Investment or crowdfunding platforms provide a new way for investors to find, evaluate and invest in many different types of assets through online portals.
The industry saw the proliferation of crowdfunding platforms as a result of the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act signed into law in 2012.
This act reduced the regulatory burdens on small business and legalized equity crowdfunding. This act removed the general solicitation ban that prevented startups from publicizing fund raising. Currently the most popular and common opportunities include equity crowdfunding and real estate crowdfunding.
These platforms allow individual investors to invest in private companies such as new startups and small businesses. These platforms act as intermediaries between investors and private companies. Individuals can turn to equity crowdfunding platforms to find, vet and invest in startups and other private companies not publicly traded.
Private companies seeking capital are increasingly turning to crowdfunding platforms for their fundraising needs creating a vast pool of potential investment opportunities.
These platforms allow investment in commercial real estate related projects. Individual investors can own small shares of large projects as a large number of investors can participate in these projects. Income can be earned through rental and ultimately when properties sell.
Many platforms also structure the investment as debt where investors can lend money to a borrower to fund a real estate project with the loan secured by the real estate.
The investment options that crowdfunding platforms offer enables you to invest and diversity in almost anything. The growth of these platforms have made it easier than ever for eligible investors to research and analyze investments of interest to the investors, and have varying investment structures depending on the platform or investment.
These platforms have made these types of investments more accessible by consolidating and centralizing the information in a single online platform with a particular theme. In addition to the direct and indirect real estate projects, these platforms support companies producing consumer products, eco-friendly innovation products, food and drink, technology, and many more. There’s probably something of interest to you.
