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Plum is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Facebook chatbot that helps consumers manage their personal finances
Plum is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Facebook chatbot that helps consumers manage their personal finances. The disruptive startup says Fintech’s increasing penetration hasn’t yet reached the mass market, but Plum is set to change that. The crowdfunding campaign Seedrs plans to fund aggressive growth and expansion plans in the near future.
Plum has undertaken the ambitious task of helping millennials save money in a way they barely notice. The innovative chatbot connects securely to users bank accounts via Facebook messenger and AI technology learns their spending habits and automatically saves small amounts of money every few days. The savings are put into an account with an FCA-regulated e-money provider, Mango Pay, and individuals manage their money via Facebook’s Messenger platform.
The crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs follows just eight months after the disruptive AI business raised its $500,000 seed round led by Silicon Valley accelerator program 500 Startups.
The company launched in January 2017 with a waitlist of 5,000 users since which user numbers have been growing at a rate of 25% month on month. In the seven months since launch, Plum has seen its monthly savings grow by 50% each month. The personal savings chatbot is now on track to exceed £20 million in savings for millennials by the end of year one.
“There’s been lots of talk about the personal savings glut in the UK, confirmed by troubling stats. Deloitte estimated the savings gap will reach £350 billion by 2050. It’s a huge problem. Our team helps Plum users to micro save on average £150 a month in a way they barely notice,” said Victor Trokoudes, one of Plum’s Co-Founders. “We saw how TransferWise reduced the friction for sending money globally and provided consumers with a cheaper, superior product.”
Plum’s founders recognized that consumers have long been overpaying on a raft of financial services and products, facilitating abnormal profits for banks and financial services. They are committed to bringing a holistic financial assistant to the mass market by help users to save and earn interest on their savings. Plum will by tell you if you are being ripped off by your utility provider, if you’re overpaying on a loan or bank overdraft and will simply ask you if you would like to switch to save money. All a customer has to do is reply ‘yes.’
This is facilitated through partnerships with energy provider Octopus which gives Plum users the chance to switch to a green energy provider and lower their utility bills by around £250 a year, and Habito which helps Plum customers to find their first mortgage or remortgage opening up the possibility for savings in the thousands a year. Users are also able to earn a return of 3% via Plum’s partnership with P2P lender RateSetter.
While it is Plum’s AI algorithm that powers users automatic savings, the user can also determine how much they save by adjusting Plum’s saving mood from normal to ambitious, a feature that 30% of Plum users have activated, indicating the ambition of consumers to save more.
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Bengaluru, India – OurCrowd, one of the landing equity crowdfunding in Israel, announced that it has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with LetsVenture, one of India’s largest angel investment syndicates for seed stage and venture capital for startups and growing businesses. As part of this partnership, OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform, giving selected Indian startups access to accredited investors globally and to business development opportunities.
OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform
OurCrowd and LetsVenture will be also be collaborating on an ‘India Fund’ to invest in Israeli, Indian and global startups. The investment into this fund would primarily be from family funds and high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in India and OurCrowd’s global network of accredited investors.
Leveraging LetsVenture’s domestic network, OurCrowd will offer Indian corporates access to the Israeli innovation ecosystem.
“Having made startup funding easy, our vision is to make angel investing easy with a focus on portfolio management (startup reporting, portfolio diversification and exits). The partnership with OurCrowd aligns with our vision of offering our investors access to some of the best startups across geographies including Israel, along with giving LetsVenture portfolio companies access to global investors for their next round of funding. In this partnership with one of the largest equity crowdfunding platforms globally, we do believe this is a win-win for both of us,” said Shanti Mohan, Co-Founder & CEO, LetsVenture.
In addition to this, LetsVenture will facilitate ‘Take to Market’ activities for OurCrowd’s portfolio companies to access the Indian market, the activities of which are under development by LetsVenture and are targeted to commence in 2018.
Commenting on the announcement, Jon Medved, OurCrowd CEO, said, “India is a critical growth market for our business with a huge number of very exciting startup investment opportunities in a range of sectors. Israel and India have a great joint heritage sharing many of the same entrepreneurial qualities that are the backbone of our economies. I am excited to be entering into this collaboration with LetsVenture, which I believe will deliver great value to our investors.”
Elias Ghosalkar, Director of Corporate Development at OurCrowd, added, “OurCrowd, with its strong global presence and established industry leadership is well poised to support the Indian startup eco-system and its stakeholders via its strategic collaboration with LetsVenture. This strategic collaboration helps build much needed bridges between the Israeli and Indian startup ecosystems, and opens the doors to tapping into high growth potential synergies. Indian investors, startups and corporates gain access to global expertise, know-how and innovation via the OurCrowd network, which will truly help put the ‘Startup India initiative’ on a fast track and further strengthen the economic linkages between Israel and India.”
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The FinSpring accelerator is a six-month program for start-ups that share a mission of educating investors / advisors in order to help them make better investment and retirement planning decisions
Boston, Massachusetts – FinMason, a Boston-based FinTech and investment analytics firm, is helping industry start-ups overcome one of the biggest challenges faced during the development stage – accessing high quality investment analytics. The firm announced the launch of FinSpring, an initiative that will provide free access to FinRiver, a set of flexible and lightning-fast investment analytics APIs.
Finmason – Institutional Grade Analytics that Investors Actually Understand
“FinTech start-ups face tremendous competition in the marketplace and pressure from their investors to quickly achieve their business goals,” said Kendrick Wakeman, CFA, CEO and founder of FinMason. “We feel that many start-ups and potential start-ups are held back because of the time and expense of building robust analytics platforms. FinSpring lets smart entrepreneurs put analytics anywhere in their product with just a simple API call, leaving them free to focus on prototyping, getting to market and solving consumer problems.”
The FinSpring accelerator is a six-month program available to start-ups that meet four criteria: share a mission of educating investors or advisors to make more informed investment and retirement planning decisions; operational less than two years; under $500,000 in revenue; and, have raised no more than $1 million in funding.
Wealth technology start-ups accepted into the FinSpring program will have access to more than 700 analytical data types, including risk and performance metrics, aggregate factor exposures, scenario analysis and stress testing.
“Part of the strength of the APIs is their simple structure,” said Bob Leaper who runs the FinSpring program at FinMason. “You send us a simple API call containing a list of securities, a list of their weights in the portfolio, and a string of request codes telling us what analytics you want. We then perform the calculations, package the results into a JSON object, and send it back to you. Usually, we do this in under 21 milliseconds. That instantly puts a start-up on even ground with the biggest firms in the world.”
FinMason is a Boston-based financial technology and investment analytics firm dedicated to providing tools that help financial advisors and their clients move forward with confidence. FinMason’s cutting-edge platform analyzes millions of global investments and delivers institutional-grade analytics at scale via three core products:
FinRiver provides financial technology platforms with robust analytics and proprietary data sets via lightning-fast APIs;
FinScore Pro provides financial advisors with a quick, intuitive and uncomplicated risk assessment tool that systematically develops a mutually understandable, bright-line agreement on risk from each client and prospect; and
FinScope provides compliance teams with a way to screen through each client portfolio every night with robust analytics to detect problems before they become problems.
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London, UK – Since the dawn of crowdfunding there has been a struggle for inventors and dreamers to come up with the right crowdfunding success formula to hit their funding goal and turn their vision into a delivered product. Risking their money on developing a prototype, shooting the project video, marketing and public relations and all of the other expenses and effort necessary to launch a crowdfunding campaign — if they even get that far – comes with no assurances of success.
MindBlower.com Disrupts the Crowdfunding World with New Zero-Risk Crowdfunding Platform
Crowdfunding backers have their own risks to worry about. Projects like the Coolest Cooler, the Laser Razor, the Zano drone, Dragonfly Futurefon and so many other campaigns that promised incredible things failed to deliver on time — if at all — leaving backers high and dry. Years on, thousands of people have yet to receive the product they paid for or their money back.
There’s no question that crowdfunding has been a risky business for all concerned… until now.
That’s because MindBlower.com takes all of the risk out of crowdfunding for the backer and the would-be business person by assuming all of the responsibility in handling all of the details of production and fulfillment.
Ideas submitted to MindBlower by inventors undergo a double screening process and the best ideas are selected based on feasibility to produce, market viability and other key factors.
Ideas accepted by MindBlower are turned into crowdfunding campaigns on the MindBlower platform. Once the product reaches its crowdfunding goal, the MindBlower team is in charge of production and fulfillment, the single biggest point of failure for crowdfunding campaigns after they reach their goal.
The inventor receives a royalty on every product sold and the backer enjoys the peace of mind of a money back guarantee if they don’t receive the perk they purchased.
At the end of the day, inventors and backers have ZERO financial risk and inventors don’t have to exhaust their own resources in developing their ideas.
As they are fond of saying “It’s how crowdfunding was meant to be: A seamless, transparent and extremely efficient process that enables dreamers to bring great ideas to life with the help of the community.”
Two campaigns are underway and are wildly successful in exceeding their crowdfunding goals with new campaigns lined up to launch within the next 30-45 days.
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With the powered brace, a paralyzed individual can perform activities of daily living including feeding themselves, carrying objects and doing household tasks, and many are able to return to work
Cambridge, Massachusetts – Myomo, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MYO) announced the launch of its next-generation MyoPro® myoelectric arm orthosis (powered brace), the only lightweight wearable device that can restore function in the paralyzed or weakened arms and hands of individuals who have suffered a stroke, spinal cord or nerve injury, or other neuromuscular disability. With the orthosis, a paralyzed individual can perform activities of daily living including feeding themselves, carrying objects and doing household tasks, and many are able to return to work.
Even if you haven’t moved your hand and arm in years due to a neuromuscular injury or disease, it is possible that the MyoPro myoelectric orthosis may be able to help you use your arm and hand again
The product is currently being shipped to customers nationwide after a successful Title IV, Reg + crowdfunding campaign campaign conducted on Banq’s fundraising platform.
Myomo is the first company to complete a mini-IPO under Reg A+. In accordance with a portion Reg A+ rules, Myomo stated its intent to list its shares on the NYSE MKT exchange soon after the Reg A+ offering closed and will be trading under the symbol “MYO.”
On opening day, NYSE MYO raised approximately $5 million by selling 665,498 shares of its common stock to the public at $7.50 per share. Share price crested on June 19th at $19.31 and is actively trading.
MyoPro 2 extends the capabilities of the previous device with significant enhancements, including interchangeable, extended-life rechargeable batteries for continuous daily use. Additional enhancements include an upgraded user interface, improved sensors and improved harness and finger grasp orthosis for more reliable and comfortable long-term wear.
MyoPro 2 is available in three models to match patient-specific needs:
Motion E: powered elbow with static rigid wrist support;
Motion W: powered elbow and a multi-articulating wrist with flexion/extension and supination/pronation; and
Motion G: powered elbow, a multi-articulating wrist and a powered 3-jaw-chuck grasp.
“MyoPro 2 is the result of collaboration between our users, clinical partners and engineering team to help patients restore their activities of daily living,” said Paul R. Gudonis, Chairman and CEO of Myomo. “Early in our rollout, feedback from patients, physicians and the orthotics and prosthetics community has been very positive. We look forward to addressing the large unmet need in upper limb paralysis as we continue to bring MyoPro 2 to a larger market.”
Myomo, Inc. is a commercial stage medical robotics Company that offers expanded mobility for those suffering from neurological disorders and upper limb paralysis. Based on patented technology developed at MIT and the Company, Myomo develops and markets the MyoPro® product line of lightweight, non-invasive, powered arm braces to restore function in the paralyzed or weakened arms and hands of individuals that have suffered a stroke, spinal cord or nerve injury such as brachial plexus injury, or other neuromuscular disability such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or multiple sclerosis (MS).
It is provided through clinical relationships with VA medical centers, leading rehabilitation hospitals, and Orthotics and Prosthetics (“O&P”) practices. Several hundred have been successfully used by patients. It is the only device that, sensing a patient’s own neurological signals through non-invasive sensors on the arm, can restore their ability to use their arms and hands so that they can return to work, live independently and reduce their cost of care.
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OurCrowd’s Incubator and Accelerator will focus on emerging startups using ‘frontier technologies’ including: big data, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), fin-tech, storage, internet of things (IoT) and computer vision
Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd Incubator announced new partnerships with Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries and Yissum, to operate an innovation technology incubator to support growth of early stage startups in Jerusalem. With a long track record of startup investment in Jerusalem, and as a key player in the Israeli tech ecosystem, OurCrowd is a natural fit to lead the incubator team. The incubator will focus on frontier technologies such as big data, analytics, AI, fintech, storage, IoT and computer vision.
OurCrowd, Motorola Solutions and Reliance Industries Launch Israeli Incubator, Accelerator to Give Jerusalem Startups a Competitive Edge
The incubator will be based in OurCrowd’s Jerusalem headquarters, located in the JVP Media Quarter campus, founded by MK Erel Margalit. OurCrowd will lead the incubator consortium together with partners Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI), Reliance Industries (NSE: Reliance) and Yissum Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In less than five years, OurCrowd has invested over $440M into 120 companies and eight funds. After vetting more than 6,000 companies and celebrating 13 exits, OurCrowd continues to lead the global equity crowdfunding sector for accredited investors, and make it one of the most active Venture Capitalists in the vibrant Israeli startup scene.
Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO said, “We are proud to be strengthening the Jerusalem tech-ecosystem together with strong partners such as Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries and Yissum. This represents a unique team with a global reach, incredible scale, and with deep technological, commercial and academic roots. We expect to invest in close to 50 companies over the next 10 years and further grow the formidable cadre of Jerusalem startups.”
The incubator will be part of the world famous Israeli incubator program administered by Israel’s National Innovation Authority (formerly the office of the Chief Scientist).
Eduardo Conrado, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation Office, for Motorola Solutions said, “In today’s technology environment, strong partnerships and strategic investments help accelerate innovation. The Jerusalem incubator is one element of our Israel innovation hub, which is focused on developing advanced solutions in artificial intelligence, cyber security and other fields. We are proud to be part of this important project and look forward to working with OurCrowd, Reliance and Yissum on the future of public safety technology.”
“Reliance Industries is excited to further its long-term commitment to Israel by partnering with Israel Innovation Authority jointly with OurCrowd, Motorola and Hebrew University for the Jerusalem Incubator,” said the spokesperson from Reliance Industries Limited. “We are confident of Israeli start-ups offering unique value proposition by delivering next-gen digital services. We believe the incredible technological innovation from Israel will gain immensely by addressing the huge Indian market riding on the nationwide 4G LTE digital infrastructure setup in India by Jio. This will be a significant win-win for both India and Israel.”
OurCrowd is the leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors. Managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital, and brings companies to its accredited membership of global investors. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and takes board seats. The OurCrowd community of almost 20,000 investors from over 112 countries has invested over $440M into 120 portfolio companies and funds. OurCrowd already has thirteen exits to date, two IPO’s and eleven acquisitions.
Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) creates innovative, mission-critical communication solutions and services that help public safety and commercial customers build safer cities and thriving communities. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of $ 50.9 billion and net profit of $ 4.6 billion for the year ended March 31, 2017. RIL’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and 4G digital services.
Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd. was founded in 1964 to protect and commercialize Hebrew University’s intellectual property. Products based on Hebrew University technologies that have been commercialized by Yissum currently generate $2 Billion in annual sales. Ranked among the top technology transfer companies in the world, Yissum has registered over 9,325 patents covering 2,600 inventions; has licensed out 880 technologies and has spun out 110 companies including Mobileye, BriefCam, CollPlant and Qlight Nanotech. Yissum’s business partners span the globe and include companies such as Syngenta, Monsanto, Roche, Novartis, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Intel, Teva and many more.
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Washington, DC – The SEC just released a white paper entitled, U.S. securities-based crowdfunding under Title III of the JOBS Act, which analyzes crowdfunded offerings during the first six months following May 16, 2016 when Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding become official. The SEC’s white paper, which was prepared for Scott Bauguess, the Acting Chief Economist and Acting Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA), noted that the majority equity crowdfunding offerings to date have not utilized Regulation D as much as predicted.
Top 20 Title III Equity Crowdfunding Sites in U.S.
The white paper does go into great detail about five largest Title III crowdfunding portals based on the number of offerings, which accounted for 71% of the offerings launched during 2016. The five largest Title III crowdfunding sites also accounted for 64% of the total amount of funds raised. And while more 20 crowdfunding sites were listed, most of the offering activity was limited to 25% of active platforms in the Title III crowdfunding marketplace. And, if you ran the numbers for completed offerings, you would see that the top five largest intermediaries accounted for more than 90% of the market share.
The table below low shows the list of the Top Performing Title III Crowdfunding Portals sorted on the number of initiated offerings and then by the target amounts of the initiated offerings, excluding offerings withdrawn as of December 31, 2016.
Top 20 Title III Equity Crowdfunding Sites Ranked by Number of Offerings
Most Successful Types of Title III Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns
Many people want to know what the types of Title III crowdfunding campaigns were the most successful. Preferred Equity led the pack at 36%, followed bySimple Agreements for Future Equity at 26%, Debt at 20%, Units at 7%, Convertible Notes at 6% and Miscellaneous accounted for the remaining 5%, which included Revenue Sharing and Membership / LLC Interests.
Distribution of Title III Equity Crowdfunding Offerings
Top States for Launching Title III Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns
Another interesting way to look at growing crowdfunding industry is to examine what states launched the most successful Title III Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns. In the table below you can see that California/Silicon Valley launched the most Title III crowdfunding campaigns, followed closely by Texas/Silicon Hills at 19%, New York at 14%, Massachusetts and Illinois tying at 9%, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, and Pennsylvania bringing up the back to the pack, all with 5%.
States with the Most Title III Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns
How Many Reg. D and Title IV, Reg. A+ Crowdfunding Offerings Result?
Because many industry experts have stated their concerns that the SEC’s decision to severely restrict the general solicitation guidelines with regards to advertising their crowdfunding deals to the masses of non-accredited investors, the white paper also took a close look at how many Title III Regulation Crowdfunding Campaigns had previously or subsequently conducted an offering under Regulation D or Regulation A.
As shown in the table below, as of January 15, 2017, approximately 15% of offerings initiated during 2016 (excluding withdrawn offerings) were by issuers that have also reported offerings under Regulation D either before or after the initial crowdfunding filing. And, approximately 3% of issuers have issued Regulation A+ filings as of January 15, 2017.
Among crowdfunding issuers, approximately 12.9% of offerings were by issuers that had filed the first Form D notice prior to the first crowdfunding filing and approximately 2.5% of offerings involved issuers that had filed a Form D notice after the first crowdfunding filing. For about 8.6% of offerings, excluding withdrawn crowdfunding offerings, a Form D filing was made within one calendar year before or after the initial crowdfunding filing. Consistent with their young age, the SEC determined that the majority of the crowdfunding issuers were more likely to be new startups rather than “fallen angels.”
Overall, these results suggest that crowdfunding is attracting issuers that have not extensively used other private offering exemptions, such as Regulation D, which is otherwise a very popular private offering exemption among similarly sized issuers as those initially availing themselves of the Crowdfunding market. The initial evidence is points to the fact that Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding is indeed providing a new source of capital for entrepreneurial and small businesses that may not otherwise have had access to capital through alternative capital raising channels.
Form D and Title IV, Reg A+ Equity Crowdfunding Offerings
The white paper also made a point of covering the following facts and figures.:
There were 163 separate offerings by 156 issuers, seeking a total of approximately $18 million, excluding withdrawn offerings. The median offering amount was $53,000 and the average offering amount was approximately $110,000. However, almost all of the offerings accepted over-subscriptions up to a higher amount (typically close to $1 million) for a total amount of approximately $101 million.
As of January 15, 2017, approximately $10 million in proceeds was raised in 33 offerings by issuers filing a Form C-U. The median amount raised in these offerings was $171,000 and the average amount raised was approximately $303,000.
For offerings initiated in 2016, were withdrawn by issuers or associated with an intermediary whose FINRA membership was terminated and funding portal registration withdrawn. These offerings sought a total of approximately $2.3 million (approximately $19.5 million if over-subscriptions are included).
Most of the offerings solicited in all states.
The most popular type of security was equity, followed by “simple agreements for future equity” and debt.
The most popular state of incorporation for issuers was Delaware and the most popular principal place of business for issuers was California.
The median issuer had under $50,000 in assets, under $5,000 in cash, $10,000 in debt, no revenues, and three employees. Approximately 40% of the issuers reported positive revenue and approximately 9% of the issuers reported a net profit in the most recent fiscal year. Among the issuers that reported non-zero assets in the prior fiscal year, the median growth rate was approximately 15%.
21 intermediaries, including 13 funding portals and 8 broker-dealers, were involved in the offerings. As of December 31, 2016, funding portals have registered with the SEC and FINRA and one funding portal had its FINRA membership terminated and withdrew its SEC registration. The median intermediary percentage fee was 5%, and intermediaries took a financial interest in the issuer in approximately 16% of the offerings.
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Buckeye commercial real estate investment opportunities are showing a significant level of activity, with $12.25 million raised for 30 deals in Ohio, concentrating around the Cincinnati and Cleveland metropolitan areas
Chicago, Illinois – RealtyShares is transforming the real estate investment landscape by connecting borrowers and sponsors to debt and equity capital from accredited and institutional investors, across an array of financing products. For example, the equity crowdfunding site for commercial real estate deals has released new data showing the extent of crowdfunded investments in several Midwest real estate markets.
Commercial real estate developers, sponsors and borrowers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois have raised $32.9 million to date from RealtyShares’ network of investors
To date, commercial real estate developers, sponsors and borrowers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois have raised $32.9 million to date from RealtyShares’ network of investors, offering a source of financing for real estate projects by leveraging technology to connect potential investors with expertly vetted real estate deals.
“RealtyShares fits into a world in which it is more difficult than in previous decades to secure a loan for development from a bank, and where technology is creating possibilities for people across the country to assess information and connect with one another,” said Gerald Fogelson, Advisor to RealtyShares, CEO of Fogelson Group and an inductee of the Chicago Real Estate Hall of Fame. He recently joined the team bringing decades of real estate knowledge and experience to the emerging tech company.
Thus far 114 deals have been funded in the region through RealtyShares, with an average deal price of $288,000. Deals of up to $1.5 million have been financed in both Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago, Ill. Anchoring RealtyShares’ position in the region, $14 million has been raised for 53 deals in Illinois, with several investors targeting properties in and around Chicago. Buckeyes are also showing a significant level of activity, with $12.25 million raised for 30 deals in Ohio, concentrating around the Cincinnati and Cleveland areas.
“What we’re seeing now is that investors throughout the United States are interested in investing in markets like the Midwest, where small businesses and entrepreneurs are looking beyond their friends and family networks to raise money,” said Fogelson. “RealtyShares makes all that possible.”
Platinum Real Estate Holdings has been one of the leading deal sponsors in the Midwest, with twelve Michigan properties funded through RealtyShares platform totaling $378,000.
“Our business is built on acquiring and flipping low-cost homes in the metropolitan Detroit area on a short time frame,” said Anthony Rea, owner of Platinum. “RealtyShares has enabled us to raise financing quicker and more efficiently than traditional bank loans, which is a major asset in a market with low inventory and high demand from buyers.”
Hamilton Real Estate Capital is also among the Midwest developers that have funded multiple real estate projects through the RealtyShares marketplace. “Working with RealtyShares has given us access to a new group of investors in a straightforward and quick process,” Eli Glanz, Principal at Hamilton confirmed.
The Midwest continues to be a target market, especially in states where the company’s rates are competitive against traditional financing options.
“The Midwest is a very hot market,” said Kelly McDonald, the Vice President of Residential Debt at RealtyShares. “There is substantial inventory and a concentration of older neighborhoods that could use updates. We’re seeing homes that have been owned for 30 years that have a lot of potential.”
To date, the RealtyShares network of investors has funded upwards of $300 million across more than 550 investment opportunities on the platform, funding residential and commercial projects in 35 states.
Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Through the RealtyShares website, these investors can browse investment opportunities, perform due diligence, invest online and have 24/7 access to an investor dashboard to watch how their investments are performing.
For more information on how to become a real estate investor or to seek capital through the RealtyShares marketplace, please visit www.realtyshares.com.
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OurCrowd Global Investor Summit Reveals Top 10 Trending Equity Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities in Jerusalem for Global Angel, Seed-Stage and Venture Capital Investment Firms
Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd made history in the crowdfunding industry and hosted the biggest equity crowdfunding investment summit ever held in Israel called the “Startup Nation.” With more than 6,000 guests from 82 countries attending, including startups, venture capitalists and strategic investors, the event was packed with entertainment, excitement and information to capture a real vision for the future in Israel. Also in attendance were over 200 multinational corporations including Honda, Innogy, GE, Shell, Intuit, Microsoft, and Samsung Ventures.
Over the past 12 months of working with leading ag-tech, auto-tech, bio-tech, drone-tech, fin-tech, high-tech, security-tech, space-tech and virtual-tech startups, OurCrowd has identified its top 10 investment opportunity categories of global startups and entrepreneurs equity crowdfunding that investors should be researching and considering for equity investments during 2017:
1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Go Mainstream 2. Seeing Is Believing: VR and AR Become a Critical Business Tool 3. Obey the Sound of My Voice: Voice-Driven Apps Filter Out the Noise 4. Apples and Oranges: AgTech Disrupts the World’s Oldest Industry 5. Industrial and Agricultural Drones Take Off 6. Is That a Doctor in Your Pocket? Digital Revolutionizes Healthcare 7. Here, There, Everywhere: Blockchain Applications Finally Take Hold 8. Boldly Going Where No Company Has Gone Before: SpaceTech 9. Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Becomes Critical 10. Autonomous Driving Picks Up Speed
1. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Go Mainstream
Driven by exponentially faster computing power and cloud computing, “teaching machines” is becoming easier and more scalable, enabling AI to go mainstream across a wide range of industries: including consumer marketing and retail, entertainment, digital health, and newer areas like autonomous driving and advanced robotics.
We are most excited by companies building applications which solve real world problems, applying AI in areas that can truly have an impact on the quality of our lives.
2. VR and AR Become Critical Business Tools
Did you know that in operating rooms across the US, brain surgeons are already using Virtual Reality (VR) to rehearse and simulate surgery in order to be more effective? VR and Augmented Reality (AR) is not just about show business, entertainment, and 3D gaming, but also about saving lives, industrial solutions, and infrastructure.
In our view, VR and AR are about to go mainstream and will be used across a wide range of sectors from sports analytics to building airplane wings. These are definitely interesting technologies to keep an eye on!
3. Voice-Driven Apps Filter Out Background Noise
Have you ever tried using Siri in a car going over 50 KPH? Or talking to Alexa with the kids making noise in the background? Good Luck! As we all know it does not work.
However, we believe the era of voice driven computing is coming. In the last 10 years, we have moved from primarily using keyboards to swiping and using touch-screens. OurCrowd believes that in the next five years we will move to talking to our devices as the primary mode of man – machine communication.
Core voice recognition software has become almost perfect at understanding the human voice and getting our words correct. The missing ingredient is its ability to enable our machines to get a clear signal and cancel background noise so that Siri really can HEAR what we are saying.
We are excited about companies finding innovative ways of making this happen.
4. Ag-Tech Disrupts the World’s Oldest Industry – Farming
As we all know, the world oldest industry has not been known for its technological flexibility. However, these days we witness the blooming of Agriculture-related technologies for different reasons.
Traditionally farming is a family owned business and we now see how second generation of farmers are much more techie and open to adopt advanced farming technologies. In addition, the last two years have seen mass consolidation between leading players in AgTech creating deep pockets and a big appetite for acquisitions.
5. Industrial and Agricultural Drones Take Off
Over the past couple of years, we have heard a lot (maybe too much) buzz about Amazon using drones to deliver packages to your doorstep or bring you fast food on demand.
While this is fun, we think the most interesting and profitable uses of drone technologies lie within industrial and agricultural markets.
Drones are already playing critical roles in facility security, mining, oil and gas exploration, crop protection and surveying landmass. Building industrial scale drones, which are robust and reliable is difficult and challenging, but companies that can meet that challenge are where we want to focus.
6. Digital Healthcare Puts a Doctor in Your Pocket
As much as we try not to overuse this term, artificial intelligence is actually a powerful factor in the rapidly growing digital health sector. Letting us crunch old data sets from electronic medical records all the way to data collected from wearables will increase our quality of life and perhaps even prevent deaths.
Similarly, computer vision and machine learning are enabling companies to extract new insights and diagnostics from images.
7. Blockchain Applications Finally Take Hold
Timing is everything! In the buzzword competition of 2016, blockchain was the hands down winner. Since then there have been fits and starts for this important financial technology. Many VCs have been disappointed with their investments in this sector; however, we think now is the time to take a fresh look, as this technology matures and evolves beyond Bitcoin across multiple applications such as: sharing economy, data security, logistics, and of course, banking and finance.
8. SpaceTech Goes Where No One has Gone Before
We are thrilled to see that a sector dominated by governments and states is now opening up to private ventures.NSLCommis inspiring entrepreneurs to aim high. We now see prestigious VC funds building space portfolios and enabling these ventures to take off.
In term of funding needs, what used to be super-expensive is becoming much more affordable, with standardization of hardware protocols as well as general cost reductions of consumer electronics. Satellites can now be built and launched for less than half a million dollars, creating exciting opportunities to commercialize the technology.
9. Cyber Security for Infrastructure Becomes Critical
Are you worried about your car getting hacked? How about cyber criminals sneaking in through your air conditioner or refrigerator? Well we are too! Cybersecurity is not new; and in fact, the investing landscape is quite crowded, and the playing field is highly competitive.
But we believe the key shift for investing in the next few years will be a move from protecting IT infrastructure to protecting all infrastructure. We are excited about companies that are designing full-proof solutions to protect everything from automobiles to electric grids and everything in between.
10. Autonomous Driving Picks Up Speed
Did you really think we were going to finish this top-10 list without mentioning the most overhyped tech trend? We all know that autonomous driving is coming, but the question is when? Should we still pay for our kids to get drivers licenses?
Thanks to core technology expertise and industry-leading companies such as Waze and Mobileye, Israel has become a global hub of automotive innovation. Now that we have a direct flight to Boston and Silicon Valley; our #1 prediction is that the next one will be direct to Detroit.
OurCrowd is one of the world’s leading global equity crowdfunding platforms for accredited investors. Managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital, and brings companies to its accredited membership of global investors. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and takes board seats. The OurCrowd community of almost 17,000 investors from over 110 countries has invested over $400M into 110 portfolio companies and funds. OurCrowd already has thirteen exits to date, two IPO’s and eleven acquisitions.
Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.
San Francisco, California – RealtyShares has seen an uptick in repeat offerings from major deal sponsors. Several developers have returned to RealtyShares to crowdfund additional real estate projects after their first successful fundraising attempt, citing ease of use on the platform, consistency and affordability as factors in the decision to return.
RealtyShares Partners with Blue Mountain Property Management in $3 Million Equity Crowdfunding Real Estate Investment Deal in Utah
Chris Wooten of Own Home, LLC funded his second residential acquisition in Nashville, Tenn., raising $398,000 from investors on the RealtyShares platform in October. Own Home purchases distressed properties and below-market apartment complexes, improving them to potentially meet or exceed market rates.
“RealtyShares provides an easy to use platform for obtaining funds to flip properties at rates lower than many other lenders,” said Wooten. “Closing in ten days gives me the leveraging tool of speed to close, making my offer more competitive than others.”
Austin, Texas-based GJS Capital Ventures funded its second deal with RealtyShares as well, raising $111,000 for a single-family home. GJS is specialized in turning non-performing residential properties into performing, low management assets in the Texas real estate market.
“I used RealtyShares again after my first flip because of how easily they closed the first file,” said Greg Saunders of GJS. “Once they had my paperwork it was as simple as finding another property. One big advantage of RealtyShares is their consistency as your lender once you have pre-qualification in place, while private and hard money lenders can get cold feet and back out.”
Also tapping into the Nashville real estate market, Devan McClish of Olympus Developments, LLC, closed his second residential fix and flip just one month after his first deal, for a combined total of $310,000 raised.
“RealtyShares was easy to deal with, especially after they had all of my information from the first time around,” said McClish. “It’s a quick and easy way to fund renovation deals, and the interest and points are much lower than any hard money lenders in my local market.”
“RealtyShares prides ourselves on being a lifetime lender for our clients,” said Kelly McDonald, Vice President of Residential Debt at RealtyShares. Our goal is to build a relationship with our clients that can help them scale their business and achieve all their financial goals. Their success is our success.”
To date, the RealtyShares network of investors has funded upwards of $200 million across more than 400 investment opportunities on the platform, funding residential and commercial projects in 31 states.
Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.
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