Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Top Stories

SEC Votes to Lift General Solicitation Ban — Earlier today, the SEC voted 4-1 to lift the ban on general solicitation for private placements. The ruling creates a new kind of offering, called 506(c), that effectively allows companies (as well as hedge funds and other asset managers) to advertise private securities offerings to accredited investors. Congress mandated the SEC to lift the 80-year ban on general solicitation in Title II of the JOBS Act that passed in April 2012.

In brief, I’d say that the assessment was that big institutional investors are still key, but hat crowd-sourcing can do far more than just launch small cottage efforts, in some cases funds like Kiva run $18 million worth of directed financing. …. and some very impressive companies have emerged from this.

– Dan

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Crowdfunding Tip of the Week: How to Create a Custom Thumbnail for Your Pitch Video

Rose Spinelli, a crowdfunding consultant who runs The Crowdfundamentals, writes in with her fourth Tip of the Week, a series exclusive to Crowdsourcing.org. Check out her advice on how to make the most of your pitch video.

Crowdfunding Real Estate: A Q&A with Realty Mogul’s Jilliene Helman

Realty Mogul is a recently-launched real estate crowdfunding platform for accredited investors. Real estate crowdfunding is a relatively new form of crowdfunding, so we spoke with Jilliene Helman, Realty Mogul’s CEO, who was kind enough to tell us about her company and how it operates. Read on to find out!

Kickstarter-Funded ‘GoldieBlox’ Coming to Toys R Us

GoldieBlox, a Kickstarter-funded toy meant to encourage more young girls to explore STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects, is coming to the shelves of Toys R Us, America’s largest toy retailer.

James Franco on His ‘Palo Alto Stories’ Indiegogo Campaign

James Franco is not just an actor/director who recently appeared in the film Spring Breakers – he is also a published author whose book Palo Alto came out in June 2011. Now, Franco is combining his two passions to turn stories from his book into feature films, and he’s using crowdfunding to make it happen.

Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde Crowdfunding Encrypted Messaging App

Peter Sunde, best known as the cofounder of file sharing search engine The Pirate Bay, is working on an app that will allow users to message each other without fear of being spied on. The app is called Hemlis, which is Swedish for “secret.”

Double Fine’s Broken Age, Over Budget and Delayed, Split in Two

Last year, independent game studio Double Fine crowdfunded a fun, little adventure game. Today, that game is no longer little, and that’s proving problematic.

Financial and Political Interests Between Crowdfunders and Regional Economic Development Professionals [Pt. I]

Thomas Vass of The Private Capital Market, a subscription-based crowdfunding website, writes in to discuss the nexus of financial and political interests between crowdfunders and regional economic development professionals, using the concept of innovation economics. In this first half of the article, Vass explains the concept of innovation economics, and how it has evolved.