Fantem Unveils IndieGoGo Crowdfunding Campaign Offering New Oomi, the World’s First Z-Wave Smart Home Built for Everyone

Oomi’ s Z-Wave MultiSensors gives customers more insight into what is going on inside of their domicile by detecting motion, temperature, light, UV rays, vibrations and humidity

By Robert Hoskins

Chicago, IL – Fantem announces Indiegogo campaign featuring it new Oomi Smart Home System, which includes a new, redesigned controller and a unique multisensor. The new controller, Oomi Touch, is encased in edge-to-edge glass and includes both tactile buttons and capacitive touch controls, offering control of smart home devices as well as television and music. Oomi Multisensor not only detects motion, but also temperature, light and humidity, and more, adding versatility to the home automation system already set apart by intuitive control and ease of use.

Oomi’s patent pending Tap-and-Touch™ technology sets Oomi apart from other systems by allowing for effortless setup and configuration. Oomi Cube, a hub with unrivaled functionality built on the Z-Wave Wireless Mesh Network Technology, instantly recognizes all system accessories and sensors without programming. Self-learning algorithms and adaptive automation allow the system to learn the user’s habits, schedules and preferences to deliver a new level of whole home control.

Oomis Z-Wave MultiSensors gives customers more insight into what is going on inside of their domicile

The latest Oomi smart home technology is available now for preorder on Indiegogo. The campaign offers three bundles, each based on Oomi Cube and Oomi Touch. Bundles also come with a choice of Oomi accessories, allowing contributors to create their ideal smart home.

Oomi bundles include:

• Oomi Cube plus the choice of one of three Oomi Z-Wave accessories ($279) – limited time pricing
• Oomi Cube and three Oomi Z-Wave accessories, plus the choice of Oomi Streamer or Oomi Air ($439) – limited time pricing
• Oomi Cube, both Oomi premium accessories, and a choice of nine Oomi Z-Wave accessories ($699)

Oomi Z-Wave technology-enabled accessories include:

• Oomi Multisensor. Comprised of a motion, temperature, humidity and ambient light senor, Oomi Multisensor can be mounted, recessed, or placed on a shelf and is 70 percent smaller than leading sensors.
• Oomi Plug. Wirelessly control home accessories and monitor energy consumption, all with a tiny 56mm x 56mm x 42mm wall outlet. The light band on Oomi Plug changes color to display energy use, offering real-time energy monitoring.
• Oomi Bulb. Control light output, including shade, just by screwing in this RGB bulb. With the ability to render millions of colors, the Oomi Bulb offers brilliant color or white for perfect ambiance any time of the day or night.

Oomi premium accessories include:

• Oomi Streamer. Plug the Oomi Streamer into your TV’s HDMI port and instantly access the Internet and HD video.
• Oomi Air. Monitor airborne pollutants that cause risks to you and your family and record environmental quality.

Lead by Fantem chief executive officer, Winston Cheng, the creators of Oomi boast experience in the smart home space spanning over a decade. Before founding Fantem, Cheng was a vice president at Aeon Labs, the creators of Z-Wave products, and also served as a software engineer for companies such as Zensys and Quantum3D. With its first product Oomi, Fantem seeks to facilitate consumer adoption of smart home technology by removing the complexity and frustration associated with existing systems.

Fantem is a developer of innovative products and solutions for the home. It is dedicated to the worldwide consumer adoption of smart home technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) through the development of home automation solutions that remove the complexity and frustration associated with existing systems.

Together with its global team of experts and partners, Fantem set out to create the first smart home management system that is not only the easiest to install, set-up, and use, but also the first smart home system that is actually smart.

The result of this effort, Oomi, is set to revolutionize the future of home automation, not only by positively impacting upon multiple areas (home safety and security, home environment and home entertainment) of users’ home lives, but by also making it accessible to the everyone – “a system designed for the rest of us!” Fantem is based in Chicago with offices and strategic partners spanning four continents.

# # #

Advertisement

CFX: the Crowd Finance Exchange, a Secondary Stock Exchange for Real Estate Crowdfunding Securities Expected to Be Online within 60-90 Days Pending Approvals

Shares of crowdfunding offerings purchased on the PeerRealty portal can be resold on the secondary market, subject only to SEC resale restrictions

 By Robert Hoskins

Chicago, IL – PeerRealty.com announced the introduction of a secondary market crowdfunding stock exchange called the CFX: Crowd Finance Exchange for crowdfunded assets and other private investment offerings. The mechanics of the secondary market stock exchange are simple. Shares of crowdfunding offerings purchased on the PeerRealty portal can be resold on the secondary market, subject only to SEC resale restrictions.

PeerRealty Real Estate Equity Crowdfunding Platform in Chicago, Illinois

The secondary market acts as a stock exchange for private investments, allowing investors to buy and sell shares from other participants in the market. The secondary market, branded as “CFX: the Crowd Finance Exchange,” is expected to be online within 60-90 days pending the completion of SEC regulatory procedures.

“PeerRealty is all about providing access, transparency and flexibility, and our secondary market will provide investors with sorely needed liquidity for private placements and crowdfunding offerings,” says PeerRealty COO Juan Hernandez. “Creating a secondary market has been one of our primary goals since we founded PeerRealty last year, and we’re thrilled to announce the arrival of this private exchange to the marketplace.”

PeerRealty has finalized the back-end technology supporting the exchange, and has a patent pending on the technology and process. CFX acts as a centralized asset exchange system, managing the registration of listed assets and the ownership of participating investors.

The internal transaction engine manages incoming orders to buy and sell, and processes these orders using a matching algorithm with price-time priority. The CFX system handles the complete lifecycle of an investment purchase or transfer, including the clearing of investor funds and settlement process of the private assets.

The establishment of a secondary market promises to be a huge development for a quickly growing industry. According to a recent report by research organization Massolution, the equity crowdfunding industry grew by 182% in 2014, with over $1.1 billion raised on equity crowdfunding platforms.

PeerRealty.com is a streamlined, online portal that allows any accredited investor to participate in high-quality real estate deals. A strong team and advisers with institutional backgrounds review and select deals. The leadership team has over 30 years of real estate investing experience, and includes M.B.A.’s from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the University of Miami (FL), along with J.D.’s from the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Miami (FL).

Current investment opportunities available on the PeerRealty platform include a senior housing development project and a retail shopping center in the Chicagoland area.

# # #

Crowdfunding Securities Research and Valuation Firm Signs Agreement with Technology and Services Company to Expand International Opportunities

New relationship adds value to Crowd Valley and Zacks CF Research by expanding the reach of both companies

By Robert Hoskins

Chicago, IL – A strategic relationship between two crowdfunding leaders holds the promise of an expanded reach and increased value for both companies. Zacks CF Research and CrowdValley look forward to expanded international services in the partnership.

Zacks Investment Research is a Chicago based firm with over 30 years of experience in providing investors with the analytical tools and financial information necessary for the success of their investment processes.

“The opportunity to expand into foreign markets just cannot be underestimated. The global market for direct investing is huge and getting bigger all the time. International crowdfunding will become increasingly important in the next few years,” says Howard Orloff, vice-president and director of Zacks CF Research.

In fact, the crowdfunding space has grown in the last five years from a handful of sites to nearly 1,000 securities crowdfunding platforms operating across the world.

“The growth and globalization of the crowdfunding and private securities market is driving the need for more information so that investors can make informed decisions,” said Crowd Valley CEO, Markus Lampinen. “We believe Zacks is well positioned to provide much needed information and transparency in this emerging market, in large part because Zacks is an established and respected public and private company research market leader, with an outstanding reputation among US financial industry actors. This is the type of credibility needed in the international securities crowdfunding space.”

He added “Crowd Valley is committed to working with exceptional companies and we look forward to working with Zacks and continuing to expand and develop the services we offer to our customers and partners.”

Expanding into international markets is something Zacks CF Research has planned to do from the beginning, Mr. Orloff says. The company was waiting for the right opportunity and the right platform provider to partner with.

“When Zacks CF Research approached Crowd Valley about doing their securities research, we knew this exactly the opportunity we’d been looking for. Crowd Valley operates on six continents, which gives us immediate global access that wasn’t possible elsewhere.” he said.

For their part, Crowd Valley was looking for a company which could provide independent and reliable valuations for its clientele. “Foreign markets do provide a potential for excellent returns, but obtaining information on foreign investment opportunities could present challenges to investors, simply for the reason that the rules differ from those in the US. By partnering with Zacks we aim at filling this informational gap, providing our customers with reliable information sources, and fostering international investments in the securities crowdfunding market”, he added.

Zacks CF Research provides independent, 3^rd party valuation reports for crowdfunded securities offered through our portal partners. Zacks CF Research is the leading provider of crowdfunding valuation reports for Title III, Intrastate and International crowdfunded issues. Zacks employs over 600 professionals between our Chicago headquarters and offices overseas and is the second largest independent financial research firm in the nation.

Crowd Valley provides the platform, back office and ecosystem services for crowd funding, peer to peer investing and alternative asset marketplaces for securities professionals. The Crowd Valley infrastructure also allows customers to syndicate investments and tap into networks of investors around the world.

# # #

New Crowdfunding Consulting Site Aims to Take Hands-On Approach to Help Crowdfunding Campaign Managers Achieve Higher Success Rate

KarmaKrowd Invites the Crowdfunding Industry’s Best Business Development, Advertising, Email Marketing, PR  and Social Media Campaign Experts to Help Crowdfunders Put Together Leading-Edge Fundraising Campaigns

By Robert Hoskins

Chicago, IL  – KarmaKrowd.com, a leading rewards-based crowdfunding site, announced that it will be providing a full suite of crowdfunding consulting services for its fundraising campaign managers who are seeking a professional team of experts to help them plan successful crowdfunding campaigns. And campaign managers will work their way through a four-phase process to perfect their campaigns.

KarmaKrowd Building a Legal, Financial, and Marketing Crowdfunding Consulting Firm to Offer Crowdfunding Campaign Managers Better Chance for Success

“Using a completely different strategy from other Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, KarmaKrowd takes a robust approach to every campaign that launches on our site,” said Cindy Summerfield, KarmaKrowd’s CEO.  “We start by offering the best legal services possible to pursue an in-depth Intellectual Property (IP) protection strategy.  Once their IP is buttoned up, KarmaKrowd helps clients engage in a four-step campaign building process and provides a directory of professional manufacturing, distribution and fulfillment consultants who can help campaign managers build a streamlined business model.”

“Once campaign managers have a good business plan and crowdfunding profile in place, we allow them to Beta test it on our internal database of KarmaKrowd users to gather instant feedback from insiders. This interactive process allows all users to learn from each other and build a best practice consulting service from both paid Alpha and Pro Bono Beta professionals,” Summerfield continued.

KarmaKrowd’s four-step crowdfunding consulting process includes:

1.  The Idea Phase is the first step which assesses the potential patentability of the client’s idea and whether or not the branding infringes on any existing trademarks that have been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
2. The Alpha Phase is the second step when a product/service idea is transformed into the beginning stage of a crowdfunding campaign. During this phase campaign managers have the option to browse through KarmaKrowd’s directory of business consultants to build a team of experts who can provide direction on how to shoot a great pitch video, how to write a persuasive crowdfunding profile and offer rewards/perks that offer the right calls-to-action to entice backers to support their campaign.In order to avoid a growing trend in crowdfunding campaigns of meeting funding goals, but failing to deliver the goods, Alpha Team consultants can help to ensure that campaign managers have a thorough understanding of their cost of goods as well as assist in the building of business plans, signing up a manufacturer, building distribution and fulfillment channels and planning integrated digital, multi-channel marketing campaigns.
3. The Beta Phase is the third step once campaign managers think they are ready to launch their campaign live they move their campaign into the Beta Phase. This removes the veil of secrecy so that users can provide private comments and instant feedback to campaign managers to help them make last minute adjustments.
4. KrowdReady^™Phase is the final step when campaign managers signal they are ready to launch their campaign. The KarmaKrowd staff will help the campaign manager put on the finishing touches.

KarmaKrowd Business Services Directory

KarmaKrowd encourages advertising, business, competitive analysis, distribution, email marketing, film production, financial, fulfillment, manufacturing, manufacturer reps, public relations, and social media consultants to sign up for a free KarmaKrowd Business Listing.  Once vetted and approved Alpha Team consultants will be able to offer their expert, value-added crowdfunding business consulting services for a fee to campaign managers.

# # #

 

KarmaKrowd Protects Crowdfunder’s IP including Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights for Entrepreneurs, Inventors, Startups for Crowdfunding Campaigns

Registers Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights at USPTO for Entrepreneurs, Inventors, Startups via New Legal Services Crowdfunding Platform

The soon-to-be-launched crowdfunding platform is now accepting applications for 25 beta testers that want to receive zero-upfront-cost legal services in return for testing the new crowdfunding platform

Chicago, IL – KarmaKrowd, a new crowdfunding site that caters to inventors, startups and entrepreneurs that want to protect their intellectual property (IP) including patents, trademarks and copyrights before launching a crowdfunding campaign, officially announced its new beta testing program that will accept up to 25 applicants to help stress test the crowdfunding platform’s functionality.  All beta testers will be given zero upfront costs on legal services.

KarmaKrowd Protects Crowdfunder’s Intellectual Property (IP) by Filing Patents, Trademarks & Copyrights

“Once KarmaKrowd goes live our team of seasoned team of legal experts will form corporations, conduct patent searches, and file provisional or design patents to safeguard our client’s intellectual property prior to conducting their crowdfunding campaign,” said Cindy Summerfield, KarmaKrowd’s Founder.  “We also will be protecting our clients by conducting trademark searches and registering trademark/copyright applications, and providing other legal documentation such as non-disclosure agreements to keep our clients and their ideas safe as possible.”

In addition to legal services, the platform will also differentiate itself by offering the crowdfunding industry’s first business directory of Crowdfunding Service Providers, including advertising, email marketing, profile copywriters, perks specialists, public relations, media relations, and marketing programs that will allow crowdfunding campaign managers instant access to marketing services to help them achieve a higher success rate than campaigns that launch on Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

KarmaKrowd’s unique value-added business proposition for inventors and brand owners is to give clients zero-cost upfront legal services for corporation formation, filing a provisional patent application and/or registering the appropriate trademarks/copyrights prior to launching a crowdfunding campaign.

No other crowdfunding platform offers any of these services to its users. KarmaKrowd provides this portfolio of very valuable legal services at no initial cost to the user by recouping its legal expenses via commission fees collected on the backend of fundraising campaigns.

Upon successful beta test performance, KarmaKrowd will open its doors with 25 crowdfunding campaigns sometime in March 2014.

# # #

More Articles on Crowdfunding IP Protection:

• Using Crowdfunding Sites Could Destroy Your Business Idea
• Don’t Forget to Protect Your Crowdfunding Business Idea
• Crowdfunding’s Impact on Start-Up Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy
• 3D Systems Suing Formlabs and Kickstarter for Patent Infringement