Regulation as Rocket Fuel: How Smart Compliance Drives Platform Growth.
Regulation as Rocket Fuel: How Smart Compliance Drives Global Crowdfunding Growth
Can compliance be a growth engine? In this GECA Architects of Change roundtable, experts from the US, UK, France, and Germany share how smarter rules, ECSPR harmonization, and practical AI tools sharpen trust, lower costs, and scale cross-border capital formation. Watch for concrete tactics platforms and issuers can use now.
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Gene Massey — Moderator
Chairman & CEO of MediaShares, a US-based marketing and funding consultancy that helps companies raise capital via online equity crowdfunding. A frequent speaker at industry and Wall Street events and an active investor, Gene brings a practitioner’s lens to campaign strategy, compliance, and investor communications.
Florence de Maupeou
Deputy General Manager (Institutional Relations & Crowdfunding) at France FinTech, board member of the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA), and member of the GECA Steering Committee. With 10+ years shaping France’s and Europe’s crowdfunding regulatory landscape, she focuses on ecosystem building, policy, and platform enablement.
Bruce Davis
Co-founder and Non-Executive Director at Abundance Investment—one of the UK’s first regulated crowdfunding platforms focused on green and sustainable projects. A founding director of the UK Crowdfunding Association since 2012 and an early contributor to peer-to-peer lending (Zopa), Bruce has helped steer major UK regulatory developments.
Jenny Kassan
US securities attorney and entrepreneur advocate with nearly 20 years in “community capital.” President of the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA), she guides founders through compliant offerings, has raised capital herself, and trains stakeholders on disclosure, investor protection, and equitable access to finance.
Eric A. Cox II
Chief Operating Officer at Netcapital (US funding portal & broker-dealer) and corporate/securities attorney at SSM Law. A CfPA board member and Growth Committee co-chair, Eric focuses on portal operations, regulatory compliance (SEC/FINRA), issuer enablement, and expanding retail access to private markets.
Karsten Wenzlaff
Secretary General of Digital Invest Germany (German Crowdfunding Association) and member of the GECA Steering Committee. Researcher and advisor to regulators worldwide, Karsten has worked on ECSPR implementation and comparative crowdfunding policy in Europe, Africa, and beyond.
Beyond Borders: Learning from EU ECSPR to Build Global Crowdfunding Passports.
Beyond Borders: ECSPR Lessons & Principle-Based Supervision for Global Crowdfunding Passports
In Episode 2 of GECA’s Architects of Change, moderator Karsten Wenzlaff leads Benoît Collas (Enerfip), Aaron Shafton (DealMaker Securities) and Honish Zaveri (Kiani Ventures) through a practical look at “passporting.” The panel separates ECSPR’s promise from on-the-ground realities – language and tax localization, divergent KYC standards, platform fee-split friction – and makes the case for principle-based supervision and collaboration templates that could let compliant platforms recognize each other’s regimes and finally scale cross-border deal access.
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Moderator — Karsten Wenzlaff
Secretary General of the German Crowdfunding Association and board member of the European Digital Finance Association. A GECA steering committee member, Karsten helped shape the EU’s ECSPR framework and advises regulators globally on digital finance and crowdfunding policy.
Benoît (Ben) Collas — Enerfip
Cross-border lead at Enerfip, one of Europe’s leading renewable-energy crowdfunding platforms and among the first ECSPR-licensed in France. Ben brings an energy-industry background and hands-on experience rolling out ECSPR operations in Spain, France and Italy, including investor tax and disclosure localization.
Aaron Shafton — DealMaker Securities (USA)
Managing Director at DealMaker Securities, where he helps issuers run Reg CF, Reg A and Reg D raises at scale. Aaron specializes in cross-border mechanics between the U.S. and Canada, disclosure standardization, and founder readiness for retail offerings.
Honish Zaveri — Kiani Ventures (India)
Partner at Kiani Ventures and active angel investor. A serial entrepreneur, Honish operates syndicates that back early-stage tech across India and abroad, navigating SEBI rules, accredited-investor thresholds and emerging pathways for global participation.
Breaking Down Borders: How Platforms Can Enable Global Deal Access and Visibility.
Breaking Down Borders: How Platforms Can Enable Global Deal Access and Visibility.
Episode 1 of GECA’s Architects of Change explores how platforms can enable global deal access and visibility – from ECSPR and U.S. exemptions to payments, KYC/AML, translations, and secondary-market liquidity. Panelists share practical frameworks for collaboration, attribution, and tech (including DLT) that reduce friction and build investor trust.
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Moderator — Konstantin Boyko
CEO & Founder, LenderKit; CEO & Founder, CrowdSpace; GECA Steering Committee
Konstantin Boyko is a product strategist and ecosystem builder in investment crowdfunding. He leads LenderKit, a white-label investing software provider for crowdfunding and private markets, and CrowdSpace, an industry hub mapping platforms and trends across Europe and beyond. As a GECA Steering Committee member, Konstantin champions cross-platform collaboration, practical compliance, and scalable tech standards that lower go-to-market friction for issuers and portals. He moderates high-signal discussions on cross-border deal access, secondary markets, and digital identity.
Jason Fishman
CEO, Digital Niche Agency (DNA)
Jason Fishman is a growth strategist specializing in investor acquisition for equity crowdfunding. Having supported hundreds of campaigns across Reg CF, Reg D, and Reg A, he brings a quantitative approach to audience research, message testing, and conversion optimization. Jason’s teams design multi-market funnels, creative localization, and KPI frameworks (ROAS/MER) to turn awareness into committed capital. His POV: global expansion succeeds when strategy, disclosures, and creative are built for comparability and trust.
Jānis Blaževičs
CEO, CrowdedHero (Latvia)
Jānis Blaževičs leads CrowdedHero, an ECSPR-licensed European equity crowdfunding platform connecting growth companies with investors worldwide. With a background in international brand building and investor relations, Jānis focuses on pan-EU execution, language/localization, PSP/KYC orchestration, and practical uses of DLT (blockchain) for share registers and bonds. His core theme: regulation and sensible tech can reduce bureaucracy and unlock scale, while liquidity and simple onboarding drive sustained investor participation.
Eric Cox
COO, Netcapital (USA)
Eric Cox is Chief Operating Officer at Netcapital, a U.S. funding portal and broker-dealer enabling retail participation in private companies. A corporate and securities attorney, Eric blends operations with compliance leadership—advocating “compliance is the pathway to profitability.” He’s led initiatives around escrow flows, disclosure quality, attribution, and secondary-market enablement via ATS partnerships. Eric is a board member of the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA) and a frequent voice on global investor access, AI risk, and cross-border collaboration.
