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Unable to Get Credit, African Entrepreneurs Turn to Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a way to raise money from a large number of people via the Internet to fund a project. The concept is well established in the West, but is still new in Africa. A World Bank project in Kenya has launched a mentorship program to help business owners take advantage of crowdfunding, which some say could help replace the kind of aid they currently receive from NGOs.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- crowdfunding
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Will JOBS Act Equity Crowdfunding Ever Happen?
On April 5, 2012, a revolutionary avenue of capital formation for small businesses was created when President Obama signed The JOBS Act into law and equity crowdfunding in the United States was born. Entrepreneurs with small businesses were excited by the prospect of using online crowdfunding to raise up to $1 million by selling equity in their company, something not allowed on rewards-based crowdfunding sites Kickstarter or Indiegogo. When the JOBS Act was passed, the new law gave the Securities and Exchange Commission until January 1, 2013 to publish regulations and rules that would allow this game-changing law to go into effect.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- crowdfunding
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A $710 Million Crowdfinanced Company: An Alternative to Venture Capital
Last week the UC Berkeley case study on Sanovas Inc., the San Rafael California Life Science accelerator was presented at the JP Morgan Chase OneMed conference to a packed audience of over 120 investors. I presented the case study, which is the first in a series to be released by UC Berkeley looking at innovative firms and models in crowdfunding.
- Categories
- Investing
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NexThought Monday – Why Did Vittana Close Down?: The real question: why don’t more organizations pull the plug?
Kate Cochran was part of a small team that decided to close Vittana, a nonprofit crowdfunding organization that aimed to spark student loan markets in the developing world. Cochran argues that more social enterprises, be they nonprofit or for-profit, should know when it’s time to call it quits.
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- Education
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- crowdfunding
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PRESS RELEASE: Grameen China and JD.com Launch Crowdfunding Microfinance Project
JD.com, Inc. ("JD.com" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: JD), China's largest online direct sales company, and Grameen China, the China-based entity of Grameen Trust ("GT"), a non-profit and non-government organization committed to the cause of poverty alleviation, today announced that they have reached an agreement on a strategic partnership in China.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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- crowdfunding, microfinance
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Four Insights from Four Investors: Practitioners of impact and angel investing share their views
As our Impact Investing Insights series concludes, we’ve compiled the views of four practitioners on topics like impact assessment, crowdfunding, and the advantages of socially responsible investing. You can read excerpts here, or check out the embedded video for their full perspectives.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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S.E.C.’s Delay on Crowdfunding May Just Save It
While the Securities and Exchange Commission dawdles, states are rushing to adopt their own crowdfunding rules. Ironically, it may just be the thing that rescues crowdfunding from a regulatory death grip.
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- Uncategorized
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SunFunder Completes New Round Of Funding
SunFunder, the US crowdfunding company dedicated to funding off-grid solar projects in developing countries, announced Wednesday that it had completed its Series A equity round of funding, raising $2.5 million. The announcement came following investments from Schneider Electric, Better Ventures, and a private family foundation based in Palo Alto. This latest announcement follows on from an original Series A investment made by Khosla Impact and a group of existing angel investors.
- Tags
- crowdfunding, solar, venture capital
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