May 20, 2013
Top 15 European “Peer-to-Peer” Lending Services
 Crowdfunders generally fall into different categories like equity, donation, reward and debt. The last one is also known as microfinancing or what is commonly referred to in Europe as “peer-to-peer lending.” Funding is generally in the form of a simple loan, but over time, other instruments may possibly evolve from this. Here are the top 15 up-and-coming peer-to-peer lenders that are making the financial waves in Europe. This is an update to a previous top 10 list published on Forbes last March 26th. 1. Zopa – This London-based P2P lender offers loans of up to £10,000 where individual borrowers deal directly with lenders. Zopa categorizes borrowers based on their credit grades and lenders can offer terms and amount of money based on the category of the borrower. 2. Funding Circle – A marketplace where lenders can spread their investments across (more)…
April 23, 2013
With New SEC Chair in Place, Any Chance Equity Crowdfunding Will Happen in 2013?
 After three months since being nominated by President Barack Obama, the U.S. Senate on Monday approved Mary Jo White as the new chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. How will this affect the final steps of implementing the last two laws of the JOBS Act? Our prediction is that she will conclude Title 2 of the act which was due July 4, 2012 and which allows general solicitation under Reg D, 506 but not Title 3 of the JOBS Act for equity crowdfunding. The latter prediction is based on the SEC DC Circuit SEC Dodd Frank defeats stemming from insufficient cost/benefit analysis. Last March, Ms. White received bipartisan support from the Senate Banking Committee with a strong 21-to-1 vote in her favor, thereby sending her nomination practically unhindered to the full Senate for a vote. Monday, April 8 she (more)…
April 15, 2013
2013 Forecast Shows Crowdfunding to Reach $5.1 Billion in Transactions
 Research firm Massolutions came out yesterday with a crowdfunding industry report based on Research Form 582. It said that crowdfunding sites globally will will reach close to $5.1 billion in transactions for 2013, double from $2.7 billion in 2012. That is an 81% growth in 2012 versus a 64% growth in 2011. Excerpt from the research published by Massolution Interestingly enough, LendingClub offers peer-to-peer loans of up to $33,000 and last month transacted $125 million with a projection to llend up to $1.5 billion by year end. The industry behemoth of crowdfund lending is triple the size of second place firm in the US, Prosper, which has lent $400 million over the last few years. “While the growth in 2012 funding volumes was primarily driven by both lending-based and donation-based crowdfunding, lending grew a compelling 111% to a total volume (more)…
April 1, 2013
2013s Top 10 Investor Events To Raise Money For Entrepreneurs
 If you’ve got a small business or start-up that needs investors, attending crowd funding and angel investing events will provide you the opportunity to meet with and market your ideas to potential investors. These events will also provide you the opportunity to learn from the successes of others who have “been there and done that,” not only what things they did right, but also what mistakes they made and overcame or are facing and looking for solutions to. Here’s a list of the top investor events this next couple of months where you can find investors that can cut a check for your business. We are proud to be able to work with a few of these event organizers. FundingPost Venture Capital and Angel Events Atlanta, March 28; Chicago, April 11; New York, April 18; Las Vegas, May 2 FundingPost (more)…
March 14, 2013
A Storm is Brewing for Global Funds
 In spite of prior delays, last year on August 29, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its first proposals for rules under the Jobs Act that would relax general solicitation for accredited investors. Signed into law on April 5, the Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups (JOBS) Act makes revolutionary changes to federal security laws that are over 70 years old. The changes include allowing issuers to advertise certain securities to accredited investors more freely, prepare IPOs to go public with discrete filing as well as relaxing the Sarbannes-Oxley Act compliance cost for five years for firms with less than $1 billion in revenue. On August 29, the SEC proposed rules in which stock offerings may be marketed to the general public through any advertising mechanism without restriction—the biggest restriction is reserved for the public, and not for the seller, however. (more)…
January 28, 2013
JOBS Act: Interview with Candace Klein, CEO of SoMoLend
 To probe the legal intricacies revolving around the JOBS Act and how these new laws might impact the crowdfunding scene in the next months leading to and right after the much-anticipated full implementation of crowdfunding for equity, David Drake spoke with Candace Klein, CEO of SoMoLend. Drake: Candace, you are a founder of the leading organizations in crowd funding and also CFIRA’s co-chair with Vincent Molinari from Gate Technologies. You are a powerhouse and a trained securities attorney now in debt-based crowdfunding. You were one of the first 5 founders of CFIRA and CfPA and currently sit as the founding Chair Person of CFIRA. In addition, you are one of the youngest members and some research showed me that you had actually won 25 out of 27 startup competitions you entered in the past. That is impressive. What would you like (more)…
January 25, 2013
JOBS Act: Interview with Arnon Shafir, CEO and founder of give2gether
To probe the legal intricacies revolving around the JOBS Act and how these new laws might impact the crowdfunding scene in the months leading to and right after the much-anticipated full implementation of crowdfunding for equity, David Drake spoke with Arnon Shafir, CEO and founder of give2gether. give2gether is quite a revolutionary crowdfunding site because it combines aspects of game theory with crowdfunding campaigns. The founders say that by doing this, they raise more money and have higher donor participation rates. In this interview, I explore how their model works. Drake: Arnon, your firm has grown to be the fastest growing donation-based firm in Israel and I have been very impressed with both your growth and your work. You have doubled in revenue every few months and you are using gaming and economic game theory to optimize your crowdfunding technology. (more)…
January 2, 2013
JOBS Act: Interview with Scott Purcell, CEO of Arctic Island
 To probe the legal intricacies revolving around the JOBS Act and how these new laws might impact the crowdfunding scene in the next months leading to and right after the much-anticipated full implementation of crowdfunding for equity, David Drake spoke with Scott Purcell, CEO of Arctic Island. Drake:Scott, you are a co-founder of the leading organizations in crowdfunding and have taken a leadership position on crowdfunding for equity in the US. The law is changing through your work with us. The US is the first country in the world taking a leadership position and changing the law for crowdfunding. This is a momentous change in how capital flows. How do you feel about the progress the crowdfunding for equity portion of the bill this has taken to date? PURCELL: All entrepreneurs wish others would move as fast as they do. (more)…
December 12, 2012
1000 Days for a EU JOBS Act
 The European Crowdfunding Network is in Brussels at the EU Workshop organized by the European Commission’s DG Connect and DG Enterprise & Industry. SecondMarket, Symbid, GrowVC and Indiegogo are the other participants on the event who are talking about legalizing crowd funding for equity in Europe. DG Connect is the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, aka DG CNECT. DG Enterprise & Industry “works on creating an environment in which European firms can thrive. The improvement of the business environment is intended to lead to growth in productivity and subsequently create the jobs and wealth necessary to achieve the objectives set by the European Council in Lisbon in March 2000,” according to Wikipedia. The Soho Loft was present July 10, 2012 during the previous workshop held with DG Enterprise & Industry at the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) forum (more)…
December 11, 2012
JOBS Act Interview with Chance Barnett, CEO of CrowdFunder
 To probe the legal intricacies revolving around the JOBS Act and how these new laws might impact the crowd funding scene in the next months leading to and right after the much-anticipated full implementation of crowd funding for equity, David Drake spoke with Chance Barnett, CEO of CrowdFunder, a platform that enables businesses to raise equity and revenue-based financing. This exciting venture will allow everyday Americans to, for the first time, participate and invest in companies and founders they believe in, while providing small businesses with the guidance and training necessary to establish a successful future and accelerate the rebuilding of the American economy. Barnett is a respected entrepreneur in the field of startups, product development, marketing, strategy, social media, and fundraising. Highlights of his accomplishments include: bootstrapping businesses that sell over $25 million in products annually; actualizing multiple online services (more)…
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