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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LiveLink Mobile Launches $500k Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on LocalStake to Fund Wireless App to Help Sales Reps Close More Deals with Email Marketing and Social Media Campaigns

LiveLink is seeking to raise an additional round of funding via equity investments to further build out its business network and deliver additional enhanced mobile app features and benefits

By Robert Hoskins

Indianapolis, IN – In 2013, LiveLink raised $1 million from local Indiana angel investors through traditional techniques. As a result, Mike Alley, chairman of Patriot Investments, joined the board along with Bob O’Brien from Cambridge Ventures. The capital allowed LiveLink to acquire another software development firm (Cogent Media Group), make several key hires and to build out a mobile solution that helps sales professionals find more opportunities through email marketing, social media, VAR channel marketing programs and enables sales to create the sales & marketing content they need to close deals.

Click here to download the LiveLink Mobile Free Sales App

In 2014, LiveLink has turned to Localstake to raise an additional $500,000 to further prove its model and to make additional technology enhancements to its mobile solution. Localstake works with many types of companies ranging from breweries to software companies like LiveLink.

“We are $100K toward our $500K goal and expect the remaining amount to come in through the next several weeks,” said Jason Zickler, CEO and founder of LiveLink. “Localstake has the functionality for us to more effectively reach out via our online and offline networks to find investors that were previously very difficult to connect with.”

“We are excited to work with LiveLink on their fundraising goal,” said Ryan Flynn, co-founder of Localstake. “Marketing technology is very strong in Indiana, and we are excited to help in this arena. We feel our platform can help LiveLink connect with a wide range of potential investors and do so while managing the demands of using the new securities exemptions that are now available.”

LiveLink™ enables marketing to use mobile to get sales content and messaging directly into the hands of sales reps. Better yet, it’s free to use forever for up to 10 users. At LiveLink we enhance communication between marketing teams and field sales teams using mobile technology.

Marketing and sales know they have to work together to be successful. Everyone knows it’s a team effort, but in the day-to-day activities, differences in how individuals work slow down interaction and collaboration. We help address this problem by giving marketing the ability to get marketing tools and collateral directly into the hands of sales reps using a mobile app.

Not only do we help give on-the-go employees access to the latest marketing content, but we enable you to make it actionable. Every PDF, video and URL can be sent via email, shared via LinkedIn and shared via Twitter all with a few taps on a mobile phone. Marketing now has a direct communication channel with their on-the-go field sales reps.

A major rule change last September allows companies like LiveLink to publicly solicit and market for private investments. The SEC’s change to Rule 506 allows “accredited” investors with a net worth of more than $1 million, or who earn at least $200,000 a year, to participate in equity crowdfunding sites like Localstake.

Crowdfunding is the fundraising technique of soliciting small amounts from many individuals over the Internet. Localstake is an investment crowdfunding platform based in Indianapolis for start-ups and small businesses to raise funding from investors in their community.

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Indiegogo Campaign Raising Funds for Armband Thermometer iPhone App that Allows Parents to Monitor a Sick Child’s Fever Throughout the Night

 iTherm bracelet works with iPhone app to set up automated reminder system for medication administration and to record all data to help the pediatrician with diagnosis and treatments

By Robert Hoskins

Boston, MA – How many times have you lost sleep when one of your children was running a dangerously high fever? When your child is sick and running a high fever, it is very wise to check the child’s temperature every few hours.  But instead of waking up the child in the middle of the night to see if their temperature is stable or rising, wouldn’t it be nice to check the temperature via  a smart temperature sensing bracelet worn by the child and your iPhone from the comfort of your own bed.

iTherm bracelet works with iPhone app to set up automated reminder system for medication administration and records all data to help the pediatrician in the diagnosis and treatment

That is the solution that iTherm is crowdfunding via an Indiegogo $29,000 fundraising campaign. The  iTherm is a $39 bracelet that measures body temperature via a wireless smartphone app. Now parents can set alarms to alert them when the temperature has reached a certain limit.

Marcos Oliva, entrepreneur and founder of the project, had the idea when his first child was born. When his son had his first cold and fever the pediatrician told him and his wife: “Watch out that the temperature does not get too high by giving him antipyretics every 8 hours for 2 days. If there is no improvement bring him back.” That night they organized shifts every 2 hours to monitor the fever and the next day the whole family was very tired. With the birth of his second child the sleepless nights increased.

There had to be a solution for these problems:

• Waking up again and again when most of the time there is no need
• Awakening the child when what he/she needs is to rest and recover
• Sleeping concerned about the possibility that the fever rises

Using Bluetooth 4.0 Marcos attached a temperature sensor to a bracelet, so that by placing it in the child’s arm the temperature could be monitored without waking the child. This system also allows to set alarms to wake parents if the temperature rises but the whole family can rest if it does not.

iTherm also includes an automated reminder system for medication administration and it records all data to help the pediatrician in the diagnosis and treatment.

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MySmartCar Automotive App for Smartphones Launches Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign to Raise Money to License PID Codes and Test Market Demand from Chevy, Chrysler and Ford Drivers

The 2nd Generation Automotive App is designed for drivers with no mechanical knowledge and makes it easy to diagnose car problems and control in-car network devices

By Robert Hoskins

A new startup, based in Silicon Valley, announced the launch of a new Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money to develop a new wireless app for devices running Android and iOS operating systems.  The new MySmartCar Smartphone App will enable drivers to use their Android, iPhone or many other smart computing devices to view the intricate details of their automobile’s operation from the OBD-II and non-standard PID codes generated by their auto’s on-board computer.  These are the same codes that auto mechanics read when drivers take their car in when the Check Engine light comes on or when they take their car in for yearly state inspections.

MySmartCar Automotive App for Smartphones Makes It Easy Diagnose Car Problems

“The difference between our advanced MySmartCar Smartphone app, and other OBD-II, cable-based readers is that we plan to go way beyond what is currently available in the marketplace,” said Victor Nguyen, MySmartCar App’s inventor and co-founder. “Today’s smart cars also produce another type of code called non-standard PIDs, which are what we plan to use to develop the next generation of MySmartCar apps, which can not only read, but also control every thing that is attached to the in-car network such as touch screen dashboards, telematics or movie selection/sound volumes for backseat electronic amenities.”

“The reason most developers stop at low-level OBD-II codes is that the licensing fee for the advanced PID codes from auto manufacturers is very expensive, up to $50,000 for one brand such as Chevrolet/GM,” added Nagaraj Hedge, MySmartCar’s Software Engineer.  “Once we raise enough money to buy one license, we can finish developing our app and begin selling it.  This will generate sufficient revenue to develop a MySmartCar for every car manufacturer. We want to pre-sell enough apps to get our business off the ground and then the MySmartCar app will sell it itself.”

Many low-level code readers have been introduced over the years that allow mechanics to read what codes are causing problems, but they require bulky machines and a wire cable that has to be physically plugged into the car’s OBD computer port.  Mechanics then look up the code in an ASE code book to interpret what the codes meant.

The problem with this process is that drivers remain totally in the dark to the real problem that was causing their check engine light to turn on.  Mechanics are free to take advantage of consumers because drivers have no way to know what was wrong with their auto, but not anymore. The MySmartCar app will make it very easy for anyone to read and control a wide variety of vehicle information before going to see a mechanic.

Any blog, print or broadcast media outlet that runs a full-length repost of our Indiegogo profile at www.indiegogo.com/projects/mysmartcar-the-ultimate-obd-ii-car-app and sends us the link to the story will qualify for a single MySmartCar App, one Bluetooth OBD/PID transmitter, and one key chain finder tag due out in September 2014.

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