Weekly Crowdfunding News Roundup: Week of September 3rd

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Davis Jones

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General News

• (UK) BIA, the UK trade association representing biotech firms calls on the UK government to provide tax incentives for citizens who invest directly in startups and for the government to streamline crowdfund investing regulations. Based on data from France, who implemented a similar scheme (minus crowdfund investing) under Sarkozy (and is now cancelled under Hollande), the BIA's excellently done report estimates that the proposal would raise £300mm of growth capital for innovative startups and create 1,500 well-paying jobs.

• (US) One crowdfunding website gets press in Time for planning to launch their site with a campaign to fund the production of a hologram of Ronald Reagan speaking. (via reader Tony R.)

• (US) Update: The WikiWeapon project, which I mentioned in this weekly roundup a few weeks ago, has been pulled from Indiegogo.com but the campaigners say the campaign is "still going strong."

• (UK) One campaign to fund a line of rugby clothes in the UK has raised £123,000 via UK crowdfunding website Crowdcube.comin an issuance of a crowdfunded equity security. The minimum investment amount was £5,000, and the campaign ultimately found 70 crowdfunders to reach the £123,000 funding point. You can check the campaign out right here if you're interested.

• (US) One Massachusetts man has been charged with fraud for trying to solicit private shares for his company via his website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Deals

• (US) The William James Foundation and crowdfunding site Launcht.com have teamed up for a second time to provide a platform for entrepreneurs with sustainable business ideas to pitch their business plans. The top three fundraisers will be entered in the William James Foundation's sustainable business plan competition. Check out the projects on the Launcht pitches page here.

• (US) Crowdfund Investing site Communityleader.com has inked a strategic alliance with online bookkeeping site BookKeeperZoo.com.

Site Launches

• (New Zealand) NZ site socialbacking.com starts facilitating token crowdfunding.

• (The Netherlands) Dutch video game funding site Gambitious.com launches. It promises a hybrid model: token funding for small commitments with equity funding available if you want to contribute larger amounts. The site launches in partnership withsymbid.com (among others), a crowdfunding platform that I've used and liked.

• (US) California-based UInvest promises to help investors find equity investment opportunities in the Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.

• (Sweden) FundedByMe.com facilitates token-backed funding in Sweden, and interestingly allows backers to make pledges via SMS. The site looks sharp.

Campaign of the Week

In the spirit of sustainable entrepreneurship, please consider the Kosovo Wind Gardens campaign, which has entered the Launcht/William James Foundation's sustainable business competition, which has a nice campaign video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S1ho0HzVPOY