http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com A new approach for financing tech innovation Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:55:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A couple of weeks ago Hong Kong based GrowVC came out of closed beta and launched their crowdfunding platform to the world. I was excited because GrowVC was described an "equity crowdfunding" platform, implying that investors receive equity in the businesses they back. To my mind this is an essential ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2010/03/04/questions-about-growvcs-crowdfunding-platform/ Last night I gave a talk about crowdfunding at Minibar London. The audience mainly consisted of people working on early-stage ventures. I took a straw poll about funding. Some had already raised finance from friends and family or institutional sources. Many more were planning to raise money in the coming ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2010/01/30/crowdfunding-presentation-at-minibar/ I'm pleased to announce that the first tranche of Trampoline's crowdfunding process was successfully completed today. We had all the investor commitments more than a month ago but it took til now to get the paperwork drawn up and executed. The last few signatures came in earlier today. This is ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/10/29/first-tranche-of-crowdfunding/ Nick Britton at Growth Business has written a thoughtful article analysing the current malaise in the venture capital industry. He quotes research that aggregate VC investment in the UK has shrunk by 63% since 2006 (from £2 billion to £750). That's a much grimmer picture than the 30% global decline ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/09/22/growth-business-features-trampoline/ It's now one month since we announced Trampoline's crowdfunding project. As Techcrunch reported we rapidly received commitments for a third of a million pounds. We're now close to initial completion at half a million pounds with a solid pipeline of investors moving towards the second stage. At this point certain ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/09/04/crowdfunding-one-month-update/ Yesterday afternoon I recorded a ten minute interview with Out-Law, the technology law website run by international law firm Pinsent Masons. This has now been published as a podcast. The interview starts at 2:30. http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/08/20/charles-armstrong-interviewed-on-out-law-podcast/ Yesterday night, as the Perseid meteorites streaked through Earth's atmosphere, Techcrunch.com published a provocative article on Trampoline's decision to "jump the VC ship" and raise finance via crowdfunding. Techcrunch has established itself as the journal of record for tech startups and the venture capital industry so this was bound to ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/08/12/techcrunch-article-on-trampoline-crowdfunding/ Today's Sunday Telegraph includes a feature on Trampoline's Crowdfunding initiative written by the paper's Enterprise Editor, Richard Tyler. The article discusses how conventional venture capital financing can lead businesses to raise progressively larger sums of money regardless of whether that's what they actually need. As Trampoline proceeds down the crowdfunding ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/08/09/sunday-telegraph-feature-on-trampoline-crowdfunding/ Hot on the heels of last Wednesday's feature, today's Financial Times includes an article discussing Trampoline's crowdfunding initiative as an example of alternative sources of finance being sought by SMEs. http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/08/08/financial-times-on-trampoline/ Today the FT wrote an excellent two-column feature discussing Trampoline's decision to raise finance through crowdfunding. The article quotes the experience of Sellaband using crowdfunding in the music industry and the vital role played by personal networks. The paper even included the photo Al took yesterday in front of the ... http://crowdfunding.trampolinesystems.com/2009/07/29/financial-times-feature-on-trampolines-crowdfunding/