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 and Networking Events
The Funding Roadshow Webinars (Apr 15 and 17, 2014): Crowdfund Your Business – Raise Money for Your Startup
FundRazr | Elizabeth George | April 11, 2014
| Dates and times: |
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 4:00 pmPacific Daylight Time (San Francisco, GMT-07:00)Register Now
Thursday, April 17, 2014 10:00 amPacific Daylight Time (San Francisco, GMT-07:00)Register Now |
| Panelist(s) Info: |
Hoda Toloui-Wallace (Fundrazr Coaching) & Elizabeth George (FundRazr Marketing & Business Development)
|
| Duration: | 1 hour |
| Description: |
Join FundRazr’s free Webinar and learn how to crowdfund your business!What you will learn: • If your business is suited to crowdfunding This month FundRazr has launched Business Crowdfunding Solutions to help you Acquire, Grow and Fund your Community with easy crowdfunding solutions for your website. The 2014 FUNDING ROADSHOW an opportunity for entrepreneurs working on an innovative product to have the chance to pitch their business to a panel of angels, VCs, banks, and government organizations. The event is designed to better educate entrepreneurs on funding opportunities as well as facilitate connections between funders and entrepreneurs. Fundrazr will be taking the Funding Roadshow Online with THE FUNDEES Competition that runs from May 5th- June 23rd, 2014. Entrepreneurs across Canada (excluding Quebec) compete in a crowdfunding competition for Funding, a coveted Fundees Award and other valuable prizes. Competitors, funders, and supporters can follow the competition with the LIVE Leaderboard hosted on both The Funding Roadshow and the NCFA websites. Two Grand Prizes in total will be awarded for the crowdfunding campaign that raises the most funds online. Thousands of people, groups, and startups worldwide have raised millions with FundRazr. Follow us @FundrazrBiz For more on The Funding Roadshow visit: http://www.fundingroadshow.com/ For more on The Fundees visit: |
Toronto NCFA Event (April 16, 2014): Igniting Entrepreneurship and Capital Flow in Ontario
NCFA Canada | Craig Asano | April 3, 2014
Event Hosts:
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada in partnership with the City of Toronto.
Event Date:
Date: April 16, 2014
Time: 9:00am - 10:30am
Location: Ontario Investment and Trade Centre (Seminar Room)
35th Floor, 250 Yonge St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2L7 (map)
Ticketing: Member Registration is $25 (early bird $20) + (non-members $35)
Tickets are limited. All prices include 13% HST
Register for this event --> Now
Event Overview:
The crowdfunding industry is exploding with entrepreneurs, investors, portal operators, third party service providers and experts from around the world who are all jockeying for position to take advantage of a promising and brand new fundraising channel for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). (read more)
On March 20, 2014, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published for a 90-day public comment period four new prospectus exemptions including a Crowdfunding specific exemption that would allow early stage companies such as start-ups and small-to-mid-size enterprises (SMEs) to raise up to $1.5 million of capital through the issuance of securities online while maintaining an appropriate level of investor protection.
Join NCFA Canada and the City of Toronto to discuss ‘Igniting Entrepreneurship and Capital Flow in Ontario’. We have assembled a premier panel of industry, legal, investment and regulatory experts to bring forth and highlight key views and insights.
Topics include:
- Regulatory briefing: What are the proposed regulations, timeline and next steps?
- What are the challenges of our current capital raising markets and what solutions are coming?
- Are we doing enough collectively as a 360 eco-system to remain competitive in today’s global markets?
- How will crowdfunding spur business and economic growth, employment and innovation?
- Do these regulations provide significant protections for investors?
- What are the legal issues and proposed solutions that revolve around Crowdfunding transactions?
- Market pulse: what is happening on the ground in the Crowdfunding industry? (Issuers, investors, portals, and providers)
- Q&A feedback on Ontario's Crowdfunding exemption proposal
Agenda:
9:00 – 9:15 Registration + Breakfast
9:15 - 9:55 Presentations
9:55 – 10:30 Questions and Answers + Discussion
* Networking will be available after the Q&A
Speakers:
Ontario Securities Commission
A representative from the OSC to be announced shortly.
Gerard Buckley, Chairperson, Maple Leaf Angels Corporation and Managing Director Jaguar Capital Inc.
Experienced Corporate, Advisory Board and Not for Profit Director with 10+ years of board experience and 30+ years corporate leadership experience in the Capital Markets Industry in Financial Risk Management. Strategic business leader & corporate advisor to F500 companies in various industry verticals. An advisor to Founders & CEO’s of growth companies in technology and knowledge based industries with a focus on governance, financing and financial management. A growth architect with a track record for explosive performance with strong results driven business development experience. Targeting capital intensive companies in development stage requiring strong strategic direction, governance, financial risk management and advanced financial counsel.
Jos Schmitt, Chief Executive Officer, Aequitas Innovations
Prior to launching Aequitas Innovations, Jos set up Brilliant Orange group of companies, served as CEO of the Alpha Group of companies, including the Alpha Exchange; and as EVP Head of the Americas and Global Head of Capital Markets for a global professional services company focused on the financial services industry. During his tenure at this professional services company, he acted as strategic advisor and director of operational and/or technology programs for some of the largest market infrastructure organizations and broker-dealers around the globe. Some of his previous roles include: President and CEO of a European Derivatives Exchange and Clearing House, President and CEO of a pan-European indices Publisher, Chairman of a Derivatives SRO, and Head of Strategy and Business Operations at a European Stock Exchange.John Wires, Founder, Wires Law
John Wires is the Founder of Wires Law, a corporate commercial law firm delivering legal services to entrepreneurs and small and medium sized businesses across Canada. His practice focuses on launching, protecting and selling Canadian businesses. He has appeared in the Ontario Superior Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal and private arbitrations on issues spanning from shareholder and employment disputes to cross border litigation. John graduated from law school with first class honours specializing in both International Trade and Corporate Commercial Law. He was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2011 and is a member of the Canadian Bar Association. He has been a guest lecturer at Ryerson University and covered in the media on Crowdfunding in Canada.
Who should attend this event?
This event is for financial professionals, crowdfunding industry stakeholders, issuers, investors, portals and dealers interested in staying on-top of the proposed Crowdfunding exemption regulations in Ontario and providing feedback directly to the OSC. JOIN THE DISCUSSION.
See you @9am sharp for registration and breakfast!
Register for this event --> Now
Toronto Event (April 3, 2014): Inspire the Crowd: The Rise of Crowdfunding
Toronto Lawyers Association | Chris Hope | March 28, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
(Registration at 5:15 p.m.)
TLA Lawyers Lounge, 2nd Floor, 361 University Avenue Court House
Crowdfunding allows groups of people to pool their resources as donors or micro angel investors for the purpose of financing specialized goods or materials. Thanks to the reach of the Internet and the popularity of sites such as indieGoGo and Kickstarter, the past year has seen an explosion of global crowdfunding initiatives. As simple as the basic concept of crowdfunding seems, in practice it is fraught with legal, ethical and regulatory pitfalls. As this trend rapidly becomes a widely employed tool in the development of the small business sector, it is critical that all business lawyers familiarize themselves with the forms and pitfalls of crowdfunding. In this Nutshell, you will learn about:
- Types of crowdfunding and the benefits/pitfalls of each
- The current regulatory position of the OSC
- Vulnerability of crowdfunding to fraud
- Risks to IP rights that crowdfunding poses
Speakers:
Chris Hope, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
Jason Leung, TLA Trustee
Rick Whiler, Ontario Securities Commission
Moderator: Jason Leung, TLA Trustee
Online registration is available until: 4/2/2014
Register for this Event --> here
AVF Conference (June 17-18, 2014): Meet Our Silicon Valley Keynote!
AVF | Marilyn O'Byrne | March 18, 2014
LAUNCH | BUILD | GROW
June 17 & 18, 2014 | Westin Nova Scotian | Halifax
Attend the highly anticipated 2014 event! AVF brings together the best, boldest, most innovative emerging and established IT, Cleantech, and Life Sciences companies in Atlantic Canada.
Dan Park | Vice President | Azure Capital Partners
Dan Park is a Vice President at Azure Capital Partners and is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities across Canada. In addition, Dan supports the firmin the US in software and related infrastructure technologies as well as mobile, web and digital media.
Immediately prior to joining Azure, Dan was a Vice President and a founding member of Foros Group, a technology-focused investment
banking advisory firm based in New York. In this capacity, he helped launch the firm and was responsible for business development and transaction execution. In 2011, Dan helped Foros achieve a top 15 ranking in the Thomson Reuters US M&A league tables. Prior to Foros, Dan worked at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York focusing on technology, media & telecommunications, and healthcare and at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.
Dan received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Honors Economics & Finance (First Class Honors) from McGill University, where he served as President of the Management Undergraduate Society and was awarded the Scarlet Key for outstanding contribution to McGill.
Call For Presenting Companies
Don't miss the opportunity to showcase your high growth potential company to our investor audience! Companies may choose to apply to present their company in the following categories:
Information Technology | Life Sciences | Cleantech
FREE TO PRESENT - APPLY NOW
Atlantic Venture Forum Presented by:
The Atlantic Venture Forum is an excellent platform to reach your target audience in the entrepreneurial and investment communities. We customize each partnership to align with your firm's strategic agenda and exceed your expectations. Contact us to see how you can get involved in the 2014 Atlantic Venture Forum!
Denise Chan
Marketing Lead
Direct: 587-350-0072
denise@criticalpathgroup.com
Communications Partners
Created by angel investors for angel investors, First Angel Network (FAN) provides entrepreneurs and investors with a confidential, disciplined, high-quality private equity investment experience. FAN also delivers education and networking opportunities in the areas of investment readiness, angel investing and commercialization.
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is Canada's Crowdfunding Advocate. Newly formed, dynamic and inclusive, the NCFA Canada works closely with industry groups, government, academia, other business associations and affiliates to create a strong and vibrant crowdfunding industry and voice across Canada.
Journalism (and crowdfunding) take the spotlight at Hot Docs
The Globe and Mail | SIMON HOUPT | March 18, 2014
Call it Hot Docs: The Up-to-the-Minute Edition.
Viewers of this year’s celebration of documentary excellence may feel they’ve tuned in to a 24-hour news channel, as programmers announced a number of films at a press conference on Tuesday that are so current they are still in post-production.
Ukraine protesters, government surveillance, the Keystone XL pipeline, and anti-LGBT laws in Russia are all on the agenda at the 21st edition of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, unspooling April 24 to May 4 in Toronto.
Video: Google hangout with documentary filmmakers on startups and crowdfunding
The festival will begin with the Canadian premiere of The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, a tribute to the 26-year-old Internet activist who killed himself in January, 2013 as U.S. federal prosecutors tightened their grip on him for downloading millions of articles from an academic database without authorization. When the film played at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Variety suggested it “may be the most emotionally devastating movie ever made about hacking and freedom of information.”
Director Brian Knappenberger was already well-known among the Internet freedom community for his portrait of Anonymous, We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists, which played at Hot Docs 2012.
Like many films at this year’s festival, The Internet’s Own Boy got off the ground with crowdfunding, after Knappenberger raised more than $93,000 (U.S.) on Kickstarter. “Aaron had such a community around him that just wanted to help get this film made,” noted Hot Docs director of programming Charlotte Cook, in an interview. “I don’t want to speak on the filmmaker’s behalf, but I think it was as much a way to utilize that community to feel part of making that film, as it was to raise the money.”
She added that “documentary thrives on people who want to get these films made.”
View: Kickstarter for Filmmakers by James Cooper
Other crowdfunded films at Hot Docs 2014 include the world premiere of Children 404 (Indiegogo), Askold Kurov and Pavel Loparev’s first-person account of LGBT life in Russia after the passage of the country’s anti-gay laws last year; The Starfish Throwers (Kickstarter), a heart-tugging look at programs that feed homeless people in Minnesota, North Carolina, and India; Rich Hill, a Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning portrait of life in a small, no-expectation Missouri town; and Above All Else (Kickstarter), a chronicle of an East Texas man who stages a sit-in at the top of the tree canopy on his property, through which the Keystone XL pipeline is slated to pass.
Cook suggested doc makers are more likely these days to jump on such breaking stories, helped along by new technology and techniques. “Filmmakers are able to react in a way that perhaps they haven’t been historically, and the ability to just collate the amount of footage they’d need, is much better,” she said.
“There’s more support and funding for more journalistic films these days. We really need a lot more, especially since some of these filmmakers are very much independent, very much going it alone – which is a very tricky thing.”
View: How Crowdfunding is changing the way movies are funded Geist
Another crowdfunded beneficiary is first-time filmmaker Amar Wala, a Toronto director whose The Secret Trial 5 got a boost from Hot Docs’s Doc Ignite program. And while it has taken almost five years to reach audiences, its story remains depressingly contemporary, looking at five Muslim men imprisoned without charges under controversial security certificates approved by the government of Canada.
Continue to the full article --> here
Halifax Event (June 17-18, 2014): Atlantic Venture Forum
Atlantic Venture Forum | Denise Chan | March 6, 2014
LAUNCH | BUILD | GROW
The Atlantic Venture Forum is the new annual event that brings together the best, boldest, most innovative emerging and established IT, Cleantech, and Life Sciences companies in Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canada has the opportunity to celebrate and further establish its regional leadership in building a vibrant technology commercialization ecosystem of start-ups, high growth companies, venture capital funds, Angel investors, venture capital and other private equity firms, and incubation & tech transfer organizations.
EVENT DATE:
Tuesday, June 17, 2014 - Wednesday, June 18, 2014
LOCATION:
The Westin Nova Scotian
1181 Hollis Street
Halifax, NS B3H 2P6 Canada
Stay on-site for the Forum
Register for this event --> Now
CONTACT:
Marilyn O'Byrne
Project Manager
marilyn@criticalpathgroup.com
587-350-3309
Denise Chan
Marketing and Communications Lead
denise@criticalpathgroup.com
587-350-0072
WEBSITE:
www.atlanticventureforum.ca
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 | Prezi or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
Symposium on Prosperity (March 19, 2014): Ontario’s Key Policy Challenges
Glendon School of Public and International Affairs and Schulich School of Business | Doug Cumming | March 3, 2014
Focus: Ontario's Prosperity Challenge
The Council of Ontario Universities, the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs and the Schulich School of Business (York University) present the Annual Ontario Research Chairs in Public Policy Symposia Series.
Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Time: 7:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Location: Miles S. Nadal Management Centre, Lecture Room #2
Ernst & Young Tower, Toronto Dominion Centre
(222 Bay Street, Suite 500, Toronto)
Tackling Ontario's Challenges:
Experts and Decision-Makers Meet to Explore Ontario's Key Policy Challenges
How can we make Ontario better? What policies and technologies can help our province get ahead? Tackling Ontario's Challenges is a series of public events that bring together academic experts and decision-makers from the public and private sectors to explore solutions to Ontario's key economic, environmental and social issues.
The Symposium on Prosperity (Wednesday March 19, 2014) will focus on the state and near term future of Ontario's economic relationship with the US (William Anderson) and the topic of Crowdfunding (Douglas Cumming) as engines of prosperity.
Presented in partnership with Glendon College, this breakfast event will include brief presentations, Q&A and the opportunity to mingle with experts and decision-makers.
Featuring experts such as:
- Dr. William Anderson, Ontario Research Chair in Cross-Border Transportation, University of Windsor
- Dr. Douglas Cumming, Ontario Research Chair in Economics and Cross Cultural Studies, York University
- Mr. Bob Armstrong, former Chair of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and President of Armstrong Trade and Logistics Advisory Services Inc.
- Mr. Craig Asano, Executive Director, National Crowdfunding Association
Click on register now or http://www.glendon.yorku.ca/cousymposium/english/programs/prosperity/registration.php
Register for this event --> 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 | Prezi or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.
