companies raising capital under Rule 506(c) will refer interested, qualified accredited investors to FundAmerica to provide sales and transaction related services relating to offerings posted on EquityRound.com.

EquityRound.com an online investor website for emerging growth companies to market their offerings under Rule 506(c)

Capital Services Group Founder and CEO, Thomas Carter, said that “We are pleased to have established this relationship with FundAmerica. Its management team has substantial experience in the financial services industry, as well as having held positions at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) which underscores our commitment to building a truly best-in-class Rule 506(c) marketing platform.”

“We are excited to partner with Capital Services Group,” said Jonathan Self, FundAmerica’s FinOp and COO, “As one of the leading platforms in the country they are doing exciting things as they assist businesses in getting the funding they need to succeed and create new jobs.”

FundAmerica Securities provides organizations with securities back-office and compliance services as they raise capital via the Rule 506(c) exemption of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933. The company’s related business, FundAmerica Technologies provides critical technology services to portals and issuers who are engaging in technology-driven fundraising by selling equity and debt securities to investors pursuant to 506(b), 506(c) (aka Title II of the Jobs Act) and, once rules are approved, 4(a)(6) (aka Title III of the JOBS Act) offerings.

Based in San Diego, California, Capital Services Group provides emerging growth companies with resources and support to more efficiently access growth capital and investor support, including investment packaging, direct public offering, shareholder communications. Capital Services Group owns and operates EquityRound.com an online investor website for emerging growth companies to market their offerings under Rule 506(c). 

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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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CrowdShed to Open New Equity Crowdfunding Site in London

According to the Nesta/Cambridge University UK Alternative Finance Industry report equity crowdfunding has grown by over 410% in 2014 in the United Kingdom

By Robert Hoskins

London, UK – CrowdShed will offer rewards, lending and donation-based crowdfunding opportunities, focused on creative, academic, charity and cause-based projects. Equity funding will be added in 2015, with an ethos of making business better.   CrowdShed is set to challenge the established crowdfunding model and redefine how people find their funding and fund something new. With the backing of GLI Finance Crowdshed.com is now well placed to launch in Q3, 2014.

Crowdshed to Open New Equity Crowdfunding Site in London

Crowdfunding is a nascent industry already dominated by a few key players, each with a niche business model concentrating around one specific area of crowdfunding. CrowdShed is different, creating a holistic environment that offers funders and fund-seekers the widest opportunity to create and locate the project that’s perfect for them.

This multifaceted approach offers unrivaled scope to introduce like-minded funders and fund-seekers – people who might not have connected except through CrowdShed. The equity crowdfunding site is also creating a real-world space to bring funders and fund-seekers together to work, grow ideas, find inspiration and hold events, informative SHEDtalks, and Q&A sessions.

CrowdShed received significant seed investment from GLI Finance Limited (GLIF), the London Stock Exchange listed specialist provider of finance to small and medium sized enterprises.

Geoff Miller, CEO of GLI Finance, said, “This exciting partnership continues the extension of our platforms and compliments and diversifies our exposure to the crowdfunding space, as CrowdShed will provide rewards, lending and donation-based crowdfunding opportunities as well as SME Finance.

CrowdShed is well positioned to become a leading player in Europe within this space and we are delighted they have chosen to partner with us. We look forward to building our partnership with them.”

Henry Freeman, CrowdShed CEO, stated, “It’s great that GLIF recognizes the inherent opportunity and growth potential of crowdfunding as a real alternative to traditional investment and fundraising channels. CrowdShed is democratizing the crowdfunding process for all and contributing not only to better business but also to the good of society as a whole. We don|t believe that concepts like fiscal success and social, corporate or environmental responsibility are mutually exclusive. The crowd is sustainable, carries momentum easily, is self-supporting and self-perpetuating, and has the power to affect change for the good. This is the heart of what we do at CrowdShed.”

Statistics for the crowdfunding market tell of rapid and continuing growth with an estimated global value of $5.1 billion for 2013, up 89% on 2012. Europe accounts for 35% of the market share with $945 million raised, up 65% on 2012. Growth in the US market was bigger still, up 105% to a total of $1.6 billion.

This driver of finance from wealthy and high net worth individuals is supported by recent research from the Nesta/Cambridge University Report into alternative finance which forecasts that the alternative finance market, comprising the entire crowdfunding industry in the UK, is expected to grow to £1.74bn by the end of 2014 with further projected growth to around £4.4bn in 2015.

According to the Nesta/Cambridge University UK Alternative Finance Industry report, released Monday 10 November, equity crowdfunding has grown by over 410% in 2014.

Dermot Finch of the Prince’s Trust admitted that crowdfunding is something the Trust is exploring, working with CrowdShed to help young people fund the business initiatives they’re developing. He pointed out that, “We’re helping lots of youngsters get back on their feet and trying to give them the confidence to follow their own business ideas and crowdfunding is the ideal source of capital for their ventures, combining a blend of equity and donor capital.”

The ideas that Kenyon developed whilst running his crowdfunding campaign – creative marketing, strong social media messaging, building up momentum quickly – clearly worked and in fact the Nesta report confirms that these are the types of qualities needed to deliver a successful crowdfunding campaign.

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