Sony Global Education Launches a KOOV Indiegogo Campaign to Fund a Software Coding and Robotics Kit for the Next Generation of Innovators

KOOV is already available in Japan and China, and Sony is now looking to expand the program to the United States

By Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR

San Diego, California – Sony Electronics in conjunction with Sony Global Education announced that the KOOV Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to fund a new coding and robotics kit for the next generation of young innovators has raised more than half of it crowdfunding goal.

The Sony Global Education team developed KOOV as a fresh approach to learning robotics and programming. KOOV is already available in Japan and China, and Sony is now looking to expand the program to the US in order to gain feedback and insight into the American market.

KOOV: The all-in-one coding, robotics and design kit for the next generation of innovators from Sony

KOOV is a robotics and coding educational kit made up of blocks, sensors, motors, actuators, and a companion app that teaches children core concepts about design, coding and robotics. The app also features a secure social space, where children can share their designs and code with other young inventors from around the world.

The blocks can be assembled into any shape, with the final figure capable of being controlled as a robot. The kit encourages learners to “Play” by building with 7 kinds of translucent blocks, “Code” by controlling the assembled figure through the KOOV app, and “Create” by embracing their creativity and imagination.

Sony Global Education believes that the teaching materials for robotics and programming will play a major role in cultivating STEM literacy and nurturing the next generation of problem solvers.

KOOV was built on the belief that STEM learning tools should be accessible to all children.  Through the use of inclusive colors, shareable design and the goal of building a foundation for future STEM learning, Sony hopes to attract parents of children 8 to 14 years old, with equal emphasis on boys and girls.

Pre-orders are available for a limited time beginning June 20th via Indiegogo, with product scheduled to ship to backers in early December. The suggested retail price is $359 for the Starter Kit and $499 for the Advanced Kit with limited quantities available at discounts of up to 40% for early backers.  Interested consumers can learn more about KOOV, and place preorders at https://igg.me/at/KOOV.

 

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert 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.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding PR” to see why Mr. Hoskins runs one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding PR, social media and marketing agencies that has amassed a huge social media following and is dedicated to supporting a wide variety of donation, rewards and equity crowdfunding campaigns.

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Shellback’s 2017 New Year’s Resolution for Drivers Facing Stiff New Penalties and Fines Associated with Talking, Texting and/or Even Holding a Smartphone While Driving

Buy a Smartphone Safe to store cell phones out-of-sight in a secured case that automatically notifies parents, fleet managers or employers if phones are being used while vehicles are in transit

 By Robert Hoskins

Los Angeles, California – Shellback Smartphone Safes announced that the company wants to solve the #1 growing epidemic that is killing thousands of teenage and adults drivers every year — distracted driving — due to texting and/or talking on a cell phone.

Shellback Smartphone Safe Will Help Drivers Stop Texting and Driving Under New 2017 Laws that Prohibit Texting and Calling While Driving

The main cause of these accidents is the urge to look at a phone screen to read a text or to see who is calling on a cell phone or smartphone, which is like driving the full length of a football field blindfolded at 55 mph and twice as dangerous as driving drunk.

Yet, everyone who reads this will probably agree that they, too, have looked up from their cell phone just seconds before causing a preventable accident. The problem is that it takes two seconds to make a corrective action, which many times is too late.

“Our clients are having these types of problems when trying to manage their large commercial fleets. For example, one large Fortune 500 Company recently had a Responsible Vehicle Accident (RVA) resulting in a fatality. It was determined that the employee was texting while driving,” said Michael Maguire, Shellback Smartphone Safes‘ CEO. “And trying to figure out how to keep their driver’s eyes on the road is just half of the problem. They also need a solution to track drivers, guarantee that they were adhering to their company’s cell phone policy, and the ability to generate detailed driving compliance reports by enterprise, region, or for a specific driver.”

“As a result my brother, Thomas Maguire, and I invented the patent-pending Shellback Smartphone Safe, the only solution that actually confirms the phone is stored out-of-sight. This allows parents, fleet managers and anyone else that wants to regulate cell phone usage to generate accurate compliance reports in real-time,” Maguire continued. “Unlike other smartphone apps that are supposed to deter talking on cell phones, ours does not block a cell phone’s communication. The Smartphone Safe simply secures a phone inside a high-tech case that prevents a driver from looking at or reading a cell phone’s screen.”

The Smartphone Safe is the only solution that completely removes the phone as a driving distraction. The proprietary embedded technology confirms the phone is in the case, verifies that they are not able to see their phone, and sends alerts if the case is opened while driving.

“Combined with an app that runs on Apple iPhones and Android Smartphones, once a cell phone is stored in the ‘Smartphone Safe,’ it begins tracking the device as soon as the vehicle begins moving,” Thomas Maguire added. “If the Smartphone Safe is unlocked while the vehicles is on the road it automatically sends a report to the parent or fleet manager that records the GPS location, speed and direction of the vehicle and feeds the information into a compliance report for disciplinary action.”

To download a free spec sheet or to learn how to purchase a $250 “Shellback Smartphone Safe,” complete with a two-year monitoring contract, please visit http://liveundistracted.com/press-room/.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert 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.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

EquityRound.com Signs Deal to Refer Qualified Accredited Investors to FundAmercia

FundAmerica to Serve as Investment Banking Firm and Administrative Support for EquityRound.com

By Robert Hoskins

San Diego, CA – Capital Services Group entered into a strategic alliance with FundAmerica Securities whereby EquityRound.com, Capital Services Group’s online marketplace for companies raising capital under Rule 506(c) will refer interested, qualified accredited investors to FundAmerica to provide sales and transaction related services relating to offerings posted on EquityRound.com.

EquityRound.com an online investor website for emerging growth companies to market their offerings under Rule 506(c)

Capital Services Group Founder and CEO, Thomas Carter, said that “We are pleased to have established this relationship with FundAmerica. Its management team has substantial experience in the financial services industry, as well as having held positions at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) which underscores our commitment to building a truly best-in-class Rule 506(c) marketing platform.”

“We are excited to partner with Capital Services Group,” said Jonathan Self, FundAmerica’s FinOp and COO, “As one of the leading platforms in the country they are doing exciting things as they assist businesses in getting the funding they need to succeed and create new jobs.”

FundAmerica Securities provides organizations with securities back-office and compliance services as they raise capital via the Rule 506(c) exemption of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933. The company’s related business, FundAmerica Technologies provides critical technology services to portals and issuers who are engaging in technology-driven fundraising by selling equity and debt securities to investors pursuant to 506(b), 506(c) (aka Title II of the Jobs Act) and, once rules are approved, 4(a)(6) (aka Title III of the JOBS Act) offerings.

Based in San Diego, California, Capital Services Group provides emerging growth companies with resources and support to more efficiently access growth capital and investor support, including investment packaging, direct public offering, shareholder communications. Capital Services Group owns and operates EquityRound.com an online investor website for emerging growth companies to market their offerings under Rule 506(c). 

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To Celebrate the 2nd Anniversary of the 2012 JOBS Act, Front Page PR Offers Low-Cost License Fee to Start Crowdfunding Training Classes throughout the United States

License Agreement offers Chambers of Commerce, SBA Offices, Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), SCORE & Startup Incubators and Business Accelerators the Opportunity to Offer Front Page PR’s Content to Launch Their Own Crowdfunding Training Programs

 By Robert Hoskins

AUSTIN, TX – Front Page PR announced a new low-cost licensed crowdfunding training class that will provide non-profits, economic development, Meetup groups and government agencies such as the Small Business Administration (SBA) with the basic training materials needed to begin educating entrepreneurs, veterans, startups, small businesses, high schools, junior colleges, universities and employment agencies on how to use crowdfunding to eradicate unemployment by facilitating new businesses and creating new jobs throughout the United States.

Front Page PR is the #1 Crowdfunding PR firm in America

For only $300 per year, licensees will receive the training materials needed to launch a crowdfunding advocacy training program in their community. The low price point should allow crowdfunding educators and experienced public speakers to break even on the very first class by charging attendees $25 or more to attend the seminar. Click here to buy a one-year license.

“Most Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) charge an average of $49 per class to attend classes on how to write a business plan, how to get a bank loan, how to seek venture capital, or how to seek alternative financing to start up a small business,” said Robert Hoskins, Front Page PR’s Director of Crowdfunding Campaigns. “At this price tag, our Crowdfunding Training Program will only take six paying customers to fund a full year’s subscription. After the initial cost, training 20 people per month at $49 would generate approximately $11,460 per year in revenue.”

Front Page PR will provide free Crowdfunding Training Class Workshops for instructors who want to provide the Crowdfunding Training Class, but have no knowledge of the crowdfunding industry or experience in teaching their communities how to launch successful crowdfunding campaigns. In addition, the workshops will include free press release templates and teach instructors how to utilize cost-effective PR/media relations programs to raise awareness for the classes within the local community.

Front Page PR’s Crowdfunding Seminar materials include:

• How to Plan a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
• How to Conduct a Crowdfunding Competitive Analysis
• How to Shoot a Crowdfunding Pitch Video
• How to Write a Persuasive Crowdfunding Profile
• How to Offer Effective Perks & Rewards
• How to Set Up a Realistic Fundraising Goal

Even Fortune 500 corporations can get involved. Many large companies such as IBM have launched intranet crowdfunding programs to incentivize their employees. Crowdfunding campaigns can be used as an excellent research and development tool. Internal crowdfunding campaigns can be used to fast track great business ideas upward to management based on employee support, which completely bypasses the typical roadblocks that thwart innovation.

Front Page PR’s crowdfunding training class rollout will target Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus, D/FW, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Washington, DC and Wichita. Additional markets will be added based on market demand.

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Velocity Kick Rolls Out Powerful New Marketing, Social Media Tool for Crowdfunding Platforms

Entrepreneurs, startups, academics and non-profits can use this social media scoring tool/CRM software tools to streamline crowdfunding campaign outreach and improve efforts to collect the first 30% of fundraising

By Robert Hoskins

Velocity Kick is cool a new marketing service that every crowdfunding platform should take a look at.   To date, the team has assimilated a lot of cool marketing tools and has built a pretty advanced back-end.  They are now running their final fundraising campaign on the new Ramen crowdfunding platform to fund the development of its GUI front-end interface. The campaign profile has $75 perks for individual campaign managers as well as $2,000 perks for crowdfunding platforms that will deliver 12-months of service. But you better hurry, their perks are almost all gone!

Velocity Kick’s tools significantly reduce the time spent organizing contacts and prioritizing messaging, making it easy to undertake crowdfunding efforts.

Velocity Kick is one of the first purpose-built integrated marketing solution for crowdfunding aimed at improving campaign results.  With Velocity Kick, duplicated outreach is reduced and contact lists are sorted into groups, making unique, almost personalized message-targeting easy.  Velocity Kick’s first generation web app/service aggregates contacts from the address books and social networks of team members working on the same project and quickly merges and organizes them for use in campaigns.  Velocity Kick is currently running a $15,000 campaign of its own on the LAUNCH Hackathon winning platform, Ramen.

Now only 15 days in, Velocity Kick has raised $10,837 or 72% of its $15,000 goal, placing it comparatively in the Top 10% of projects successfully raised at Kickstarter, the largest crowdfunding platform in the industry.

Since announcing its own campaign, the company has attracted partners with non-profit organizations, venture capitalists and creatives currently managing campaigns.

“We’re already seeing money stream in from entrepreneurs who have run successful campaigns and their comments are all the same,” said Josh Baylin, the founder of Velocity Kick.  “They all wish they had these tools helping them reduce preparation time significantly.”

Upon completion of its own campaign, Velocity Kick’s planning tools and data-driven strategic outreach assistance will be only a few clicks away for campaign managers across the globe and across multiple platforms. Initially, Velocity Kick will be supporting campaign managers with targeted lists and data-driven campaign strategy insights.

“Our platform is going to be focused on improving the planning and campaign life-cycle of potential backers, news media and key influencers,” said Baylin.  “Already, we’ve got relationships in place with accelerators, crowdfunding platforms and campaign managers alike.”

Right now Velocity Kick is focused on “rewards” campaigns, or those hosted by platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo or others.  Ultimately, Velocity Kick believes campaign managers who are passionate about their projects and the vision should be focused on connecting with their core audiences.  And so it’s tool set is designed at improving how quickly campaign managers can find and reach that audience.

“Velocity Kick is crowdfunding made simple,” said Andy Abramson, CEO of Comunicano, the Del Mar, CA based value-creation communications agency. “Being able to automate and properly manage the communications efforts more quickly, means funding gets done faster, leaving more time for developers and entrepreneurs to make a great product.”

Velocity Kick will make its money charging users a fee for more advanced list building and reporting tools.

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PledgeCents Launches New Education Crowdfunding Platform to Help Schools K-12 Move to a New Level of Fundraising for Field Trips to Science

By Robert Hoskins

PledgeCents, a new crowdfunding website dedicated to raising funds for public schools, plans to open its doors on Saturday, April 13, at the National School Boards Association’s 2013 conference in San Diego. PledgeCents plans to connect individual investors and corporations with schools seeking alternative ways to offset recent educational funding cuts.

New Education Crowdfunding Site, PledgeCents, Launches at National School Board Association’s 2013 Convention

“Many educators we consulted said they want to fund a wide variety of micro-projects that would otherwise either be underfunded or completely eliminated. Now, teachers can create projects they need financial help on while administrators can control the process and provide oversight to ensure funding priorities are met.”

Ricky Johnson, co-founder of PledgeCents, said the new crowdfunding website will help public schools continue offering programs, services and school supplies that are desperately needed to maintain, or raise, the educational standards for children. “The slow economic recovery continues to impact school funding across the United States. Many educators are waking to the realization that they must find alternative funding for programs, services and supplies which are at risk of being cut.”

School projects which crowdfunding can help include:

• Equipment for marching bands and athletics
• Field trips involving tour buses or overnight lodging
• School security personnel or monitoring equipment
• Supplies for science labs, art or theater

“PledgeCents is open to any schools with funding needs,” said Andyshea Saberioon, co-founder and CEO of PledgeCents. “Many educators we consulted said they want to fund a wide variety of micro-projects that would otherwise either be underfunded or completely eliminated. Now, teachers can create projects they need financial help on while administrators can control the process and provide oversight to ensure funding priorities are met.”

Students can join in the fundraising activity by wearing “PledgeCents bracelets,” which come in a variety of school colors and feature a penny to remind them that “every cent counts” toward making the world a better place through education. PledgeCents will also award monthly monetary prizes to school campaigns that raise the most funds.

Unlike some crowdfunding websites, fundraising campaigns on PledgeCents will be paid to the school regardless of whether the project is fully funded.

Become a Crowdfunding Advocate

To learn more about the Crowdfunding industry and startup local Crowdfunding community outreach programs, please join our free American Crowdfunding Center on LinkedIn.com or Meetup.com and don’t forget to follow us onTwitter. Both social media sites allow platform owners and crowdfunding campaign managers to post their news and press releases into the discussion forums. This will help us find new and exciting crowdfunding stories to cover.  We are currently covering crowdfunding topics such as Business Services,Cities/Communities, Crowdfunding Platforms, Education,Film/Music/Entertainment, Games/Videos, Social Good, Solar andSoftware/Hardware Technology Gadget crowdfunding PR campaigns.

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