Top 10 Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding Offerings Ranked on the Amount of Crowdfunding Raised

Searching for the Hottest New Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities?

For fun, we thought we would keep track of the first wave to Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding Offerings to see who has raised the most money to date. The current crowdfunding campaigns are ranked in order by the amount of money they have raised as of May 24, 2016 at 4:00 pm.

After the first week, it looks like crowdfunding campaigns with lower investment amounts far outpaced larger investment requirements.  The same is true of lower crowdfunding investment goals. For example, GameTree has a minimum investment of $100 and a fundraising goal of $100,000 and barely two weeks into their campaign they are 90% funded.

If you’d like shop around and make your first non-accredited investment in a Title III, Regulation CF offering, please review from the offers listed below.

You might also check out their company websites, their social media credentials on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and then Google their founders names and companies to see what they have done to promote their company in the news media.

It will be easy to see what management teams have done the proper prep work, planned effective marketing campaigns and the others that haven’t even been able to put together a simple company website.

If they can’t build a simple website, how in the world can they run a successful business?

Here is also a quick snapshot of what Title III Crowdfunding Platforms have raised the most money:

1.   WeFunder.com            $243,871
2.   StartEngine                  $142,602
3.   SeedInvest                     $74,800
4.   NextSeed                        $26,900

Total: $461,273

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1. The Legion M Entertainment (media company)

Crowdfunding Platform: WeFunder

Amount Raised: $120,611

2. Taxa Biotechnologies (genetic plant engineers)

Crowdfunding Platform: WeFunder

Amount Raised:  $111,860

3. MF Fire (an app-drive, low emissions wood stove)

Crowdfunding Platform: SeedInvest

Amount Raised: $40,900

4. Native Hostel Austin (Luxury hostel in Austin

Crowdfunding Platform: NextSeed

Amount Raised: $26,900

5. Bloomery SweetShine (distillery)

Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine

Amount Raised: $35,700

 

6. GameTree (Social network for gamers)

Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine

Amount Raised:  $90,360

7. Treasure State Internet (fiber optic installation)

Crowdfunding Platform: WeFunder

Amount Raised:  $8,800

8. StartMart Cleveland (Coworking space)

Crowdfunding Platform: SeedInvest

Amount Raised: $7,000

9. Gigmor (Connecting bands with venues and gigs)

Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine

Amount Raised: $14,905

10. Urban Juncture (developing commercial real estate)

Platform: WeFunder

Amount Raised: $2,600

11. Graphic Armor (personalized condoms)

Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine

Amount Raised: $1,636

12. NextRX Inc (Medical marijuana network pass)

Crowdfunding Platform: StartEngine

Amount Raised:  $0

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Brown Lane Studio Launches Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on CrowdBoarders.com, One of the World’s First Social Investing Networks

The venture capital  raised will be used to carry out the company’s growing expansion plans to meet the rising demands for the firm’s creative services

By Robert Hoskins

Dallas, Texas – CrowdBoarders announced that Brown Lane Studios has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to sell five-percent of its equity shares to raise $300,00 to fund future expansion.  J. Michael Brown is the sole owner of the futuristic studio that offers the Dallas creative community an exciting eco-system of private studios, commercial studios, media services and events of all kinds social networking mixers and parties “under one roof.”  The company has seen rapid growth over the past two years.

Brown Lane Studios has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to sell five-percent of its equity shares to raise $300,00 to fund future expansion

The equity crowdfunding offering consists of nine different levels of public investment ranging from $20-$5,000. The venture capital  raised will be used to carry out the company’s continuing expansion plans to meet the rising demands for the firm’s creative services.

Please visit https://crowdboarders.com/brown-lane-studios to view the equity crowdfunding campaign’s financial details.

Similar to rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns, early J. Michael Brown investors will receive complimentary studios services dependent on their investment level in addition to their equity shares.

CrowdBoarders.com is a next-generation social investing network which connects investors with a stream of crowdfunding investment opportunities that are now open to accredited investors and more than 20 million non-accredited investors who reside in Texas.

The Brown Lane Studios is located at 1499 Regal Row, Suite 505 Dallas, TX 75204-2431.  Investors are invited to visit the studio for a free tour. Please call (214) 771-7395 for more information.

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(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

Hoskins is one of the crowdfunding industry’s foremost crowdfunding advocates and has amassed a huge social media following that is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns. Due to the overwhelming demand from the general public for crowdfunding information, he empowers entrepreneurs with some of the internet’s most affordable ($20) online crowdfunding training classes, which provide insight to startups around the world on a 24 x 7 basis.

Hoskins adamantly believes that the crowdfunding industry will empower everyone in the United States to rediscover the possibility of living the American dream with a little hard work, a great business idea and the dedication to researching, planning and launching a well-thought-out crowdfunding campaign. He consults on a regular basis with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

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Predictions for the Top 15 Crowdfunding Trends that Will Emerge During 2015

New Developments Expected from the SEC, Texas Crowdfunding Portals, Crowdfunding Service Providers, State Banks, Corporate Crowdfunders, Non-Profits and Secondary Trading Markets

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Front Page PR predicts the top 15 crowdfunding trends that will emerge by the end of 2015 for the United States crowdfunding industry:

1. The SEC will do the right thing and surprise the U.S. by introducing rewritten Title III crowdfunding regulations formulated to appease both Wall Street and entrepreneurs.
2. Texas Incubators/Accelerators will add equity crowdfunding portals to their investment models to earn extra revenue, improve deal flow and tap 20 million unaccredited investors.
3. There will be a rising tide of third-party crowdfunding service providers needed to produce Private Placement Memorandums (PPMs) and necessary disclosure documentation.
4. State banks will seize the opportunity to create new revenue streams by setting up crowdfunding equity escrow services that larger banks will probably ignore.
5. Advertising, PR and social media firms will improve the success rate of million dollar crowdfunding campaigns to more than a 50% success rate regardless of crowdfunding site.
6. Major corporations like Sony will begin to launch substantial crowdfunding campaigns to test the market demand for their company’s latest and greatest high-tech, clean-tech, bio-tech, fin-tech and film/music products and services
7. Major corporations will follow IBM’s example by opening their own intranet crowdfunding platforms to allow employees to fast track innovative products and services by using crowdfunding campaigns to override political and corporate management roadblocks.
8. Major publishing houses will follow Reddit’s and YouTube’s example by launching their own crowdfunding platforms to harness mature electronic commerce & marketing capabilities.
9. Real Estate will lead the marketplace in offering attractive equity crowdfunding deal flow.
10. Texas will become one of the largest equity crowdfunding markets in the United States.
11. More than 50% of U.S. states will approve crowdfunding exemptions by the end of 2015.
12. By Q4 2015 a secondary market will begin to emerge for trading equity crowdfunding shares.
13. Crowdfunding investing will cause private equity investors and venture capitalists to lose their ability to take advantage of startups/entrepreneurs who will find it much easier to raise venture capital funding.
14. Non-profit fundraising organizations will move their entire fundraising operations to a pure online donation-based crowdfunding platform to substantially streamline their organizations and reduce their operating expenses.
15. As in many early growth industries, large players like GoFundMe, IndieGoGo and Kickstarter will begin buying up smaller sites to increase market share and expand their global presence.

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Contact:
Robert Hoskins
Front Page PR
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR
@FrontPage_PR
@Crowdfunding_TX

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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Georgia Jane Fanvestors Earn 5% ROI Via Crowdfunding Platform YourMusicCompany’s Royalty Payments for New Hip Hop Music Album

Your Music Company is the first-ever, state-licensed crowdfunding music business model in the United States that pays fans royalties as a reward for crowdfunding their album production

By Robert Hoskins

Los Angeles, CA –  For the first time ever on U.S. soil, “fanvestors” will earn royalties from their investment in French artist Georgia Jane’s music crowdfunding campaign listed on Your Music Company (YMC). Those who supported Georgia Jane will collectively receive 5% of their total investment in the form of a check or an account credit on YMC’s website.

Georgia Jane Do the Same for Me Raises $100,000 via Crowdfunding Platform Your Music Company

Primed to turn the music industry and U.S. based crowdfunding upside down with their unique approach, YMC is the first state-licensed music platform to employ the crowdsourcing model and allow fans an opportunity like no other — to support their favorite independent musicians on YMC’s website and profit-share in the sale of the artists’ online music downloads rather than receive prize incentives, as most fundraising sites generally operate. Though this business model is still in its infancy in the U.S., a similar site exists in Europe and has helped fund the careers of successful artists overseas.

“We are excited to share this success with Georgia’s fanvestors,” said Christel Gidouin, co-founder of YMC. “Their continued support is vital to the success of this platform and we look forward to launching the careers of talented musicians in America.”

Independent pop songstress Georgia Jane is the company’s first major success, with her campaign reaching its intended goal of $100,000. From her initial funding, Georgia was able to record her debut single, “Do The Same For Me,” and will use the remaining funds to produce her full-length album. Thanks to Georgia’s fanvestors, her single placed #93 on Mediabase’s Top 40 Pop chart and reached #5 on their Top 40 Pop Independent Label/Artist chart. Additionally, her single hit #40 on the BDS Top 40 Indicator Chart.

Fanvestors, or fan investors, collectively split 25% of all net profits from album and single sales. Using social media as the basis for promotion, fanvestors have the opportunity to support and share the music they like and receive royalties, while the artist raises the funds they estimate to record an album. If the campaign goal is not reached, fanvestors receive their initial investment back.

In 2011, renowned French singer/songwriter Yael Benamour teamed up with COO Christel Gidouin to bring their updated platform to the American market, selling off all of their possessions and moving to Los Angeles before receiving approval of their U.S. visas. Armed only with a business plan and their plane tickets, the two female entrepreneurs raised $1.2m in seed funding and opened an office in Century City, where they maintain their hands-on approach to developing the careers of each of YMC’s successfully funded artists.

This revolutionary platform allows fans worldwide to select an artist from the record label’s roster and invest in him/her. The music fan, referred to as “FANVESTOR,” will in turn receive royalties from the artist’s album and single sales. Your Music Company is continuing their worldwide growth in over 100 countries.

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Over the Past 35 Years, LearnToPlayMusic.com has Transformed the Music Lesson Industry Three Times, Generated More Than 25+ Million Book & Video Sales and is about to Launch the Next Spotify / Oyster Music Content Platform

Created for Musicians by Musicians, @LTPMusic has been pioneering the way people learn to play music utilizing printed music books, videos, CDs & DVDs, eBooks & WebTV shows and soon will be launching a brand new type of digital music teaching platform

By Robert Hoskins

Los Angeles, California – For a company that has defied convention by flying under the radar for most of its life, www.LearnToPlayMusic.com (originally called, Koala Music Publications) has a lot of reasons to celebrate on its 35th birthday. The company has just launched a new ecommerce website and wrapped up production on the first season of its acclaimed WebTV series, Music Space. Soon it will be unveiling a new state-of-the-art digital music lesson content platform that will provide the next game-changing evolution of the music learning industry for up and coming musicians.

As rock-n-roll musicians from the same music scene as AC/DC, playing on bills supporting INXS and other iconic Australian rock bands, Gary Turner and Brenton White found their passion in teaching people how to play music. Frustrated at the lack of music training materials for the contemporary guitarist, the duo sensed a huge business opportunity. In 1979 they drew up a business plan on a napkin and soon thereafter founded Koala Music Productions in Adelaide, Australia (click here to read the rest of the story).

LearnToPlayMusic’s Free Ebook and New Digital Music Teaching Platform

“When we first started, if you were a kid who really wanted to learn how to play the guitar, or the piano, or the violin, you had two options; you took lessons with a teacher or you bought a music lesson book from the local music store and taught yourself,” said Gary Turner, LearnToPlayMusic.com’s CEO. “In today’s world, kids are armed with laptops, tablets, and smartphones and now social media and digital content sharing networks are the focal point of their lives and are used 24×7 to keep in touch with friends and family. To tap into this new lifestyle, we realized that once again that we needed to transform our business. In 2009, we started this journey by digitizing over 35-years worth of music lessons, music books and an entire library of analog instructional music videos.”

“We have been tracking the success of subscription-based digital music, eBook and movie downloading services and platforms such as Amazon Prime, Oyster, Netflix, and Spotify. These media companies have been very successful at transforming the way they interact with and sell content and new services to customers,” Turner continued. “We think the music learning industry is going to be very impressed when we unveil our new leading-edge digital music platform, which will make it much easier for aspiring musicians, their parents and music teachers, music schools and music stores to get involved and share the wealth from the booming digital music industry.”

Turner added that, “Soon we will be launching an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that will allow musicians and anyone in the music teaching industry to get involved in building our platform. We will be offering some really cool perks to support and fund the project and give everyone that contributes a small piece of the action.”

To receive more information on LearnToPlayMusic.com’s new Digital Media Platform please register at www.learntoplaymusic.com/freemium or contact Gary Turner at gat@learntoplaymusic.com.

A full press kit is available at www.learntoplaymusic.com/press-room.

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After Raising $6.2 Million for Pono Music on Kickstarter, Neil Young is Now Selling Piece of the Action So Fans Can Buy Equity Shares in the Company

In a move for what may become the “new norm” in crowdfunding, Accredited Investors can now purchase shares in PonoMusic for as little as $5,000 and become an part owners of the company

By Robert Hoskins

San Francisco, California – PonoMusic’s revolution is stirring unprecedented interest in the music community’s high-resolution digital music market, as the startup’s successful Kickstarter campaign recently raised $6.2M from over 18,000 backers — the third largest Kickstarter campaign ever — far surpassing even the campaign initiated by Oculus Rift.

In a move for what may become the new norm in crowdfunding, Accredited Investors can now purchase shares in PonoMusic for as little as $5,000 and become an part owners of the company

Now Neil Young and PonoMusic are continuing their crowdfunding momentum by launching an equity crowdfunding campaign exclusively on Crowdfunder.com at PonoMusic on Crowdfunder. Accredited investors can invest as little as $5,000 and become an equity owner in PonoMusic alongside Neil.

Neil and the team at PonoMusic are excited about democratizing the investment process of PonoMusic by giving their Kickstarter backers, and anyone who loves music, the opportunity to now invest and become an owner in Pono.

Oculus Rift previously raised over $2.0M via Kickstarter, then sold to Facebook for $2 Billion. If their Kickstarter backers had been given the opportunity to invest in Oculus Rift through equity crowdfunding, they would likely have seen a significant return on their investment, but they didn’t — which stirred quite a backlash at the time.

Neil Young conceived of the idea behind PonoMusic to breathe life back into the experience and quality of audio in the digital age of highly compressed, poor quality music files such as MP3s. There’s recently been a huge resurgence of analog vinyl records among music lovers desiring true, undistorted sound. Yet the true, organic, nuanced experience most vinyl delivers hasn’t been convenient or portable, until now. PonoMusic offers a complete digital ecosystem, including a premium portable music player paired with a comprehensive digital music store offering high resolution music files with up to 30x more sound data than low-res MP3 files. PonoMusic is supported by all major music labels and their huge growing catalogues of premium quality digital music.

Says Crowdfunder’s CEO, Chance Barnett, “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Neil and his team to democratize the opportunity to invest in PonoMusic. Neil and his team get it; that’s why they’re going the route today’s most successful startups follow: first validating their business through pre-sales of their product on Kickstarter, then raising investment via our leading equity crowdfunding platform and rapidly growing base of institutional and individual accredited investors.”

Says PonoMusic’s visionary, Neil Young, “Pono is an artist-driven movement to rescue music and the art of recorded sound for posterity. It’s about the people who make the music, about the way it sounds to the artists when they record it in the studio and about preserving the original sound created by artists over the history of recorded sound. It’s also about fans hearing what we hear and that hasn’t happened in a long time. We wanted music lovers everywhere to be a part of this from the beginning and have an opportunity to help us launch this new music ecosystem into the world, together.”

“Pono” is Hawaiian for righteous. What righteous means to our founder Neil Young is honoring the artist’s intention. That’s why he’s been on a quest, for a few years now, to revive the magic that has been squeezed out of digital music. Through Pono, you no longer have to choose between quality and convenience when listening to music — you can have both. This is the fundamental idea behind PonoMusic.

Pono’s mission is to provide the best possible listening experience of your favorite music. PonoMusic is not a new audio file format or standard. PonoMusic is an end-to-end ecosystem for music lovers to get access to and enjoy their favorite music exactly as the artist created it, at the recording resolution they chose in the studio. PonoMusic is more than just a high-resolution music store and player; it is a grassroots movement to keep the heart of music beating.

Crowdfunder is where the power of crowdfunding meets investing. Entrepreneurs use the company’s platform to tell the story of their business and raise investment from a community of institutional and individual accredited investors. The company played a significant role in JOBS Act legislation, creating the new market for equity crowdfunding that brings private investing online and creates positive impact and economic opportunity.

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Crowdfunding Takes Center Stage at SxSW Event in Austin, Texas beginning March 7, 2014

Crowdfunding Experts Converge at SxSW to Highlight the Significant Advancements in Title II & III SEC Regulations for Entrepreneurs and Startups in the High-Tech, Bio-Tech, Clean-Tech, Real Estate, Film, Music, Non-Profits, Science Research and Healthcare Industries

SXSW Interactive March 7-11 Austin 2014 Crowdfunding Seminars and Presentations

By Robert Hoskins

Our recommended list of Crowdfunding Presentations to attend during the South by Southwest event in Austin, Texas during the SXSW Interactive session from March 7th through March 11th, 2014.  Click here to register.

The “Real” Crowdfunding Investment

Friday, March 7
12:30PM – 1:30PM

• Chris Tyrrell, Chairman, CrowdFund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates
• Jessica Randazza, CMO, Offer Board

Chris Tyrell and Jessica Randaza will be speaking about the widely anticipated Title III crowdfunding rules that were approved unanimously by the SEC and successfully completely the 90-day public comment period.  Now the entire United States is waiting to see what changes, if any, the SEC will make to the previously approved rules.  The new regulations will add approximately 229 million new unaccredited investors to the pool of potential investors that will soon be able to make investments in startups and existing businesses seeking venture capital in return for an attractive return-on-investment (ROI). Read more…

Ethics & Future of Crowdfunding for Communities

Friday, March 7
12:30PM – 1:30PM

• David Neff, Digital Strategy, PwC Advisory
•  Miriam Kagan, Sr Principal, Kimbia Inc

David Neff and Miriam Kagan will cover crowdfunding models that range from self-starting “fund my trip” models to a more established national community foundation-led model that raised over $20 million in one day. Next they will cover crowdfunding industry growth, and the ethical questions that have surrounded old school “fundraising” by non-profits for many years.  How much money actually goes to the beneficiaries and where does the rest end up?   Session participants will led through an exercise that will allow the group to see the necessary requirements to build a thorough Crowdfunding Bill of Rights. Read more…

Make It Rain: The New Healthcare Funding Landscape

Friday, March 7
5:00PM – 6:00PM

• Andrew Farquharson, Managing Director, VentureHealth
• Breanna DiGiammarino, Education Vertical Lead, Indiegogo
• Halle Tecco, CEO, Rock Health

Digital Health is a growing market for crowdfunding dollars, with relatively few prolific angel and venture investors, entrepreneurs are getting creative about ways to find alternative venture capital. This healthcare crowdfunding presentation will examine the funding options available for various healthcare entrepreneurs at any stage. Read more…

The Original Gangsters of Crowdfunding

Saturday, March 8
12:30PM – 1:30PM

• Katherine Woo, Chief Product Officer, KIVA.org
• Katie Bisbee, Chief Marketing Officer, DonorsChoose.org
• Kevin Conroy, Chief Product Officer, GlobalGiving.org
• Paull Young, Director of Digital, charity:water

This panel discussion will feature four social good crowdfunding platforms that are focused on donation-based crowdfunding missions to improve the world for social good.  These platforms allow the privileged to make tax deductible donations to those who are not lucky enough to have nutritious food, clean water, bathrooms with flushing toilets or weatherproofed housing.  It will humble you to learn what conditions many third world country people actually live with little hope for help from the outside world.  With your help, these organizations can help you help them change the lives of many and get a tax deduction for helping. Whether you attend this panel discussion or not, please make at $25 donation to one or all four of the organizations. Read more…

The Indie Science Revolution

Saturday, March 8
3:30PM – 4:30PM

• Cindy Wu, Co-Founder, Microryza
• Daniel Grushkin, Journalist
• Ethan Perlstein, CEO, Perlstein Lab

An increasing number of brave researchers are venturing out from the ivory towers of academia to pursue their own independent research. This new culture of indie science attracts investigators with the freedom to develop their ideas without the confines of politics and bureaucracy often found in academic departments.  Read more…

DIY PR for Crowdfunded / Kickstarter Projects

Sunday, March 9
11:00AM – 1:30PM

• Connie Zheng, Account Supervisor, North Of Nine Communications

This two and a half hour long workshop, designed for DIY crowdfunders, will go over some PR best practices, strategies and tactics on how to create interest for crowdfunded projects based on conversations with individuals who’ve run successful Kickstarter campaigns and their interaction with reporters. It will cover planning & strategy, timing, pitch writing, story angles, social media, approaching reporters, how to avoid “dead zone” during a campaign, and more. Read more…

Crowdfunding Global Entrepreneurship

Sunday, March 9
11:00AM – 12:00PM

• Jason Best, Principal, Crowdfund Capital Advisors
• Sherwood (Woodie) Neiss, Principal, Crowdfund Capital Advisors

Jason Best will address the outstanding opportunity for Crowdfunding that exists in emerging markets that have been cut off from international venture capital markets.  He will examine how giving third world countries access to billions of dollars of capital has the ability to challenge the United States’ ability to stay competitive in the global market place. Read more…

FutureHood: Crowdfunding Innovators in Real Estate

Sunday, March 9
5:00PM – 6:00PM

• Neil Dipaola, President, Forefund Capital

Neil Dipaola will focus on how risk capital has brought about significant change to the high technology industry for more than a generation. He will differentiate the opportunities that exist outside of the risky young 20-something millenials’ visionary gadgets. Even though high-tech gadgets generate many front page news stories, Neil will encourage attendees to take a close look at the real estate industry, which is much more established and offers more traditional and proven investment opportunities. Read more…

The New Era of Investor Relations

Monday, March 10
11:00AM – 12:00PM

• Douglas Ellenoff, Partner & Owner, Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP
• Judd Hollas, CEO, EquityNet LLC
• Judy Robinett, Angel Investor & VC Board Member

In 2013, the ban on general solicitation of accredited investors was lifted, causing the largest change to securities laws in decades. While everyone from startups to hedge funds will enjoy new liberties to begin marketing equity investment deals through advertising, marketing and PR campaigns, it’s critical that the new rules are followed to the letter in order to eliminate the chance for an exemption rescission. Read more…

Viral Crowdfunding: Story, Team & Gamification

Monday, March 10
12:45PM – 1:00PM

• Matthew Bishop, CEO, iGiveMore Inc.

Matthew Bishop will address harnessing viral marketing to achieve a successful crowdfunding campaign. He asks, “So you want to raise money online and go viral?” Mr. Bishop’s SxSW crowdfunding presentation will help nonprofits, artists, and entrepreneurs learn how to create crowdfunding a project.  His subject matters will include how a tell a  story, manage a team and leverage game playing lessons that will help develop a viral buzz that may make or break the success fundraising campaigns. Read more….

How Crowdfunding Killed Hollywood

Tuesday, March 11
9:30AM – 10:30AM

• Adam Carolla, President, Carolla Digital
• Bill Zanker, President, FundAnything

Adam Carolla and Bill Zanker provide in inside look at how crowdfunding platforms like FundAnything are turning Hollywood upside down by completely changing the way movies are financed and produced. Like many entrepreneurs in Hollywood, Adam decided to circumvent the system by teaming up with Bill Zanker’s FundAnything and ended up raising $1.5 million that allowed him to create one the most downloaded podcast series in history.  Attendees will learn from Adam’s personal insights on how to use the right rewards to achieve the best results and why taping into your own crowd of social media contacts can deliver serious dividends. Read more…

Crowdfunding Real Change for Girls & Women

Tuesday, March 11
11:00AM – 12:00PM

• Maz Kessler, Founder & Creative Director, Catapult Systems

Maz Kessler’s presentation will focus building a world of equality for all girls and women. Due to the fact that less than 7% of fundraising donations go to girls and women’s causes combined with the alarming news that one-in-four of women organizations that work on these issues are in danger of closing, Catapult.com was founded to keep the funding rolling in.

The group’s mission is to work on the battle front to fight for the rights and the respect for girls and women around the world. And to date, Catapult has achieved incredible results by raising millions of dollars through its nonprofit partners, which are growing rapidly throughout the world. Read more…

Funded in Austin

Tuesday, March 11
12:30PM – 1:30PM

• Cotter Cunningham, CEO, RetailMeNot Inc
• Josh Kerr, CEO, Written

Funded in Austin features Founder/CEO’s of three technology startups who have pursued and secured investment in their entrepreneurial ventures – one from crowdfunding, one from angel funding, and one from venture capital – totaling more than $302 million in funding. Read more…

Jambase integrates Get My Band Crowdfunding Platform to Raise Money for SXSW Music Festival

New partnership creates first-of-its kind crowdfunded SXSW event; enables more bands to play live for more of their fans.

By Robert Hoskins

Jambase and Get My Band announced a partnership that 1) gives fans the ability to bring their favorite bands to their hometown and 2) lets bands use crowdfunding to tour profitably and play more live gigs.

Jambase integrates Get My Band to utilize Crowdfunding for SXSW

Jambase will integrate Get My Band’s crowdfunding technology into its live concert platform, which currently boasts over one million concert listings for hundreds of thousands of music fans around the world. In addition to finding concert listings, Jambase users can now find and participate in crowdfunding concert offers.

Crowdfunding has already become a disruptive trend in the music industry. Just last year, fans pledged millions of dollars to help bands cut new albums, while money raised through crowdfunding overall increased from $1.5 billion to over $3 billion globally. In addition to driving funding for albums, the power of the crowd can help bands play more live gigs and create more profitable tours. Bands know ahead of time – before booking a show – that they can cover touring costs such as gas, hotel, and equipment rental. By giving fans the ability to “pledge” tickets with real dollars, bands can book new concerts with confidence and without financial risk.

“Jambase’s mission is to give fans the opportunity to see more live music,” said Sabrina Schulz, CEO of Jambase. “We’re excited to give fans a new way to see the bands they love. Now, in addition to easily finding a show and buying tickets, our users can find crowdfunding concert offers and pledge to bring their favorite bands to their hometown.”

To kick off their partnership, Jambase and Get My Band are hosting a crowdfunded concert event at SXSW. Through pledges from their fans, participating bands are raising the money needed to cover their costs to get to Austin and perform live at the SXSW event. The fans are benefiting as well; to “pay back” their pledging fans, the bands are offering unique rewards including signed CD’s, guitar lessons and even a live house party.

“By marrying our crowdfunding technology with the Jambase global live concert platform, we are empowering hundreds of thousands of fans to help their favorite bands tour profitably to more cities than ever before,” said Mike Angiletta, CEO & Founder of Get My Band. “And we’re thrilled to kick off our partnership by giving some great bands a chance to crowdfund their way to Austin and play live at our SXSW concert event.”

“Thanks to our fans, we’re at 70 percent of our funding goal in just a few days,” said Michael Craswell, lead singer of K-Sera. “Getting to Austin isn’t cheap, so it’s great to see how supportive our fans are. For the fans that help us out with a pledge, we’re giving them some unique “Thank You” rewards, like signed CD’s, unreleased recordings, and personalized songs. We’re off to an awesome start!”

Jambase and Get My Band will be hosting their crowdfunded concert event at SXSW on March 14th from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Jackalope.

Top Money Raised; Highest Average Pledge and Best Success Rates on Kickstarter

Top Kickstarter Success Stories in 2012

The Economist (01/17/13) – Interesting to note the diverse type of projects, industries and products that are all now successfully using Kickstarter rewards and donation crowdfunding campaigns to raise money from the Crowd.   Games raised the most crowdfunding money overall. Technology took the lead in the most money donated per transaction.  And the performing arts took the #1 spot in the overall success rate.

Top Industries Funded by Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaigns

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