YouGov Omnibus Research Reports Donors 45% More Likely to Give Crowdfunding Donations to Individuals in Need, Not Charities or Causes

GoFundMe now dominates the crowdfunding space, with 41% of Americans aware of the site; IndieGoGo comes in at number two at 13%

 By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – According to the latest YouGov Omnibus research crowdfunding’s charitable sweet spot focuses squarely on donations to individuals in need.  For those who have donated via crowdfunding sites, 45% have given to an individual person in need, compared to only 22% who have given to a charity like the Red Cross, or 20% who have given to social causes like homelessness.  16% have given to disaster relief or individual animals in need.  Global environmental causes garnered only 12% amongst crowdfunding donors.

YouGov OmniBus Research Report on Crowdfunding Donations

By contrast Americans who donate via any channel say the single channel they are most likely to donate to is a charitable organization (25%) compared to 17% who prefer to give to individuals.

Charities Still Most Effective Use of Funds: Politicians Least Effective

In terms of effectiveness, more than half of Americans who donate via any channel (52%) think that the most effective home for a donation is a charitable organization. Nearly a third (32%) think gifts to individuals are the most effective.

Practically nobody (2%) thinks that politicians are the most effective recipients of donations intended to promote a cause.

Most Popular Crowdfunding Sites

GoFundMe now dominates the crowdfunding space, with 41% of Americans aware of the site; IndieGoGo comes in at number two at 13%.  Millennials are more aware of their crowdfunding options with 47 % awareness for GoFundMe and more than one in five (21%) aware of IndieGoGo.

For all those who have heard of a crowdfunding site 20% have given money via GoFundMe. Higher earners (32%) and women (25%) are most likely to have contributed to a GoFundMe campaign.

A quarter (24%) of all American adults have been invited to contribute to a crowdfunded charity via social media. A further 16% has received solicitations via email.

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New Equity Crowdfunding Platform Allows Accredited Investors to Begin Investing in Fine Art Portfolios

Arthena Fine Arts receives investment from Beamonte Investments to create new cooperative investment platform that focuses on providing fine arts equity crowdfunding opportunities

By Robert Hoskins

Boston, MA – Beamonte Investments, a leading private investment firm in Boston, announced it has invested in Arthena, a cooperative investment platform that focuses on crowdfunding for investments in fine arts. Operated by Arthena Fine Arts, Inc., Arthena’s goal is to lower the cost basis for investments in fine arts, aiding in the diversification of investor portfolios without the cost and commitment of research, purchase, and storage.

Beamonte Investments is a private investment firm founded in 2000 that has specialized in private equity investments and structured lending and now fine art portfolios

Based in New York, NY, Arthena was founded by Madelaine D’Angelo and a team of experts from top universities in the US with backgrounds in the financial, law, art, and tech sectors. By combining access, expertise, and crowdfunding, the company seeks to give investors access to asset-class artwork with leaders from the art world through their platform. World leaders in art are able to get backing from accredited investors, yielding higher returns. Investors get access to exclusive lectures, gallery shows, and art fairs.

“It goes without saying that art is an asset class. Until now, it’s been difficult to know if you are partnered with the right advisor and have the right access to the right works. Arthena is bringing transparency to the world of art investments. Through our partnership with Beamonte, we believe that we are poised to bring art investment to the next generation of global collectors,” said D’Angelo.

“We are very excited to bring the opportunity of investment in art to the whole world. Before Arthena, the market for investment in fine art was limited to a few players with means and connections that took years to develop; Arthena allows the democratization of investing in art. Now, this excellent avenue of portfolio growth and diversification is available to investors across the globe,” added Federico Benavides, Analyst at Beamonte Investments.

Similar to AngelList Syndicates for start-up investment, Arthena helps to bring transparency to the opaque world of art investment. Arthena’s fund advisors are proven experts in their fields, and are committed to promoting the value of art. Arthena’s fund advisors expertise includes modern, contemporary, and emerging works of art.

Luis Trevino, Senior Managing Director at Beamonte Investments, commented, “It is immensely gratifying to see how the Arthena team has developed a unique product that brings access and transparency to the art industry; we are looking forward to working with Madeleine and her team, leveraging the Beamonte Investments platform.”

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

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

By Robert Hoskins

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

iFunding.com Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate

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

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

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

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

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

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iFunding Raising $2 Million with Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on Crowdfunder

After raising nearly $30 million for real estate projects, iFunding is now crowdfunding its own equity crowdfunding site

By Robert Hoskins

New York City, New York – iFunding, the company that makes real estate investing simple through crowdfunding, announces it is raising a corporate financing round of up to $2 million. The round of financing uses the same types of crowdfunding techniques that iFunding applies to its day-to-day business in real estate investment. This is another sign of evolution in the crowdfunding sector and real estate financing.

iFunding.com Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate

iFunding will use the funds for expanded operations, technology enhancements, marketing and sales. It is performing this fundraising through a Crowdfunder crowdfunding campaign.  Crowdfunder has over 77,000 registered users and $56 million committed across investments to-date. This current financing round follows on earlier investments by select strategic partners, customers and colleagues into the company. A “Series A” venture round is planned for 2015.

iFunding is one of the longest-operating real estate crowdfunding sites, connecting thousands of registered investors with real estate developers and opportunities to finance their building projects. The company has raised tens of millions of dollars for projects ranging from new home construction or refurbishments, to commercial spaces, condominium communities, mobile home parks, apartments and mixed-use urban facilities. iFunding has been covered in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, Seeking Alpha, Real Estate Weekly, The Real Deal, Realty Today, Multi-Housing News and Urban Land magazine.

Accredited investors wishing to participate in iFunding’s fundraising can visit the Crowdfunder investment portal for more information. On the project web page, readers will find information including a strategy and investment presentation, and introductory video.

Founder and CEO of iFunding, William Skelley, noted “Our team is excited to have been working with thousands of investors and real estate developers in our first full year of operations. Now, we plan to expand our real estate operations, enhance our technology platform with more user-friendly features, and broaden our marketing and sales activities to reach more investors and developers. Our growth also creates a compelling case for investors to participate in this early success stage of our company.”

Co-Founder, Sohin Shah, added, “The crowdfunding approach to our own fundraising was an easy decision for us. It opens this opportunity to a broad audience, as people can own shares in iFunding for as little as $10,000.”

iFunding has chosen Crowdfunder to list its fundraising campaign. Entrepreneurs use the platform to tell the story of their business and raise investment from a community of institutional and individual accredited investors. iFunding selected Crowdfunder because of the volume of investor activity on the site, and the easy-to-use web application that supports investor research and interactive communications. iFunding’s goal is a $1 million raise, with a $2m maximum, on Crowdfunder.

iFunding also is partnering with Accredify for online verification of an individual’s accredited investor status. Instead of individuals having to manually verify status each time they invest in private placements, Accredify securely automates verification via tax records or collects letters stating one’s liquid assets. The platform also allows investors to share their accredited status easily across multiple investments they make, all the while keeping sensitive information confidential.

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RCS Capital Reinstates 51 Selling Agreements to Distribute Alternative Investment Solutions

RCS Capital has 1,020 active selling agreements and works with over 250 firms to distribute alternative investment solutions

 By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – RCS Capital Corporation (NYSE: RCAP) (“RCS Capital”) announced that certain broker-dealers have resumed sales of products distributed by Realty Capital Securities, LLC, the company’s wholesale distribution business, pursuant to 51 recently reinstated selling agreements.  RCS Capital has 1,020 active selling agreements and works with over 250 firms to distribute alternative investment solutions.

RCS Capital Alternative Investments

RCS Capital Corporation is a full-service investment firm expressly focused on the individual retail investor. With operating subsidiaries including retail advice services, wholesale distribution, investment banking, capital markets, investment research, investment management and crowdfunding, RCAP’s business is designed to capitalize, support, grow and maximize value for the investment programs it distributes and the independent advisors and clients it serves.

“We have consistently communicated to the market our belief that the suspensions of certain of our ongoing selling agreements were of a temporary nature.  The reinstatement of these agreements and this initial resumption of sales are confirmation of this belief,” commented Bill Dwyer, Chief Executive Officer of Realty Capital Securities, LLC. “RCS Capital enjoys strong relationships with our broker-dealer network, and strongly believes firms clearly understand the value of RCS Capital-distributed products and continue to work constructively with us, just as we are eager to provide them with access to the quality products they demand.”

RCS Capital also announced that RCS Capital’s management team remains confident in the long-term value of RCS Capital’s platform, as highlighted by the recent purchase of RCS Capital common stock by a number of senior executives.

RCS Capital’s senior executives have purchased a total of 79,165 shares of the company’s Class A common stock last week. Bill Dwyer recently purchased 42,000 shares and John H. Grady, RCS Capital’s Chief Strategy and Risk Officer, bought 3,815 shares. Also, as disclosed previously in Form-4 filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), Michael Weil, RCS Capital’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian Jones, RCS Capital’s Chief Financial Officer, and Brian Nygaard, RCS Capital’s Chief Operating Officer, purchased an aggregate of 33,350 shares of RCS Capital common stock last week.

“Management maintains an unwavering confidence in the long-term value of RCS Capital’s platform, its people, its customers and the terrific growth prospects of its business,” said Mr. Weil. “The recent purchase of RCS Capital shares by management underscores our firm belief that the company’s current market valuation does not properly reflect the fair value of the business’s robust fundamentals, earning power, growth prospects and significant competitive advantages.”

Additional information about RCAP can be found on its website at www.rcscapital.com. RCAP may disseminate information about itself, including the results of its operations and financial information, via social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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First Mobile Crowdfunding App for Real Estate Equity Investment Deals Rolls Outs in New York

“iFunding – Real Estate Investment through Crowdfunding,” allows investors to perform every function in the real estate investment lifecycle that they currently can through a computer and web browser

By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – iFunding announced the launch of the first-ever real estate crowdfunding mobile app for investors. The app, called iFunding’s website. It is available on the Apple Store for iOS devices and on Google Play for Android products. New mobile app allows investors to browse deals, make investments, monitor project progress and receive alert notifications, from iFunding’s real estate crowdfunding platform.

iFunding is a real estate investment platform that uses technology to make private real estate investing simple. Individual investors can select and make direct investments in pre-vetted institutional quality real estate assets directly on our website.

To encourage investors to try the app and real estate crowdfunding, iFunding is offering, through Labor Day, 2014, a $100 credit back to anyone who makes an investment during this period.

Key app features let users:

• Browse live investment opportunities, including information about the property, the neighborhood, the project team, pro forma financial projections, legal documents and Q&A with the sponsors. Users can select specific investments or just browse real estate investment opportunities, at any convenient time and place.
• Complete an investment transaction entirely from the mobile device, including document signature and initiation of funds transfer. Or, optionally, switch to their computer to complete a transaction.
• Monitor progress on a project in which they are participating, reading about construction activity and financial expenditures, and viewing photos.
• Receive notification alerts to be informed when there are new deals available or existing deals have reached key milestones.

“This is the first time that accredited investors will be able to manage their real estate crowdfunding investments via a mobile device. Since some types of iFunding deals tend to fund in a matter of hours or days, the app will be an invaluable way for investors to stay informed about what opportunities are available, and to initiate investment transactions with just a few taps,” said Sohin Shah, co-founder of iFunding and product strategist for the app. “A large percentage of our web visitors are already on mobile devices, and early feedback shows a lot of excitement about having a custom app for streamlined and full-featured mobile access.“

William Skelley, CEO of iFunding, added, “Our COO, Sohin Shah, and our internal development team deserve a lot of praise for designing the app to meet investor needs and add features that our leading users requested during feedback sessions. This is advanced use of technology for real estate investing in general, not just for crowdfunding. It reflects our vision for democratizing real estate investing through access and transparency.”

The iFunding app, for both mobile devices and tablets, also has social features allowing accredited investors to interact with other investors, project operators, and iFunding executives to pose questions and have the answers shared across the community.

Every iFunding user is assigned a secure log-in, all data traffic is encrypted, and no personal data is stored on the mobile device when the app is not in use. All financial information is further encrypted and stored at a secure, third-party financial services provider focused on this purpose.

The app is free to use and there is no cost to registering for an iFunding login. Financial regulations require that one be an accredited investor to register and view deals. The investment opportunities listed are from independent residential and commercial real estate developers & operators working with iFunding’s crowdfunding platform. Investors can review a wide range of supporting information to make decisions about investments that are right for their situation.

iFunding is a leading real estate crowdfunding platform, facilitating equity and debt fundraising for single family homes, multi-family residences, apartment towers, retail locations, office buildings and mixed-used buildings. iFunding provides opportunities for accredited investors to invest in institutional-quality real estate deals, with a minimum investment of just $5,000.

The company specializes in preferred equity investing and directly oversees each deal throughout its lifespan, providing extensive information and transparency to give investors insight and oversight into their investments.

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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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Licensed Broker-Dealer Signs Deal with Due-Diligence Services Provider to Provide CUSIP Identifiers for Private Placement Offerings

WealthForge will be the first broker-dealer to offer CUSIP identifiers for private offerings

 By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – CUSIP Global Services (CGS) and WealthForge announced acollaborationin the registrationofCUSIP identifiers for private placement offerings.   Meant to serve the rapidly growing market for online capital formation colloquially known as “crowdfunding,” this joint initiative will bring the precision and reliabilityofCUSIP identifiers to a new sector of the market.

WealthForge will be the first broker-dealer to offer CUSIP identifiers for private offerings

Useful primarily for trade communication as well as clearing and settlement activities, CUSIPs for Crowdfunding will function like CUSIPs for other types of securities, and will feature the same 6-character issuer and 9-character issue format upon which so many market participants have come to rely.  CUSIPs for Crowdfunding are available upon request for most offerings with valid support documentation.

“Making CUSIPs available to private placements adds credibility and legitimacy to this emerging asset class, making crowdfunding more like existing markets,” said Mat Dellorso, CEO of WealthForge. “Just as publicly traded securities are easy to find and easy to track through a CUSIP, we believe the same should be true of these new online securities. This partnership will make that possible.”

In addition to the functionality available through WealthForge’s portals, CUSIPs for Crowdfunding are available via a jointly promoted website, .

“We are pleased to enter this new market with WealthForge as a partner,” said Jim Taylor, Managing Director and Head of CGS. “With the support of our industry-appointed Board of Trustees, it is CGS’ mandate to bring the efficiency and reliability of CUSIP identifiers and descriptive data to new markets – Crowdfunding is a natural extension of that philosophy.”

WealthForge will be the first broker-dealer to offer CUSIP identifiers for private offerings.

Added Dellorso, “In the near term, we are focused on enabling our partners to better communicate and promote their offerings to potential investors. In the long-term, our vision is to create increased liquidity opportunities for private securities – a CUSIP on each one is an important step toward achieving that goal.”

WealthForge Holdings, Inc. is a firm that enables online private investments – investments made in companies, particularly small businesses and startups, that are not on a public exchange. WealthForge provides the technology and oversight needed to complete these private investment transactions within SEC regulations through its wholly-owned licensed broker-dealer subsidiary.

Some of WealthForge’s services include compliance, investor verification, transaction processing, shareholder services and access to larger pools of capital. WealthForge’s broker-dealer subsidiary has been operating as a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) since 2009.

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SeedInvest Seeks Equity Crowdfunding Accredited Investors to Raise $3 Million in Series A Funding

Equity Investment Offers Investors an Opportunity to Get In on the Ground Floor of One of America’s Leading Equity Crowdfunding Investment Sites before the SEC Approves 240 Million New Investors to Join the Equity Investment Pool when the Final Title III Guidelines are Approved by the SEC sometime in 2014

By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – SeedInvest announced that it is seeking accredited investors to fund a $3 million Series A round on its own equity crowdfunding investment platform in the United States. The first $2 million has already been committed by prominent venture capital firms, including: Scout Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Avenue A Ventures, Krillion Ventures and Archer Gray.

SeedInvest.com Launches $3 Million Series A Round on Its Own Platform

SeedInvest is excited to open up the remainder of its round to individual accredited investors who would like to invest alongside the aforementioned venture capital firms. This announcement marks the first time that a US-based equity crowdfunding platform has publicly raised capital for itself. Interested investors should go to www.seedinvest.com/seedinvest to learn more about the company and the investment opportunity.

The $3 million raise will enable SeedInvest to grow its team to support its rapidly growing investor base. In conjunction with the raise, Bradley Harrison, Managing Partner at Scout Ventures, will join SeedInvest’s Board of Directors.

“SeedInvest has both the right team and vision to capitalize on one of the largest shifts of economic power to retail investors that we have experienced in our lifetime,” said Harrison. “Their results clearly prove that they are addressing a huge problem for both investors and entrepreneurs.”

Since its launch in February 2013, SeedInvest has rapidly expanded its investment base, attracting thousands of investors who are looking to collectively invest more than $125 million in startups. In addition to establishing a thriving marketplace, SeedInvest is getting deals done. The company processed more than 60 investments worth over $2 million in March alone, and grew its transaction volume by 350% in the first quarter of this year versus the previous quarter.

Unlike other platforms that keep 20% of returns, SeedInvest is completely free for investors. This has enabled SeedInvest to attract larger investors who made investments as large as $550,000 last month. As a result, SeedInvest has proven that it can deliver capital quickly and bring high-value-add investors to the table. During March, SeedInvest helped Vengo, a high-tech digital vending machine, raise $720,000 online from a combination of venture funds, family offices and individual angel investors.

“Although we have had a tremendous start to 2014, we can’t wait for the 2nd half of this year,” said Ryan Feit, CEO and co-Founder SeedInvest. “As soon as the final portion of the JOBS Act kicks-in, we will open SeedInvest to 240 million Americans who will be able to invest in startup companies for the very first time.”

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New York Fashion Designers Skip “Crowdfunding” and Take a Walk Down the “Crowd Commerce” Runway

Global “Crowd Commerce” Concept Bypasses Crowdfunding and Goes Straight to Crowd Sales Targeting Consumers and Designers to Determine What Products Are Produced – Cynthia Rowley, Whit, and Meskita Currently Signed On

By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – In a creative twist on e-commerce, crowdfunding, and social media, Crowdemand is a new fashion technology platform that connects consumers directly to the designers they love on their desktop, tablet, and mobile device. However unlike traditional crowdfunding sites, there are no crowdfunding profiles, no pitch videos, only the the opportunity to make a crowd purchase.

Global “Crowd Commerce” Concept Bypasses Crowdfunding and Goes Straight to Crowd Sales Targeting Consumers And Designers

On Crowdemand established contemporary designers present pieces via the a new version of “crowd commerce” website, with consumers ultimately deciding which designs go into production. Crowdemand will feature select brands such as Cynthia Rowley for their launch, with the New York City based label Whit, and Brazilian designer Meskita to follow.

Designers showcase exclusive products on Crowdemand with price-points between $250 – $2,000. Each piece will fit into three categories: “Celebrity Spotting,” where designers will recreate an item worn by a celebrity, “Backed by Popular Demand,” where designers create popular pieces from past seasons, and “New Demands,” which are new exclusives for the coming seasons. This business model is the only one of it’s kind–currently designers, fashion e-commerce sites, and brick and mortar stores can only offer a selection of merchandise that has already been produced, and when the inventory runs out you’re out of luck.

Each designer individually determines the minimum number of orders required for a design to go into production, and to maintain exclusivity, Crowdemand sets a maximum number of orders that can be placed. Crowdemand will also take photos and edit the images of each design, at no cost to the designer.

Next the users, or “crowders” can pre-purchase the designs during a determined two-week campaign period, spreading the word via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms, knowing that with the power of the crowd the design will get made. During the campaign process each design has a progress circle letting crowders and designers know how close they are to reaching their production goal.

Once enough crowders have pre-purchased the design, Crowdemand places an order with the designer, and products are shipped domestically and internationally within eight to sixteen weeks right to each crowder’s door. All items in original condition can be returned within 30 days, and as a bonus, for the next two weeks users who sign up and share Crowdemand with their friends will be rewarded with a $25 credit for every friend that signs up.

“This retail model is the future; it bridges the gap between consumer and designer, bringing unparalleled benefits to both parties which are unavailable within traditional retail models,” explains Liat Cohen, VP of Business Development at Crowdemand.

Both participating and future designers are excited to become a part of this unique platform because it solves a myriad of the industry’s inventory and production cost issues. Fashion houses place orders based on projections, but Crowdemand offers designers the chance to assess demand and capture pre-orders before any pieces go into production, as well as the real-time insight of what their customers, not department store buyers, are interested in wearing.

Consumers are generally sold to, not listened to, and by engaging with Crowdemand they are heard loud and clear.

By leveraging their social networks and enlisting their followers to help get designs made, they are becoming an integral part of the production process. The ground-breaking sales method of Crowdemand allows designers and customers to do what they do best: designers can create without the stress of production projections, while customers join in the process of creating an exclusive product in their size without ever having to search through racks for the right item. The future of retail lies in this model of “crowd commerce,” and Crowdemand is the first fashion e-commerce site to offer it.