March 12, 2014 @ 10:17 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Joystiq’s monthly Crowdfund Bookie report is out and it isn’t pretty. For the quarter beginning in December 2013 and ending February 2014, just over $6.1 million was contributed to video game-related crowdfunding campaigns. That is down more than 50% from the $12.5 million contributed between… Read More

March 12, 2014 @ 9:57 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Seven of the UK’s largest crowdfunding platforms have teamed up to launch alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk, a new web portal aimed at providing SMEs with “a free and easy way for SMEs to find alternative business funding.” Crowdcube, Seedrs, Zopa, Funding Circle, MarketInvoice, Platform Black and Pensionledfunding.com are… Read More

March 12, 2014 @ 9:35 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Wells Fargo has reversed a ban on employees participating in the peer-to-peer lending arena after the announcement of the measure garnered international attention. Related – Wells Fargo To Employees: No Peer-To-Peer Loans According to the San Francisco Business Times, Wells Fargo spokesman Ruben Pulido clarified that “The original… Read More

March 11, 2014 @ 10:50 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Could you imagine having raised over $100,000 on Kickstarter only to cancel the campaign with less than 48 hours to go? That is precisely what Tivitas Interactive has done, and they deserve a lot of credit for it. The campaign was for the Sinister multi-platform… Read More

March 11, 2014 @ 10:33 am By Charles Luzar  |  

In this video Motley Fool analysts David Hanson, Tyler Riggs, and Matt Koppenheffer debate peer-to-peer lending. Interestingly, about halfway through the video the trio begins to discuss Google and Facebook getting into the peer-to-peer lending space. Will they? It bears mentioning that Google Capital is an… Read More

March 11, 2014 @ 10:23 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Embattled Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford’s relationship status with crowdfunding? It’s complicated. You may remember from last year that Gawker editor John Cook spearheaded a crowdfunding campaign – affectionately called “Crackstarter” – that aimed to crowdfund the money necessary to purchase a video allegedly showing… Read More

March 11, 2014 @ 10:00 am By Charles Luzar  |  

AngelList co-founder and CEO Naval Ravikant took to his blog over the weekend to outline what could be a new paradigm in funding startups. It melds the crowdfunding model with a novel cryptocurrency that in theory could allow a company to “go public” without the… Read More

March 10, 2014 @ 11:16 am By Charles Luzar  |  

We first reported on the impending launch of crowdfunding platform Vision Launch in February. The company is planning a launch for sometime this month. Now Vision Launch has announced a partnership with crowdfunding campaign PR service CrowdfundBuzz that will pair newbie crowdfunders with the CrowdfundBuzz… Read More

March 10, 2014 @ 10:39 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Former NBA star and current analyst for TNT Shaquille O’Neal is crowdfunding on Indiegogo. The goal: to fund a sequel to Shaq Fu, a video game released in the mid-90’s. Even Shaq would admit that Shaq Fu was terrible, but take a look at the preview trailer… Read More

March 10, 2014 @ 10:16 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Oregon-based Carbon Audio has one successful Kickstarter under their belt. The company raised over $70,000 on a $25,000 goal for the Zooka, a wireless speaker for iDevices. The crowdfunding success was also accompanied by a $1.5 million round. The product eventually found its way into… Read More

March 9, 2014 @ 12:54 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

Smart home security device Canary has landed a $10 million Series A round led by Khosla Ventures. Khosla’s Ben Ling will join Canary’s board as part of the deal. It’s the third round of funding for Canary counting their $1.2 million seed round and a… Read More

March 9, 2014 @ 12:38 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

The above comment sums up the general tenor surrounding a currently-running Kickstarter campaign for the Soap home automation router. The device’s campaign promises to deliver an Android-based home automation unit that allows the user to control all of his or her at-home digital devices. The… Read More

March 9, 2014 @ 12:16 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

  Ouya has announced plans to drop their hardware-focused approach to become a software-only platform for Android games. Prognosticators once bullish on the subject of indie gaming consoles are suddenly cooling off. Although I don’t agree with the sudden change of heart, there are lessons… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 12:20 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

This morning Yancey Strickler appeared on CBS to talk about Kickstarter’s billion-dollar milestone. He provides a pretty cool retrospective at some of the great campaigns that have come from Kickstarter over the years and Kickstarter’s goals and methods as a company. Watch below…     ___________________________… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 11:21 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Here’s an eye opener… This is a ranking of portfolio momentum among major VC firms. Second on the list: online venture capital firm FundersClub. That’s some impressive growth. Here’s an explanation of the meaning of this extrapolation from Mattermark’s blog… Firms receive points based on an average… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 10:20 am By Charles Luzar  |  

In what is probably the most overdue thing in the toy space, someone is trying to disrupt Mattel’s Barbie doll, often criticized for presenting a completely ridiculous and unrealistic image of the female body. The campaign is for Lammily, and it’s Barbie’s more realistic doppelgänger; a… Read More

March 6, 2014 @ 9:15 am By Charles Luzar  |  

They’re here. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published rules governing equity and lending-based crowdfunding in the UK. They are set to take effect on April 1 with a review scheduled for 2016. Christopher Woolard, director of policy, risk and research at the FCA, said, ”We… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 12:27 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

The countdown is on. Veronica Mars hits theaters and will be available to backers on March 14th. In anticipation of the film’s release, Rob Thomas and company have released the following clip of the first two minutes of the film. Not much is revealed, so no… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 12:09 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

PledgeMusic has released a major redesign of their crowdfunding platform for musicians, but there is more to the redesign than just a facelift. This represents a big strategic shift for the platform, and one that says quite a bit about crowdfunding strategy for musicians and… Read More

March 5, 2014 @ 11:45 am By Charles Luzar  |  

The Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC is almost here. The event has been celebrated for over 90 years, and the bloom is the most popular time of the year to visit DC. In the past the event has been supported by sponsors, but this… Read More