Equity Crowdfunding for Investors. Matthew R. Nutting
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу Equity Crowdfunding for Investors - Matthew R. Nutting страница 9

СКАЧАТЬ thousands of dollars investing via equity-based crowdfunding, you should become familiar with the crowdfunding concept and process in a relatively risk-free environment like the rewards-based version. Rewards-based crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter can be good training, from a navigation and social point of view, for equity-based crowdfunding portals. We will help you learn the investing aspects of equity crowdfunding in later chapters.

      Debt and Donation Crowdfunding

      Before we introduce the equity-based version, it is worth looking at two more types of large-scale crowdfunding platforms that preceded equity-based crowdfunding in the United States: debt-based and donation-based.

      Debt-based (or what in the United Kingdom is called “lending-based”) crowdfunding began at the nonprofit level in 2005, when Kiva Microfunds was launched by Matt Flannery, a software programmer in San Francisco, and Jessica Jackley, who had worked for a microfinance institution in Africa. Kiva is now the fourth-biggest crowdfunding site in the world in terms of traffic, as measured by Alexa (a website information, analytics, and ranking service).

      Flannery and Jackley, a married couple, call their business model “person-to-person microfinance.” The Kiva website features individuals in the “developing world,” some of them impoverished, who apply for unsecured loans to build or grow small businesses, ranging from amounts as small as $25. In the beginning, Kiva featured only overseas borrowers, especially in Africa and Latin America. In 2009 it broadened its scope to include borrowers in U.S. and Canadian communities that are underserved by banks and traditional lenders, and in 2012 it introduced student loans (in a partnership with Strathmore University in Kenya). Kiva also serves borrowers in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and India.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

      1

      Jeffrey Sohl, “The Angel Investor Market in 2012,” Center for Venture Research, University of New Hampshire, April 25, 2013. Among angel clubs (comprising accredited investors only), the sectors that attracted the most capital in 2012, ranked by the Angel Capital Association, were: healthcare, Internet, software, mobile/telecom, business products/services, energy/utilities, computers, consumer products/services, electronics, industrial, environmental services/equipment, media, and financial services.

      2

      Private

1

Jeffrey Sohl, “The Angel Investor Market in 2012,” Center for Venture Research, University of New Hampshire, April 25, 2013. Among angel clubs (comprising accredited investors only), the sectors that attracted the most capital in 2012, ranked by the Angel Capital Association, were: healthcare, Internet, software, mobile/telecom, business products/services, energy/utilities, computers, consumer products/services, electronics, industrial, environmental services/equipment, media, and financial services.

2

Private company securities are those not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and not listed on a public stock exchange.

3

We don't mean to imply that if you had known about Apple's and Facebook's early investment opportunities then, you would have been able to invest in them. At that stage, the companies wanted only strategic investors, i.e., people who had expertise to help the companies develop, market, and distribute their products, populate their boards of directors, and attract future rounds of venture capital.

4

Some members of the House of Representatives have proposed increasing the capital-raise limit to as much as $5 million.

5

Scott A. Shane, Fools Gold? The Truth behind Angel Investing in America, Oxford University Press, New York, 2009, pp. 11 and 158.

6

Specifically, out of 269 companies in which the Band of Angels invested between 1994 and 2013, 10 have gone public, for an IPO hit rate of 3.7 percent. Data provided by Ian Sobieski, PhD (in aerospace), managing director, Band of Angels (www.bandangels.com), December 10, 2013.

7

When we refer to “funding portals,” we intend to include online offering platforms of broker-dealers who intermediate equity crowdfunding deals.

8

Most surveys and studies of angel investment returns use self-reported data from investor groups and individual angels, and thus are not necessarily reliable. It is likely that some investors and investment groups exaggerate their returns based on both practical and ego-related motives.

9

Be careful not to view highly rated investors, who are not paid fees for their opinions and advice, as true investment advisers. People who give advice to investors and earn fees for it must comply with strict regulations, including the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

10

A December 17, 2013, conference in New York City, cosponsored by Thomson Reuters, was called “Crowdfinance 2013: Redefining Wall Street.”

11

Joseph Pulitzer, New York World, March 16, 1885, as reported by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, at www.nps.gov/stli/historyculture/joseph-pulitzer.htm, accessed October 2013.

12

Based on e-mail correspondence with Maria Schneider and the ArtistShare publicity team, October 2013.

13

“Top 1 °Crowdfunding Websites by Traffic,” GoFundMe, October 16, 2013. Ranking by Alexa.com.

14

Source: www.kickstarter.com/help/stats?ref=footer.

15

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1015015457/chipolo-bluetooth-item-finder-for-iphone-and-andro?ref=live, accessed October 23, 2013.

16

Quoting Jake Bronstein of Brooklyn, owner of Flint and Tinder, which manufacturers “premium men's underwear” made in the USA. Bronstein's April-May 2012 Kickstarter campaign raised $291,493 from 5,578 backers, based on a goal of $30,000. (From e-mail correspondence with the authors on October 24, 2013.)

17

This project wasn't an unalloyed success. The company had fulfillment problems, and then some of the big tech companies copied its idea.

18

The latest study was Ethan R. Mollick, PhD, “The Dynamics of Crowdfunding: An Exploratory Study,” Journal of Business Venturing, 2013. Mollick reported that “over 75 percent deliver products later than expected.” His study was based on a dataset of over 48,500 Kickstarter projects with a combined funding of over $237 million. Available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2088298&СКАЧАТЬ