RCS Capital Announces Initiative to Establish Leading Crowdfunding Investment Platform

Acquires Assets of Trupoly, White-Label Investor Relationship Management Portal and Adds Key Executives to Crowdfunding Initiative

By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – RCS Capital Corporation (NYSE: RCAP), announced that it is establishing a crowdfunding investment platform which it will brand under the name, “We R Crowdfunding.”

In connection with this initiative, RCAP acquired substantially all of the assets of New York based Trupoly, Inc., a white-label investor relationship management portal, which will be integrated into RCAP’s new crowdfunding investment platform.  RCAP also announced the hiring of Trupoly Founder and President, Ryan Smith, as well as other key Trupoly executives.

RCAP expects “We R Crowdfunding” to launch in September 2014 as part of RCAP’s integrated financial services platform under the direction of Michael Weil, RCAP’s President. “We R Crowdfunding” will deliver high-quality investment offerings by utilizing RCAP’s existing broker-dealer infrastructure, which includes investment banking, due diligence, compliance and research, as well as technology developed by Trupoly. “We expect ‘We R Crowdfunding’ to provide investors direct access to public and private offerings, including Regulation A and Regulation D offerings, mutual funds and closed-end fund offerings, in a variety of industries and sectors,” said Mr. Weil.

Mr. Weil continued, “‘We R Crowdfunding’ looks to the future of securities sales by adding an important element to our full-service retail financial services firm. The crowdfunding investment platform will permit investors, whether working with financial advisors or exploring investment opportunities on their own, to access, investigate and participate in a wide range of offerings from a vast pool of asset classes. We are making a small capital investment at this time to gain access to a significant potential market that we expect to develop over the next several quarters.”

“We are pleased to be joining the RCAP team and look forward to creating the market leader in direct-to-consumer investment offerings,” said Ryan Smith, Trupoly’s Founder and President.  Also joining RCAP are Charles Crnoevich, Trupoly’s Head of Sales, and Melanie Eitel, Trupoly’s Client Relationship Manager.

Crowdfund investing was established by Title II of the federal JOBS Act in 2012, which directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to relax rules prohibiting the general solicitation of investments.  Crowdfund investing relies on general solicitation, often via the Internet, to inform and attract capital to specific investment opportunities.  A 2013 study by the World Bank predicts that crowdfund investing could grow to become a $300 billion annual market in the U.S. over the next ten years.

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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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Crowdfunding Gathers Business Mentors, Financial Advisors and Investors in India

By Deepti Chaudhary

LiveMint – Crowdfunding, a practice that takes advantage of the collective effort of individuals who pool money mostly through the Internet to support start-ups, appears to be gathering momentum in India with at least four such initiatives being introduced in the past one year.

Crowdfunding platforms gather momentum in India

Referred to as crowdfunding platforms in investment circles, they have created a new asset class with shared risks that promises start-ups not just funding but also mentoring and advisory services.

Take the case of India’s first crowdfunding portal, Pik A Venture, launched by an MBA student at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Ruchi Dana, in July. Besides funding, the portal also provides advice on legal and company registration issues and offers consulting and guidance on campaigns.

Pik A Venture targets creative minds, budding artists, technical brains, student entrepreneurs and innovators, according to Dana. “We are currently mentoring 12 business ideas and are putting their campaigns online. We don’t want start-ups to just come on our website and fail,” she said.

Pik A Venture will not take any equity stake but charge a percentage of the funding. It will do a soft launch of the platform in the middle of May.

In India, these platforms seem to prefer the creative arts such as films and social causes for raising capital from the general public.

For instance, filmmaker Abhay Kumar raised around Rs.5 lakh over the last 20 days for his documentary Placebo; Onir’s I Am raised around Rs.1 crore over six-nine months, while Kannada film Lucia by filmmaker Pawan Kumar raised more than Rs.50 lakh over 30 days.

Starting Blocks Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd is launching its crowdfunding platform, Catapooolt, to focus on creative projects such as films, music, performing arts and books in mid-April.

“In case of crowdfunding for films and music, the copyright of the project lies with the producer or the one who posts the project on the site,” said Satish Kataria, managing director, Catapooolt, adding the site is the first ever official crowd-funding platform for the Hong Kong Film Festival 2013.

Experts say while crowdfunding takes time, as much as 8-10 months for a deal, it increases the pool of available capital.

Start-ups can use crowdfunding to make a pitch that can be accessed by investors subscribing to the service. The investors range from professional ones to business people. The minimum investment could be as low as Rs.1,000 with no upper limit.

The pitch includes details such as the background of the entrepreneurs, the business offering and plans, financials and funding requirements.

Once a pool of investors shows interest in backing the start-up, the funds raised are directed to the company through the platform. The platform could have a member of its team on the board of the venture. Investors will have complete access to the company’s financial plans and performance on a monthly basis. The platform typically takes a percentage of the fund raised through it.

Varun Sheth and film star Kunal Kapoor launched Ketto on 15 August to build an online network focusing on philanthropy in India. It connects non-profits and other companies aiming for social impact with the public.

There is a large opportunity in crowdfunding as it resolves the problem of lack of funding, according to Sheth, who added that at least half a dozen more crowdfunding platforms would start by the year end.

“Crowdfunding is a big disruption for financial services industry, it cuts the middlemen away. Social media and Internet growth has increased the awareness and viability of such platforms,” said Sheth. Ketto is right now raising Rs.1 crore for itself and expects to close the fund raising in about 45 days.

Sheth said facilitating donations is an interesting space for a crowdfunding platform as there is a lot of disposable income in India and increasingly more people are looking at giving back to society.

“The mandatory 2% CSR (corporate social responsibility) would also increase pools for crowdfunding platforms,” he said, referring to the new companies Act that mandates such spending. The Act is yet to be passed by Parliament.

Read more…

Las Vegas to host 2nd Annual Global Crowdfunding Convention and Bootcamp

By Robert Hoskins

Crowdfundingroadmap and NowStreet Media have teamed up to host the 2nd Annual Global Crowdfunding Convention and Bootcamp that will be held on October 14-16 at the M Resort and SPA in Las Vegas, NV.  Sign up before February 2, 2013 and receive a $200 early bird discount.

Because conventional forms of financing, such as venture capital and small business loans, are no longer viable options for earlier stage companies, many have been desperately seeking alternative capital raising methods, such as Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding has already matured into nearly a $3 billion  industry, and with the implementation of the Jobs Act, it is forecasted to grow exponentially as more and more entrepreneurs, investors and members of the financial community propagate the marketplace. Comprised of the largest gathering of industry professionals, this year’s convention is designed to provide participants with an unparalleled informational and networking experience.

This is the must-attend event for entrepreneurs and small business owners, investors, crowdfunding professionals and enthusiasts, funding portals, investment bankers, financial advisers, venture capitalist, angel investors, incubators, business coaches, mentors, secondary stock specialists, equity analysts, journalists as well as tax, legal and regulatory experts. Attendees can expect to be immersed in the best in education that will include personalized hands-on access to renowned industry leaders.

Highlights of this year’s conference will feature a very special keynote by the legendary entrepreneurial mentor/advisor, Jay Abraham – founder and CEO of The Abraham Group, Inc. Jay has been acknowledged as a unique and distinctive authority in the field of business performance enhancement – and the maximizing and multiplying of revenue and business assets.

The 3-day event will also feature a one of a kind “Funding Portal Pavilion”™ as well as a new “Crowdfunding Expo Showcase” and “Crowdfunding Expo Marketplace” – where the best in the industry come together to exhibit game-changing platforms, products and new funding solutions. Also being introduced is a diverse series of workshops for Entrepreneurs, Investors, Financial Advisers, Funding Portals, Broker Dealers, The International Community as well as Legal and Tax Professionals. All workshops will be spearheaded by an impressive list of prominent speakers from around the world.