Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Fintech Interviews and Podcasts
Global Crowdfunding with Dr. Richard Swart, UC Berkeley, Director of Crowdfunding Research
NCFA Canada (About Us) | Gabe Nasr | August 11, 2014
Crowdfunding is a global phenomenon with the World Bank releasing a report predicting that the global crowdfunding industry could grow into $96 billion per year by 2025.
Join a 10 mins chat with Gabe Nasr, Marketing Intern at NCFA Canada and a research participant in the study, Dr. Richard Swart, Director Crowdfunding Research at UC Berkeley and co-founder of Program for Innovation in Entrepreneurial and Social Finance at the university. Richard currently leads the research team studying how crowdfunding, and other innovations in entrepreneurial finance models, are helping startups get funded. He is an active director/advisor to several startups and works internationally with policy makers and governments on crowdfunding and entrepreneurial issues.
View: UC Berkeley hosts 2nd Annual Crowdfunding Research Symposium (Sep 11/12, 2014)
This video interview discusses crowdfunding and frontier nations, international and enterprise crowdfunding, secondary benefits (i.e., research, engagement, community building), and thoughts on advancing crowdfunding in Canada including.....'Crowdfunding Day'!
Global Crowdfunding with Dr. Richard Swart, UC Berkeley, Director of Crowdfunding Research
Category : Crowdfunding
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Crowdfunding is a global phenomenon with the World Bank releasing a report predicting that the global crowdfunding industry could grow into $96 billion per year by 2025.
Join NCFA Canada who catches 10 minutes with one of the leading research participants in the study, Dr. Richard Swart, Director Crowdfunding Research at UC Berkeley and co-founder of Program for Innovation in Entrepreneurial and Social Finance at the university.
Richard currently leads the research team studying how crowdfunding, and other innovations in entrepreneurial finance models, are helping startups get funded. He is an active director/advisor to several startups and works internationally with policy makers and governments on crowdfunding and entrepreneurial issues.
Learn more:
https://ncfacanada.org/
http://www.funginstitute.berkeley.edu/program-innovation-entrepreneurial-and-social-finance
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Increase your organization’s profile and gain access to a dynamic group of industry front runners. Learn more About Us | About Crowdfunding or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
Crowdfunding ‘is no silver bullet’
The Globe and Mail | RENÉE SYLVESTRE-WILLIAMS | Last Published Aug 6, 2014
When Monster Factory needed to raise funds for its next line of stuffed fantastical and mythical beings, it could have gone to the bank. Instead, co-founders Rhya Tamasauskas, Adam Dunn and Bliss Man turned to Kickstarter, the popular crowdfunding platform.
“We were hesitant to go to the time and expense of creating new products when we were already occupied with our day-to-day task of marketing our existing line. It didn’t seem worth the risk,” Ms. Man says.
“However in Kickstarter, we found a platform that allowed us to reach our audience before making a financial commitment to the project. This made all the difference, as we were able bring this project together while avoiding any cash flow constraints that would otherwise have held us back.”
The company set a goal of $12,000 and has pulled in more than double from investors who’ve bought into their expansion plan, with two weeks still remaining before its campaign closes. The owners can now start production on Spencer the Dragon, Margot the Unicorn and Louie the Monster.
Related:
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11 essential ingredients every crowdfunding campaign needs (infographic)
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Crowdfunding Presentation: Igniting Entrepreneurship in Canada
More and more small businesses and startups are turning to crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Tilt to raise money. Producers of smart watches (such as the Pebble watch, which raised more than $10-million U.S.), movies and, yes, even potato salad have cashed in. But not all projects get fully funded. Kickstarter’s stats report that 66,684 projects were successfully funded, but 89,235 were not.
For entrepreneurs, the appeal of crowdfunding platforms is obvious. If you’re successful, you end up with cash flow without the interest fees from a financial institution, not to mention a ready-made market for your product, as investors are essentially customers, too.
For example, Canadian project TV, eh? recently beat its original target on Indiegogo. The website about Canadian television asked for $1,500 and ended up with $16,947. “The support has been incredible and proves that people want to read more about Canadian TV,” says Greg David, TV critic and partner in the business.
But if you’re not successful, you may end up with a percentage of the money you need or even nothing at all. This year, for example, Toronto fashion designer Sunny Fong of Vawk attempted to raise $30,000 to expand his label. His first attempt fell far short, raising just 10 per cent of his total goal.
“Crowdfunding can be awesome, but it’s no silver bullet. That’s a huge misconception. It’s one of the many options, but like everything else, you have to work for it and there is no guarantee you will get it,” says Tara Hunt, social digital leader at public relations firm MSLGroup.
Ms. Hunt suggests doing research before launching a crowdfunding project. “The hype around crowdfunding would have us believe it’s a slam dunk – build it and they will come. It’s not. Like everything else, it takes hard work and, even then, you can be rejected.”
Referring to a recent campaign in which a U.S. man raised $55,000 to make potato salad, she adds: “Unfortunately, potato salad-like stories that blow up are imagined to be the rule when they are actually the exception.”
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Increase your organization’s profile and gain access to a dynamic group of industry front runners. Learn more About Us | About Crowdfunding or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
NCFA Hosts Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate Panel Discussion
NCFA Canada (About Us) | Gabe Nasr | July 24, 2014
How equity crowdfunding for real estate makes investing in real estate a reality for the common investor, and boosts local community development
Real estate investment crowdfunding is growing exponentially in international jurisdictions including the US. Learn about the potential of equity crowdfunding for residential, commercial and community re-development projects in Canada and how it works.
Recorded July 2014: Listen to an equity crowdfunding for real estate expert panel discussion hosted by NCFA Canada featuring Tim McKillican, President of Open Avenue, Doug McLean, CTO of Joi Media / Katipult, and Commercial Real Estate lawyer and NCFA Advisor, Albert Lin (24 mins in total length).
Google Hangout Panel Participants Include:
Tim McKillican, Founder and President, Open Avenue
Albert Lin, Commercial Real Estate Lawyer, NCFA Advisor
Doug McLean, CTO at Joi Media / Katipult
Hangout: Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate in Canada
Category : Crowdfunding
Hits : 65709
Recorded July 2014: Listen to an equity crowdfunding for real estate expert panel discussion hosted by NCFA Canada featuring Tim McKillican, President of Open Avenue, Doug McLean, CTO of Joi Media / Katipult, and Commercial Real Estate lawyer and NCFA Advisor, Albert Lin (24 mins in total length).
Real estate investment crowdfunding is growing exponentially in international jurisdictions including the US. Learn about the potential of equity crowdfunding for residential, commercial and community re-development projects in Canada and how it works.
Learn more:
https://ncfacanada.org
http://www.katipult.com
http://www.openavenue.com
Still Not Active in Canada
Equity crowdfunding for real estate is thriving in the US, raising more than $135-million in debt and equity. It seems that it is only a matter of time for Canada to put regulations in place which allow this model of crowdfunding to be active, however, currently the Ontario Securities Commission is proposing to exclude the entire real estate industry from participating due to several concerns (see OSC proposed crowdfunding exemption rules and regs).
For now, given the proposed investor cap of $2,500 per deal in Ontario's proposed equity crowdfunding model, which is considered quite low given the high capital needed in real estate investing, a property costing $500K would need approx 200 crowd investors to fully fund the offering.
The Benefits of Investing in the Local Community
As Tim McKillican points out in our discussion (at minute 14:30), having this extra autonomy over one’s portfolio allows one to invest their money in places closer to home, thus keeping their investment capital local, and developing their surrounding community.
Differing from REITs, equity crowdfunding for real estate creates offers more control over the which properties one chooses to invest in.
An Extra Level of Security
Investors have direct title to the asset (in this case over the property), which, as we discussed in the talk, makes the investments made through these specialty crowdfunding portals more secure.
Do you agree?
Check out the chat we had with our expert panel, and please join the ongoing discussion. Do you think equity crowdfunding for real estate is a smart way to invest and grow communities? Or is it a flawed model which can be misused or exploited...
Watch Equity Crowdfunding for Real Estate Panel Discussion --> Now
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Increase your organization’s profile and gain access to a dynamic group of industry front runners. Learn more About Us or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
Why should crowdfunding only be for startups?
Globe and Mail | Daina Lawrence | July 24, 2014
Crowdfunding is a popular method used by startups to acquire financial backing for a company or even specific product, but it is not often thought of as a tool for established businesses.
Experts Daryl Hatton, CEO of social crowdfunding platform FundRazr.com, and Craig Asano, executive director of the National Crowdfunding Association of Canada, argue that larger corporations have barely begun to explore the benefits of crowdfunding.
Is crowdfunding just for startups?
Daryl Hatton: Not at all. Crowdfunding helps a lot of successful startups, but it’s not at all required that it be a startup. We’re seeing lots of new applications from local businesses that have been there a while, but want to launch a new product or service, or from enterprises that are looking at it to help them validate whether or not there’s a market for a new product that they’re interested in.
Related: 11 Essential Ingredients Every Crowdfunding Campaign Needs [Infographic]
Craig Asano: Crowdfunding is not at all just for startups. Whether you’re an individual, a small company or a big company, for-profit venture or not-for-profit, you take a look at the marketplace locally here in Canada and there have been successes in crowdfunding, but it’s been across the board. So it’s really an organization seeking to tap into the power of that crowd. Funding for the ideas is one major part, but it’s also this idea of social capital and networking.
What models of crowdfunding are available to established businesses now, and coming up?
DH: There are a couple of different models, but let’s start with the first one, which is the all-or-nothing funding model, where you set a goal and only if you achieve that goal do you actually receive the funds. You can use that model to test whether your product is interesting to a marketplace. By allowing people to order a copy of the product ahead of it actually being produced, if you get enough orders you say, ‘Okay, there’s enough demand,’ and will actually go and create the product. So large companies started to experiment with that, including companies like IBM. They were running internal programs where they were crowdfunding within the company to see which kinds of products would most likely succeed based on the responses of staff.
Related: Research: Crowdfunding Models: Keep-it-All vs. All-or-Nothing
There’s another model that’s starting to come out and it’s related to marketing a company, as opposed to product development. That’s the idea of taking the corporate social responsibility program project, where they’re putting money back into their community and turning that into a customer acquisition system. For example, if someone made a donation to a cause that was supported by the corporation, the corporation might give them a copy of the product in order to help increase the value of the donation. I know that sounds a little complicated, but imagine for a minute that you were going to give money to a local hospital and, in exchange for your donation, you got [an Internet] TV package from [a telecommunications company]. The cause gets some money, [the telecom] gets a customer and they’ve used corporate social responsibility methods to help build the brand in their community.
CA: There are two other points: The first one is using crowdfunding as a feeder system to acquire new innovation. While enterprise companies have research-and-development divisions, they are more expensive to operate and aren’t structured like startups, where grassroots innovation can happen in unexpected ways, sometimes from a tiny basement apartment. Enterprise companies, which source new innovations from these dynamic markets, benefit by acquiring early-stage technologies at a great price. I think it’s an interesting trend. Google is a good example of a large company using ‘intrapreneurship’ to crowdsource innovation from their employees. Google encourages employees to spend one day a week, or approximately 20 per cent of their work day, focusing on developing their own ideas, which is like running their own startup. If they come up with a brilliant idea, Google has the right to participate and owns a portion of the intellectual property, but as a model, I think it’s an amazing approach to how large enterprises can crowdsource innovation.
Related: IBM discovers its inner Kickstarter via enterprise crowdfunding
Another example is General Mills, a large consumer packaged-food company in a partnership with a U.S. equity crowdfunder called CircleUp. And basically the deal is, if someone comes up with new consumer packaged good, like a new cookie, a new peanut butter, something that’s a breakthrough campaign that’s seemingly a new idea and people support it, that through the partnership General Mills has an opportunity to reach out to the company and purchase it. And I think those are two angles – which involve system acquiring innovation – that may be cheaper or just a different channel to try marketing.
Continue to the full article –> here
NCFA Hosts Crowdlending Panel Discussion with InvestNextDoor and Grow Financial
NCFA Canada About Us | Gabe Nasr | July 18, 2014
What is Crowdlending?
Crowdlending is a debt-based crowdfunding model and form of alternative finance sometimes referred to as P2P lending or P2B)with great potential for both economic and social impact. On July 17, 2014, Gabe Nasr (moderator) recorded a google hangout with two of the crowdlending leaders in the space (who both happen to be based in BC).
Loans are arranged efficiently and cost effectively directly between borrowers and lenders with transactions being facilitated through the use of an online marketplace such as Grow Financial (formerly Grouplend) and InvestNextDoor.
Crowdlending portals connect borrowers and lenders directly giving investors (lenders) the opportunity to lend money (usually for short term periods) to borrowers they connect with online who turn around and repay the loan principle plus interest.
The loans given through crowdlending portals are paid back without the involvement with a traditional financial intermediary such as the bank, so the rate of return is more profitable for an lender, and beneficial for the borrower. Crowdlending makes the process of loaning more cost-efficient and use-efficient.
Google Hangout Panel participants included:
Tabitha Creighton, CEO and co-founder of InvestNextDoor, a crowdlending marketplace for small businesses to borrow from investors in their communities.
Kevin Sandhu, CEO of Grow Financial (formerly Grouplend), a Canadian peer to peer (P2P) lending portal.
Watch the Hangout Now
What’s so Great About crowlending for businesses?
- Crowdlending portals allow borrowers and lenders to have a direct relationship, and orients the money exchanged to the local area it is put in. In our online panel discussion, InvestNextDoor showed their fresh perspective on investing
- When a Crowdlending investor (rather than a remote investor or bank) puts his/her money into a local business through InvestNextDoor, the money stays within that community, which translates to a redistribution pattern that triples the initial investment (this is something Tabitha talks about in our panel discussion). InvestNextDoor is tracking this trend in their Social Impact Index, which is launching soon. It ranks the relative social impact of the investments taking place on the portal.
Related: 8 considerations for successful debt-based crowdfunding (peer-t0-peer Lending)
Crowdlending also works for individuals seeking non-business loans
- GroupLend, which is a soon-to-be-operative consumer lending platform, caters to a market seeking socially responsible alternatives to credit cards.
- Effectively disintermediating the flow of money from investor to individual borrower makes for a more efficient, and reliable platform than the standard ones in place currently. In our conversation, Kevin talks about how there’s a huge economic and social benefit for both investor and borrower.
Final Word
Crowdlending is still in its beginning stages, so there are plenty of trials for these models to go through for them to become common and established ways to give and receive loans. However, as the current lending models show weaknesses (i.e., risk tolerance, cost of capital) and become antiquated, it is only natural that new models are being developed and in this case by the community that it services to help (novel idea!). By building off of the early success crowdlending has found in the US, Canada must put regulations in place which enable companies and individuals new financial tools to both borrow and lend capital on sites like GroupLend.
View the Crowdlending Panel Discussion --> Now
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Increase your organization’s profile and gain access to a dynamic group of industry front runners. Learn more About Us or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
CBC Radio: Is crowdfunding begging?
CBC Radio | Program: Ontario Today | July 3, 2014
About the Show:
ONTARIO TODAY is the first and only news and call-in program to link radio listeners across this huge province. Ontario Today keeps you up-to-date on the stories that affect you; and initiates a province-wide conversation where everyone feels welcome. It attracts half a million listeners a week.
Multi-millionaires raise millions. Your neighbour needs a medical treatment. Your workmate wants a cool tattoo.
A hip new way to give to causes you care about? Or the on-line version of begging?
Our guest runs the biggest crowdfunding platform in Canada, among the top ten in the world according to Forbes Magazine. Daryl Hatton, Member of the Board of Directors of the National Crowdfunding Association of Canada, has raised more than $50m for 40,000 different causes through his platform Fundrazr.
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Increase your organization’s profile and gain access to a dynamic group of industry front runners. Learn more About Us or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
Google Hangout: Can Bitcoin Co-exist with Crowdfunding?
NCFA Canada | Gabe Nasr | July 2, 2014
This summer, NCFA Canada will be conducting a series of Google Hangout discussions moderated by Gabe Nasr, our marketing intern from California. These discussions will be focused on different aspects relating to crowdfunding, to provide our members with valuable content and education. In our first edition of this series, we look at Bitcoin (which is a virtual, or cryptocurrency), and the potential it presents for crowdfunding. We chatted with Alastair Mitchell who runs the Resilient 21 Group, a Bitcoin professional services group, and Albert Lin, NCFA Advisor and P2P lending researcher. In the video, we get into specifics about how Bitcoin functions, and how it can be used for crowdfunding portals.
As we’ve seen frequently in the past few years, every convention is being rethought. Call it a filtering process brought on by the information age, or a natural evolution just sped up. What we end up with is new ways to make things happen, and in the case of crowdfunding and virtual currency (such as Bitcoin,) we have new ideas which not only have the potential to change the way businesses are started and people exchange money, but also redefine what the words “currency” or “investment” mean.
Mr. Mitchell from Resilient 21 made a good point when he said, “I’ve never heard a good reason from a merchant why they should not accept Bitcoins.”
In a conversation with Alastair Mitchell, President of Resilient 21, a Bitcoin professional services group, we had the pleasure to explore these two emerging ideas, and see what the future looks like for each respectively, and cooperatively. First of all, what is Bitcoin, and how does it work? Bitcoin is a virtual (or crypto) currency. It functions as a payment system and a currency. It has it’s own infrastructure in the form of a public ledger called the block chain. The block chain organizes all singular Bitcoin holders into a network similar to the way bank accounts work. Every transaction of Bitcoin is recorded through this block chain, but as an anonymous alpha-numeric address. The owner of the address can only be identified if the owner of it chooses to make his/her transaction public.
View:
Bitcoins now accepted at US Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform
How to responsibly invest in bitcoin
Bitcoin is a new way to think about currency, and so there are plenty of benefits and challenges it presents in becoming more widely adopted. Let’s explore these benefits and challenges through the lens of crowdfunding, and the receiving of Bitcoins for crowdfunding campaigns.
Benefits:
- Bitcoin usage reduces fees for funds collected through crowdfunding. Conventionally, anything contributed with a credit card or PayPal account is charged 2-3% for processing the transaction. Since there is no financial intermediary for Bitcoins to be transacted, there are no fees for processing them.
- Bitcoins can be exchanged without the interference of currency conversion between countries. The potential upside to this is huge, for it allows crowdfunding campaigns to become more globally spread, and to make accepting foreign currencies a non-issue.
- The block chain can make the funds gathered through crowdfunding transparent. If one is conducting a charitable crowdfunding campaign for example, it might benefit him/her to raise Bitcoins instead of cash because it makes the contributors more confident about where their money is going. In the case of regular cash, people who contribute to charitable crowdfunding campaigns must have a degree of faith about where that money ends up, whereas with Bitcoin, the block chain can show precisely where it is, and how much has been raised. This of course is only feasible if Bitcoin’s valuation stabilizes.
Check out:
Challenges:
- Bitcoin is unstable at this time. There may be no fees to transfer Bitcoin-Bitcoin between two people or entities, but there are fees for transferring Bitcoins back into paper, or fiat, money (1% US, .75% Canada currently.) This may be negligible, but consider this: 99% of all Bitcoin transactions are transferred directly to paper money at the time of the trade. This is because Bitcoin is highly volatile, and can fluctuate by 5-10% a day! If one is accepting Bitcoins as a contributory method for their crowdfunding campaign, it would be risky to keep the contribution in Bitcoins just because of this volatility.
- There are many regulatory issues being sorted out, and unfortunately these depend on the country writing the legislation which regulate virtual currencies. This means that even if you can accept foreign funds with ease, there are some places where Bitcoin in not regarded as a currency.
Overview:
Since both crowdfunding and Bitcoin are so nascent, it is difficult to use them in unison today. Once both become more prominent through usage, there will be great benefits to their synergy. There are some portals that accept Bitcoins for the campaigns on their sites today such as Crowdtilt, Ignitiondeck and Pozible, and as things develop more portals will have no reason not to allow their campaign to accept Bitcoins. As Bitcoin evolves, and the crowdfunding communities become more comfortable with using it, there is no reason for it not to become a standard method across the board.
Watch google hangout (approx 23mins) 'Can Bitcoin and Crowdfunding co-exist?' --> Now
Gabe Nasr is a current undergrad at University of California at Berkeley in the US. His studies are focused on philosophy of rhetoric and linguistics. In addition, he has worked in a service role in Silicon Valley for the past 5 years, and has a deep understanding of current tech and venture trends. He is very interested in the crowdfunding model because of its sustainability and community building potential, running counter to the dominant investment trends of Silicon Valley. In a marketing intern role here at the NCFA, Gabe helps in educating our members and followers on what’s new and changing in Canadian crowdfunding, and guiding NCFA’s goal of increasing crowdfunding awareness.
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Increase your organization’s profile and gain access to a dynamic group of industry front runners. Learn more About Us or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
