Breaking Down Borders: The Strategic Imperatives for Global Equity Crowdfunding
Industry Leaders Chart the Path to Borderless Capital Markets Through Cross-Platform Collaboration and Technological Innovation
The equity crowdfunding industry stands at a critical inflection point. While regulatory frameworks have matured and technological capabilities have advanced, the promise of truly global capital access remains largely unrealized. A recent GECA Architects of Change panel discussion brought together platform leaders from three continents to examine why cross-border investment remains constrained and what strategic interventions could unlock borderless capital flow.
The findings reveal both the scope of untapped opportunity and the complexity of barriers preventing its realization. More significantly, they point toward a coordinated path forward that could transform equity crowdfunding from a collection of national markets into an integrated global ecosystem.
The Scale of Market Fragmentation
The numbers define the challenge with stark clarity. In the United States, over 90 FINRA-regulated portals exist, yet only 10-20 actively facilitate meaningful capital raises. Europe presents an even more fragmented picture: despite the European Crowdfunding Service Providers Regulation creating unified licensing, over 200 ECSP-licensed platforms operate with limited cross-border activity.
This fragmentation extends beyond platform proliferation to fundamental market access inequities. Less than 1% of global investors qualify as accredited under current frameworks -a dramatic constraint compared to 3-9% in the United States alone. The implications are profound: vast pools of capital remain disconnected from promising entrepreneurial opportunities simply due to jurisdictional boundaries.
Eric A Cox II, COO of Netcapital, articulated the global opportunity: "If we talk about accredited investors, that's only three to nine percent of the United States. But globally it's less than 1% of investors globally are accredited. We really need to think more than just the United States investor, but the global investor participating in these deals."
Regulatory Architecture: Barriers Disguised as Protection
The panel revealed how regulatory frameworks, designed to protect investors, have inadvertently created systematic barriers to capital formation. The U.S. Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) framework restricts offerings to domestic entities, effectively excluding international companies from America's largest retail investment market. European platforms, while benefiting from passport arrangements, face language requirements and local approval processes that create friction for truly pan-European campaigns.
These regulatory silos reflect a fundamental misalignment between global capital needs and national regulatory approaches. Jānis Blaževičs, CEO of CrowdedHero observed the practical implications: "You cannot target the German market once you haven't received approval from Bafin. There are some specifics on marketing, and I think it's more related to MiFID."
The fragmentation extends to operational infrastructure. Each platform requires separate KYC procedures, creating abandonment points for international investors. Payment processing limitations add additional layers of complexity, with currency conversion fees and settlement delays making small international investments economically unviable.
The Technology-Trust Paradox
Perhaps most striking was the panel's discussion of how technology could simultaneously solve and complicate cross-border investment. Blockchain technology offers compelling solutions for attribution, settlement, and compliance automation. Several European countries -including Germany, Luxembourg, and France - already approve distributed ledger technology for shareholder registries, providing regulatory precedent for broader adoption.
Yet implementation reveals nuanced challenges. Jason Fishman, CEO of Digital Niche Agency (DNA), highlighted the communication imperative: "The end audience, the perspective investor, needs to not only understand the company, the team, the deal - they have to be able to market it themselves. These are crowd campaigns; you're playing for the crowd effect."
This insight reveals a fundamental tension: while sophisticated technology can eliminate operational barriers, it must remain accessible to retail investors who drive crowdfunding success. The solution requires not just technical innovation but communication design that enables investor advocacy.
Secondary Market Liquidity: The Critical Infrastructure Gap
All panelists identified liquidity as the primary barrier preventing mainstream adoption of equity crowdfunding. The absence of viable exit mechanisms creates a structural disincentive for investor participation, particularly for international investments where due diligence and legal recourse may be more complex.
Cox outlined Netcapital's approach to this challenge: "We know that the true value for the investor would come from selling those shares. Companies are staying private longer, if not forever. So one thing that we've really always built our technology around was the ability to do the primary offering and then list those shares for trade on secondaries."
The secondary market opportunity extends beyond individual investor needs to industry sustainability. Platforms that can offer liquidity mechanisms will likely capture disproportionate market share as investors migrate toward more complete investment experiences.
Platform Collaboration: From Competition to Ecosystem Growth
The discussion revealed a sophisticated understanding of industry dynamics that transcends traditional competitive thinking. Rather than viewing other platforms as competitors for a fixed pool of capital, leading operators recognize that market expansion requires collaborative approaches.
Konstantin Boyko CEO of LenderKit, moderating the discussion, captured this strategic shift: "You need to collaborate. You need to share and grow the industry together because otherwise you are just competing for a small pie rather than making it bigger and then having the share."
This collaborative mindset creates opportunities for revenue-sharing arrangements, cross-platform deal syndication, and shared infrastructure development. The regulatory framework already supports such arrangements under Reg D in the United States, where multiple broker-dealers can collaborate on single offerings.
Market Education: The Awareness Imperative
Despite technological capabilities and regulatory frameworks, awareness remains a fundamental constraint. Fishman's observation that he has "had to explain to people roughly every day what equity crowdfunding is" since 2016 illustrates the education challenge facing the industry.
This awareness gap extends beyond retail investors to entrepreneurs and intermediaries who could benefit from crowdfunding but remain unfamiliar with available options. The education requirement spans multiple constituencies: entrepreneurs who could benefit from crowdfunding, retail investors who could access new asset classes, and institutions who could provide validation and scale.
The panel identified coordinated industry advocacy as essential for addressing awareness limitations. Building relationships with media, lobbying for supportive government partnerships, and creating educational resources require resources and coordination that exceed individual platform capabilities.
Strategic Implications: The Path to Global Integration
The panel discussion illuminates five strategic imperatives for achieving borderless equity crowdfunding:
Regulatory Harmonization Through Mutual Recognition: Rather than pursuing unified global regulation, the industry should advocate for bilateral mutual recognition agreements between compatible jurisdictions. This approach preserves local regulatory authority while enabling cross-border capital flow.
Technology Infrastructure That Enables Rather Than Complicates: Blockchain and digital identity solutions must prioritize accessibility and interoperability over technical sophistication. The goal is invisible infrastructure that eliminates friction without creating new barriers.
Secondary Market Development as Competitive Differentiation: Platforms that successfully implement liquidity mechanisms will capture disproportionate market share. This represents both opportunity and competitive imperative for industry participants.
Collaborative Revenue Models That Expand Market Size: Revenue-sharing arrangements for cross-platform deals can grow total industry volume while maintaining individual platform profitability. This requires sophisticated attribution systems but offers substantial upside potential.
Coordinated Market Education to Drive Mainstream Adoption: Individual platforms cannot efficiently address awareness gaps. Industry-wide education initiatives, potentially coordinated through organizations like GECA, offer better resource utilization and consistent messaging.
The Competitive Dynamics of Global Expansion
The transition to borderless crowdfunding will create both opportunities and risks for existing platforms. Early movers who successfully navigate international expansion will establish network effects and brand recognition that create sustainable competitive advantages. However, the complexity of cross-border operations may overwhelm platforms that lack sufficient scale or expertise.
This dynamic suggests potential industry consolidation, with successful global platforms acquiring or partnering with specialized local providers. The optimal industry structure likely resembles a federation: major platforms providing infrastructure and compliance capabilities while local partners contribute deal flow and cultural expertise.
Timing and Market Readiness
Several factors suggest the industry may be approaching a tipping point for global integration. Regulatory frameworks have stabilized in major markets, providing predictable operating environments. Blockchain infrastructure has matured sufficiently to support practical applications rather than experimental implementations. Most importantly, demographic trends favor adoption: millennial and Gen Z investors demonstrate greater comfort with digital platforms, alternative investments, and global thinking.
The panel's discussion suggests that platforms implementing cross-border capabilities today are positioning themselves for substantial growth as these trends accelerate. Conversely, platforms that remain domestically focused risk marginalization as more globally-oriented competitors capture the most engaged investors and highest-quality deal flow.
Conclusion: The Strategic Moment
The GECA panel discussion reveals an industry at a strategic inflection point. The technical capabilities, regulatory frameworks, and market infrastructure necessary for borderless equity crowdfunding largely exist. What remains is coordinated execution by industry leaders committed to moving beyond national market limitations.
The opportunity is substantial: democratized access to early-stage investment opportunities, optimized global capital allocation, and expansion of the investor class to include millions who currently lack access to private markets. The path forward requires collaboration rather than competition, patient capital rather than quick returns, and strategic vision rather than tactical optimization.
The platforms and leaders who recognize this moment and act decisively will shape the industry's evolution. Those who remain committed to domestic market strategies risk irrelevance in an increasingly connected global economy. The choice is clear, even if execution remains complex.
The future of equity crowdfunding will be global or it will be diminished. The strategic question is not whether borderless investment will emerge, but which stakeholders will lead its development and capture its value.
Ready to explore the full discussion? Watch the complete Architects of Change panel where industry leaders examine the future of global equity crowdfunding: Breaking Down Borders - Full Discussion
Join the movement for borderless investment. GECA brings together platforms, regulators, and industry stakeholders to advance global equity crowdfunding. Learn more about membership opportunities and help shape the industry's future: thegeca.org/membership-app-form
This analysis is based on GECA's Architects of Change panel discussion featuring Eric Cox (Netcapital), Jānis Blaževičs (CrowdedHero), Jason Fishman (DNA Marketing), and Konstantin Boyko (LenderKit), examining cross-border collaboration in equity crowdfunding.
GECA Welcomes Florence de Maupeou: European Crowdfunding Pioneer Brings Decade of Regulatory Expertise to Advance Borderless Investment Vision
France FinTech's Deputy General Manager for Institutional Relations & Crowdfunding joins steering committee to accelerate global harmonization efforts
The Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) is proud to announce that Florence de Maupeou has joined our steering committee as a strategic advisor. This appointment represents a significant milestone in GECA's mission to create truly borderless equity crowdfunding markets, bringing together one of Europe's most experienced crowdfunding advocates with our global vision for regulatory harmonization.
A Pioneer in European Crowdfunding Regulation
Florence de Maupeou's journey in crowdfunding began over a decade ago, positioning her as one of the industry's true pioneers. With a master's degree in Social and Solidarity Economy and sociology from a leading business school, she developed her deep understanding of financial inclusion through hands-on field experience across India and Latin America, studying the realities of microcredit as a tool for economic and social development.
In 2010, she entered the alternative finance space at Babyloan, Europe's first microcredit crowdfunding platform, where she served as Head of Institutional Relations. Under her direction in 2012, the Babyloan networks association was created to carry out advocacy, education, and awareness projects promoting social and solidarity economy principles alongside participatory financing, particularly in schools and colleges.
Her most transformative role began with Financement Participatif France (FPF), where she was involved from the association's very founding in 2012. Florence played a crucial role in developing the industry's code of ethics, serving as Secretary General in 2013, then Treasurer in 2014, before taking the permanent position of General Director in December 2014. Under her leadership, FPF grew to represent 150 members across the crowdfunding ecosystem, establishing France as the first country to promulgate dedicated crowdfunding regulations and helping facilitate over €9 billion in cumulative investment with annual flows exceeding €2 billion.
Andrew Field, Head of the GECA Steering Committee, commented: "Florence's decade-long leadership in building France's crowdfunding regulatory framework makes her an invaluable addition to our team. Her experience in harmonizing diverse stakeholder interests across 150+ platform members and her success in creating regulatory clarity that enabled billions in investment flows perfectly aligns with GECA's mission to achieve similar harmonization on a global scale."
Architect of French Crowdfunding Success
Florence's leadership at FPF coincided with crowdfunding's establishment as a major financing tool in France. Her strategic vision encompassed multiple critical areas:
Regulatory Advocacy: She coordinated lobbying efforts that positioned France at the forefront of European crowdfunding regulation, working directly with public authorities and regulators to create frameworks that balanced innovation with investor protection.
Industry Development: Through strategic planning, partnership development, and member coordination, she helped build an ecosystem that attracted international recognition and positioned French crowdfunding platforms for European expansion.
Industry Standards Development: Her foundational work in developing FPF's code of ethics established best practices that became industry standards, demonstrating her commitment to responsible innovation alongside market growth.
International Positioning: Her institutional relations work established France as a thought leader in European alternative finance discussions, setting the stage for broader harmonization efforts.
Strategic Merger: FPF and France FinTech Unite
In June 2024, Florence orchestrated a landmark strategic merger between FPF and France FinTech, creating the largest fintech association in Europe with over 350 members and 100 partners. This merger reflected her forward-thinking approach to industry evolution and her recognition that crowdfunding's future lies in broader fintech integration.
"For more than 10 years, FPF has supported crowdfunding players in their development and has been their voice with regulators and public authorities. The progress made is phenomenal, but today we need renewal and a broader sounding board," Florence explained during the merger announcement. "Because the subjects that we address are increasingly transversal with other fintech players, because the platforms are developing in various activities, because our issues are also becoming European, because the context is complicated and together we are stronger, the rapprochement of our two associations makes obvious sense today."
A Global Network for European Leadership
As Deputy General Manager for Institutional Relations & Crowdfunding at France FinTech, Florence now oversees regulatory strategy for an ecosystem that represents the full spectrum of financial innovation. Her role extends beyond France through her position as a Board Member of the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA), where she helps coordinate fintech policy across European markets.
This European perspective provides GECA with direct access to regulatory discussions, policy development processes, and harmonization efforts that span the continent's most sophisticated fintech markets. Florence's institutional relationships extend from the European Commission to national parliaments, providing GECA with invaluable insights into regulatory trends and opportunities for global coordination.
Expertise in Participatory Finance Evolution
Florence's experience spans the complete evolution of participatory finance, from early microcredit platforms to sophisticated equity crowdfunding ecosystems. Her expertise encompasses:
Reward crowdfunding: Understanding the keys to success for a reward or donation-based crowdfunding campaign, its democratic potential and its capacity for mobilization.
Crowdequity: Deep understanding of equity crowdfunding mechanics, regulatory requirements, and market development strategies.
Crowdlending: Comprehensive knowledge of peer-to-peer lending platforms, risk management frameworks, and regulatory compliance.
Real Estate Crowdfunding: Extensive experience in one of Europe's largest crowdfunding verticals, including investor protection and project evaluation.
Cross-Border Operations: Practical understanding of how platforms can operate across multiple jurisdictions while maintaining regulatory compliance.
Alignment with GECA's Mission
Florence's appointment comes at a crucial time as equity crowdfunding markets mature globally. Her experience in building consensus among diverse stakeholders while maintaining high standards aligns perfectly with GECA's approach to creating borderless investment opportunities.
"The future of crowdfunding is inherently global, but successful globalization requires the kind of regulatory expertise and institutional relationships that Florence possesses," noted Andrew Field, Head of GECA's steering committee. "Her proven ability to coordinate complex stakeholder groups and achieve regulatory clarity while fostering innovation makes her an ideal advisor as we work to harmonize standards across international markets."
Contributing to Global Harmonization
Florence's expertise will prove invaluable as GECA works to address key challenges in international crowdfunding:
Regulatory Coordination: Her experience in French and European regulatory development provides a proven blueprint for achieving consensus among diverse regulatory authorities.
Market Development: Her track record in building sustainable crowdfunding ecosystems offers practical insights for emerging markets seeking to develop their own frameworks.
Industry Standards: Her work in establishing best practices and ethical guidelines helps ensure that global harmonization maintains high standards for investor protection.
Cross-Border Innovation: Her understanding of how platforms can scale beyond domestic markets provides strategic guidance for GECA's borderless vision.
A Strategic Addition to GECA's Vision
With Florence's addition to the steering committee, GECA continues building the intellectual foundation needed to navigate complex international regulatory landscapes. Her appointment follows recent additions of other industry leaders, creating a steering committee with complementary expertise spanning regulatory design, market development, and global coordination.
"I'm honored to join GECA's steering committee at this transformative moment for global equity crowdfunding," Florence commented. "Throughout my career, I've seen how effective regulatory frameworks can unlock innovation while protecting investors. GECA's vision for borderless crowdfunding resonates deeply with the lessons we've learned in Europe about the power of harmonized standards and collaborative approaches to market development."
Building Tomorrow's Investment Infrastructure
As global crowdfunding markets continue evolving, Florence's expertise in regulatory strategy and institutional relations positions GECA to accelerate its mission of creating truly borderless investment opportunities. Her proven track record in building consensus, achieving regulatory clarity, and fostering sustainable market growth provides exactly the type of leadership needed to transform GECA's vision into reality.
The appointment of Florence de Maupeou signals that GECA is not just planning for the future of global crowdfunding - we're building it with the expertise and institutional relationships necessary to succeed.
About GECA
The Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) is an international organization dedicated to advancing regulatory harmonization, market development, and best practices in equity crowdfunding worldwide. Learn more at thegeca.org.
Contact: For media inquiries about GECA's steering committee appointments and global initiatives, please contact the steering committee at: contact@thegeca.org
Want to join GECA's mission? Visit thegeca.org/join to learn about supporter opportunities for platforms, service providers, and industry stakeholders.
The Innovation Imperative: How Open Innovation Drives Global Economic Growth and Why Cross-Border Crowdfunding is Essential
How international collaboration in innovation financing is reshaping the global economy and driving sustainable development
In an era where global economic growth has slowed to just 2.6% - barely above the recession threshold - the role of innovation as an economic driver has never been more critical. Recent comprehensive research analyzing 120 countries reveals a compelling truth: nations that prioritize innovation experience significantly higher GDP growth, reduced necessity-driven self-employment, and enhanced economic prosperity. This evidence provides powerful validation for cross-border crowdfunding initiatives and the critical mission of organizations working to democratize global innovation financing.
The Economic Science Behind Innovation-Driven Growth
Quantifying Innovation's Economic Impact
Groundbreaking research by Dempere et al. (2023) examining 120 countries from 2013-2019 using the Global Innovation Index (GII) reveals striking correlations between innovation capacity and economic performance. The study found that every unit increase in a country's innovation score corresponded to GDP per capita increases ranging from $1,436 to $1,623 across the analyzed period.
This relationship extends beyond simple correlation. The research demonstrates that innovation inputs - including institutional frameworks, human capital, infrastructure, and market sophistication - directly translate to enhanced economic outputs. Countries investing in these innovation foundations consistently outperform those that don't.
The Global Innovation Dividend
The data tells a compelling story about innovation's role in economic development:
- Infrastructure investment in innovation shows consistent positive correlation with GDP growth
- Human capital and research development directly impacts national economic prosperity
- Creative outputs and knowledge creation generate measurable economic returns
- Institutional frameworks supporting innovation create environments for sustained growth
As Li Dongsheng, Founder and Chairman of TCL, observes: "Open innovation means the global convergence of technology, capital, talent, production support, and distribution. By fostering internal and external collaboration and extending innovation networks across borders, shared success can be achieved."
The Cross-Border Innovation Advantage
Why Geographic Boundaries Limit Economic Potential
Traditional innovation financing operates within geographic silos, creating what economists call "innovation market fragmentation." This fragmentation limits both entrepreneurs' access to capital and investors' access to optimal opportunities, resulting in suboptimal economic outcomes globally.
The research evidence supports this concern. While innovation consistently drives economic growth, the benefits are unevenly distributed based on geographic and regulatory constraints. Countries with better cross-border collaboration frameworks - such as those participating in open innovation networks - demonstrate superior economic performance.
The Network Effect in Innovation Economics
Open innovation networks create exponential value through what economists term "network externalities." When innovation ecosystems extend across borders, they:
- Increase the pool of available capital for innovative projects
- Improve matching between investors and entrepreneurs based on expertise rather than geography
- Accelerate knowledge transfer across different economic contexts
- Reduce transaction costs through standardized frameworks
As the UN Conference on Trade and Development emphasizes, new strategies for innovation are emerging worldwide, with policymakers supporting approaches that expand innovation's benefits to broader populations.
The Economic Evidence for Borderless Innovation Financing
Reducing Necessity-Driven Self-Employment Through Innovation Access
One of the most significant findings in the global innovation research relates to self-employment patterns. The study reveals that innovation improvements consistently reduce necessity-driven self-employment - the type of entrepreneurship born from lack of formal economic opportunities rather than genuine business opportunities.
Specifically, the research found that every unit increase in innovation capacity decreased self-employment by 1.04 to 1.33 percentage points. This suggests that improved innovation access creates formal employment opportunities, moving economies away from subsistence-level entrepreneurship toward growth-oriented business development.
The Global Innovation Gap
Current foreign direct investment in manufacturing has declined at a compound annual growth rate of -12% in the three years following COVID-19, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. This creates a critical funding gap for innovative startups and growth companies - precisely the gap that cross-border crowdfunding can address.
The World Bank reports that income gaps between the most vulnerable 75 countries and wealthiest economies are widening for the first time this century. This divergence correlates directly with differential access to innovation financing, highlighting the critical importance of democratized, cross-border funding mechanisms.
Technology Sectors Driving Innovation-Led Growth
Healthcare Innovation Economics
The healthcare technology sector exemplifies innovation's economic impact. Breakthroughs in genomics, AI-driven diagnostics, and telemedicine have transformed patient care while creating substantial economic value. CRISPR technology alone has spawned an entire biotechnology sector, while telemedicine growth accelerated by COVID-19 demonstrates how innovation creates new markets and economic opportunities.
Clean Energy and Sustainable Technology
Innovation in renewable energy represents one of the fastest-growing economic sectors globally. Countries investing in solar, wind, and battery technologies are experiencing significant job creation and cost reductions. The research shows that technological innovation consistently correlates with economic growth, with clean energy representing a prime example of this relationship.
Financial Technology Transformation
The fintech sector's explosion demonstrates innovation's power to reshape entire industries. Technologies including blockchain, mobile payments, and digital currencies have disrupted traditional financial services while creating more accessible, efficient alternatives. Companies like Square and PayPal have pioneered solutions enabling small businesses to access previously unavailable financial services.
The Role of Cross-Border Crowdfunding in Global Innovation
Addressing Market Failures in Innovation Financing
Traditional venture capital and banking systems create systematic barriers to innovation financing, particularly for:
- Early-stage technology companies without established revenue streams
- Entrepreneurs in emerging markets lacking access to established financial networks
- Innovative projects that don't fit traditional investment categories
- Cross-border opportunities requiring international regulatory navigation
Cross-border crowdfunding platforms address these market failures by creating globally accessible, democratized funding mechanisms that connect innovative projects with appropriate investors regardless of geographic constraints.
The Economic Multiplier Effect
Research demonstrates that successful innovation financing creates cascading economic benefits:
- Direct job creation in funded companies
- Indirect employment in supporting industries and services
- Knowledge spillovers that benefit broader economic ecosystems
- Tax revenue generation from successful innovative enterprises
- Export potential from innovative products and services
Policy Implications and Economic Strategy
Creating Innovation-Friendly Regulatory Frameworks
The research consistently shows that institutional frameworks supporting innovation directly correlate with economic growth. Countries implementing supportive regulatory environments for innovation financing - including cross-border crowdfunding regulations - position themselves for enhanced economic performance.
Key policy recommendations emerging from the economic research include:
- Harmonized international standards for innovation financing
- Reduced regulatory barriers for cross-border investment
- Enhanced investor protection frameworks that maintain accessibility
- Tax incentives for innovation-focused investment
- Digital infrastructure supporting international collaboration
The Competitive Advantage of Open Innovation
Countries and regions that embrace open innovation frameworks gain significant competitive advantages. The research shows that globalization and international collaboration remain key drivers of economic growth, despite recent geopolitical challenges.
As Nobel laureate economist Christopher Pissarides emphasizes: "Openness and globalization are important forces driving economic growth and social progress. We must overcome current difficulties, continue promoting global openness and cooperation, and leverage new technological tools to deepen international cooperation."
The Future of Innovation-Driven Economic Growth
Technology Convergence and Economic Opportunity
Emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and blockchain are creating unprecedented opportunities for innovation-driven economic growth. However, realizing this potential requires accessible, cross-border financing mechanisms that can support diverse, international innovation projects.
Global Talent Mobility and Innovation Networks
Global talent mobility and knowledge exchange represent indispensable factors in open innovation success. The most successful innovation ecosystems actively encourage talent to cross borders for dialogue and cooperation, cultivating talent pools with international vision and innovative mindsets.
Sustainable Development Through Innovation
The research demonstrates that innovation-driven economic growth aligns with sustainable development objectives. Countries prioritizing innovation show improved performance across multiple economic and social indicators, suggesting that democratized innovation financing can contribute to broader global development goals.
Conclusion: The Imperative for Cross-Border Innovation Financing
The economic evidence is unequivocal: innovation drives economic growth, reduces poverty, and creates sustainable development opportunities. However, current financing systems create artificial barriers that limit this potential through geographic and regulatory constraints.
Cross-border crowdfunding represents a critical solution to these market failures. By creating globally accessible, democratized funding mechanisms, international crowdfunding platforms can:
- Connect innovative projects with optimal investors regardless of geography
- Reduce financing costs through increased competition and efficiency
- Accelerate innovation diffusion across different economic contexts
- Support underserved markets that lack access to traditional financing
The path forward requires coordinated international efforts to create harmonized regulatory frameworks that support cross-border innovation financing while maintaining appropriate investor protections. Countries and organizations that lead in developing these frameworks will position themselves at the forefront of the next wave of innovation-driven economic growth.
As the global economy faces unprecedented challenges, the evidence is clear: open innovation and cross-border collaboration are not just beneficial - they are essential for sustainable economic growth and shared global prosperity.
Join the Global Movement for Borderless Innovation
Ready to be part of the solution? Join GECA's growing community of 60+ global supporters working to create seamless, cross-border crowdfunding for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Want to understand our complete vision? Read our comprehensive manifesto outlining the roadmap for enabling global equity crowdfunding and removing barriers that limit innovation financing.
This article synthesizes research from multiple peer-reviewed sources including: Dempere, J. et al. (2023). "The Impact of Innovation on Economic Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, and Self-Employment: A Global Perspective." Economies, 11(7), 182; Li Dongsheng (2024). "How 'open innovation' can promote sustainable economic growth and development." World Economic Forum; and comprehensive analysis of global innovation economics trends.
How to Scale Crowdfunding Campaigns Globally: Marketing Secrets from $100M+ Campaigns | GECA Podcast
How to Scale Crowdfunding Campaigns Globally: Marketing Secrets from $100M+ Campaigns | GECA Podcast
Get ready for an action-packed deep dive into the world of crowdfunding marketing with Jason Fishman, CEO of DNA (Digital Niche Agency) and newly appointed GECA Steering Committee member. In this comprehensive episode, Jason shares battle-tested insights from over 500 successful crowdfunding campaigns that have collectively raised nine figures in capital across Reg CF, Reg A+, and Reg D offerings. From his early days in mobile advertising and ad tech to becoming one of the industry’s most sought-after crowdfunding marketing experts, Jason reveals the systematic approach that has helped companies like Mode Mobile raise $45 million, BOXABL hit $12 million, and Atom Beam reach their $5 million cap in just 43 days. In this conversation, he breaks down his proprietary 8-point strategic plan, explains why he views crowdfunding as fundamentally a marketing exercise, and shares critical insights about global campaign targeting, cross-border compliance challenges, and the art of building scalable traffic sources. Jason also discusses the crucial founder-platform-marketer relationship dynamics, reveals why most campaigns fail due to insufficient traffic, and explains his algorithmic approach to projecting campaign performance. Whether you’re a founder preparing for your first raise, a platform looking to better support your issuers, or an investor trying to understand what drives successful campaigns, this episode is packed with actionable strategies that could transform your approach to crowdfunding. Jason’s passion for democratizing access to capital and his vision for making crowdfunding the primary approach to capital formation make this a must-listen episode for anyone serious about the future of investment.
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Andy Field: Hello everybody. Welcome to the GECA Podcast, the voice of Global Equity crowdfunding. I’m Andy Field Steering Committee lead of the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance, where we speak with the leading voices who are shaping the future of capital raising across borders. And as crowdfunding continues to evolve, we’re exploring what it takes to run successful campaigns on a global basis, and what founders, platforms and investors really need to know to thrive in this expanding ecosystem today.
I’m joined by Jason Fishman, who’s CEO of DNA (Digital Niche Agency), a US based marketing firm that’s helped over 500 founders successfully prepare for and launch their crowdfunding campaigns. Jason’s got a deep expertise in Reg CF, Reg A and Reg D campaigns. And Jason and his team have been instrumental in helping lots of startups attract investment through strategic digital marketing.
And I should also point out that Jason is a newly crowned member of the GECA steering [00:01:00] committee. So welcome to the podcast, Jason. It’s great to have you here.
Jason Fishman: Thank you, Andy. It’s a pleasure to be here. Been looking forward to the discussion and being able to speak on this global stage to issuers internationally.
Andy Field: Fantastic. and if you enjoyed today’s episode, please make sure you follow GECA on LinkedIn, and visit the geca.org to learn more about our mission. we have our manifesto on the website, our growing global supporter base, and our steering committee, and of course how you could get involved as well.
And it just remains for me to say thank you very much for listening and stay tuned for more voices helping to shape the future of global crowdfunding. Thank [00:36:00] you.. Yeah, and I had the pleasure of meeting Jason in person back in LA that was back in May. And I knew straight away that his insights, Jason did a really detailed presentation and I knew straight away that his insights would be really valuable to our global audience. Especially as more founders and platforms are looking beyond borders as to help to grow their investor base.
So we know that Crowdfunding’s maturing quite quickly in the US but the ecosystem around the world is still fragmented and probably has to catch up a little. And at GECA, we’re focused on helping to create alignment globally and conversations like this one are really, important. they form part of the learning from different markets and different approaches.
And, Jason’s experience working hands-on with campaigns and, very closely with platforms, I think make him the perfect guest to [00:02:00] help us bridge that understanding. So I think we can dive straight in Jason, if that’s okay with you?
Jason Fishman: Absolutely, Let’s do it.
Andy Field: Great. I think well. Let’s, for, the purposes of, and the benefit of, people that haven’t come across you or, DNA yet, can you give us a little bit about the origin story?
So what led you to start a marketing agency which focused on crowdfunding?
Jason Fishman: Yeah. I’m happy to go back there and relive the days where I had, first I was working on a mobile advertising network. Building relationships with publishers, running campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Advertisers got a good sense of what worked, didn’t work across a whole spectrum of industries, budget levels, timelines, but I wanted to get back into the startup world.
Had experience here in Los Angeles, California was part of a social gaming company, be before getting emerged into the world of ad tech. And was asked to partner in this agency, DNA. We’re talking back in [00:03:00] 2014. We began as a growth marketing firm and we found capital raising. To be a common theme among our clientele, whether it was working on the marketing section of a business plan to be presented to investors, putting together pitch decks, modeling a first campaign, showing performance, so those results could later be presented to an investor and have more capital injected into that company.
Even participating in investor meetings themselves, we were always brought to this conversation around capital. So when I was introduced to Reg D. Regulation 506C, allowing for solicitation of accredited investors, high net worth, high household income individuals. The light bulb went off because I was able to tell clients, Hey.
we can use our digital marketing skillset. We can use these same channels to bring investors to your offering, generate leads, nurture those leads. The first campaign we worked on, was successful, on a platform at that point called [00:04:00] Fundable, and we were introduced to more issuers on that platform.
On others. We also got attention from the. Reward crowdfunding world, Kickstarter, Indiegogo campaigns. We started getting white labeled by agencies in that space and over the next year worked on a good 40 50 of those. Started embracing the fundamentals of what a crowd sale consists of, and those groups actually introduced us to our first Reg CF clients.
back in May of 2016, day one of Reg CF, we had advertising live. Started getting more introductions, more referrals, getting invited to speak at events. Yep. worked on a regulation a plus campaign later that year. And at that point it was our key focus regulated investment crowdfunding to date have worked on over 500 of these deals that have collectively produced nine figures of capital.
We’ve worked on campaigns this year just here in 2020. Five that has have surpassed nine figures of capital. I look to showcase, [00:05:00] the results on my podcast. Just put out episode 209 each with a different guest, many of the top issuers. I’ve been on it. yep. Of course. As I was saying, the thought leaders in the space Andy’s been on, and, I try to be an open book in terms of what physically drives results and what is under-producing in the market today.
Andy Field: Amazing. Amazing. I’m just wondering, in those early days, was it often the case? Did, all of your clients come to you with the intention of raising funds or actually, was that a suggestion you brought to the table and said, look, have you thought about this? Marketing can be applied not just to the, the marketing plan and strategy of your business, but also for this very specific purpose of, raising capital.
Jason Fishman: it was primarily through introductions. What ended up occurring is. These clients, these perspective groups would see our case studies and say, Hey, this is interesting. Yeah. Perhaps we should be raising capital. But I do say that there are other [00:06:00] considerations beyond marketing that groups want to take into account before determining whether they want to go down this, path of regulated investment crowdfunding, using digital tools to source investor conversations, to convert, those discussions, those audiences that they’re going after.
I am a, big believer that every group that is. Doing a Reg cf, a regulation a plus campaign, really even a, Reg D 506C should absolutely be marketing. yeah, but I’m usually not telling every company that they should do one of these rounds. and part of it is I want them to be committed.
I want them to know, hey, yeah. This is the path we’re going down so we can then focus on the marketing discussion. And I’m not speaking too much to legal, to accounting, to areas that are, outside of our expertise. I could share notes there Yeah. But can really have an in-depth, interaction, along with recommendations on how to effectively bring investors to a deal.
Andy Field: Okay. That, yeah, [00:07:00] that makes sense. Typically today then, what sort of clients are you working with? I can see how the power of the recommendation of the case study, is going to bring those clients to you. But do you have a typical, DNA, if you like, of a, client?
Jason Fishman: I put it into three categories, groups that are in planning, groups that are plateaued, and I could speak more about success rates and groups that are scaling.
There is not one ideal customer persona profile as much as they’re in one of those three stages. Scaling probably the most exciting for us to talk about. Yeah. could tell you about campaigns. Advertising performance. We’ve seen this year with Mode Mobile. They hit 45 million. their full cap on regulation A plus in May could share results from BOXABL RAD Intel, which hit its $12 million goal.
And maybe going further from here, can talk to you about Atom Beam, can talk to you about [00:08:00] avidan hit the $5 million cap on Reg CF in 43 days on May 8th. So a, lot of different groups that I would say are serial issuers. they’ve, yeah, run multiple campaigns. They’ve built up an investor audience, still driving new people on a daily basis and retargeting everybody.
it’s then different if we speak to a group that is stuck. They’re on a Reg CF platform, perhaps, and they’re not really seeing any traction. Yeah. Or they’ve at least plateaued where, their, movement is pretty consistent and it’s not gonna get them to their full goal, different type of, conversation that I have with those groups.
And then you have the folks in planning where there are, more variables. You could set up a full campaign strategy, algorithmic roadmap, if you will, taking them from point A to point B into each milestone, in route to their full goal. [00:09:00] it’s encouraged that first degree audience comes in during those early stages.
So that’s a bigger part, of the plan. But I usually put it into one of those three categories and across a whole list of different verticals. I like to say it’s typically. it, it’s commonly, reflecting what we’d read about in the media. If I’m yes, researching on a business site, entrepreneur site and hearing about new fields that, are emerging, it’s pretty common that I’ll receive a call from a group in that space in the coming weeks.
We even wanna make our headlines, our copy reflect what a target audience member may be consuming in the media that week.
Andy Field: I bet that can help with your planning as well. So that’s quite useful.
Jason Fishman: absolutely.
Andy Field: so just moving on a little bit to the global perspective and, your experience and views about that.
Obviously DNA is, based in the US but are you seeing growing interest from, founders or from [00:10:00] investors? Actually just. from your sort of experience point of view, are you seeing more interest, on an international basis, so investors who are looking to, invest in international businesses and founders who are looking to gain investment from international investors?
Jason Fishman: Yes. Yes, absolutely. So it really goes back to 2017. In 2017, we started getting inquiries that would include the word blockchain in it and. We started getting invitations to speak at conferences globally and not just about Web3 projects, but, a, full list of, different, industries at that point.
I’ve been Istanbul for the World Congress of Angel Investors Forum. I’ve been to. Australia for Google Startup Grind APAC. I’ve been to conferences, in Asia and Europe. I think I’ve spoken, at events in eight different countries. And each of those would have side [00:11:00] meetings with different investment banks, funds, publishers, accelerators, consultants, and have these contacts regionally, in each of these markets that we can use to, accelerate campaigns.
There’s, Reg S we’re working on Reg s campaigns right now. I’ve been doing so for years. there are various different types of, audience building campaigns that we’ve worked on internationally. We’ve had to exclude, US investors from, many campaigns at that. Yeah. we’re, not advising the clients, Hey, here’s exactly who you should and who you shouldn’t be targeting in terms of, country and location.
As much as they’re telling us, Hey, we wanna do this globally, Hey, we want to go after investors. We’re allowed to target investors in these three countries, these five countries. Yeah. Which is often how I look at global campaigns. By the way. I still [00:12:00] want to build, a marketing campaign, a funnel that speaks to audiences in a more personalized fashion.
In general, let alone when incorporating geotargeting. So yes, I’ve had the opportunity to, run campaigns that brought in, both retail and accredited investors in Europe and Asia. I can tell you that there’s, definitely interest from groups internationally to target US investors and vice versa.
There are US campaigns where there’ll be an extension on a different portal or with a different broker dealer, and from an advertising perspective. We could geo geotarget down to, very, small areas we could geofence around buildings. Yeah. And target people who’ve been in, let’s say, conference centers in the past six months, on basic ad platforms in the US it’s the zip code level.
but we can, really be specific on who we’re going after AB tests so we could see the [00:13:00] pockets of performance, where we’re getting the best results and doing more of what’s working.
Andy Field: And I guess, yeah. So the technology and the methodology is universal. It’s there anything can be done to the level that, that you’ve outlined there.
I suppose though there are, some hurdles to, to this and, have you noticed any specific hurdles for campaigns who are looking to raise capital across borders?
Jason Fishman: compliance is, yeah. Always, part of the discussion. If we speak with the group and they say they’re launching in a month or three months, we wanna prepare to do a longer pre-launch campaign so that if there are any delays, we can continue audience building, engaging, those groups.
Building more community so that the first day, the first week of the raise, are more substantial, going back to reward crowdfunding tactics. And, it took a lot of best practices from that. [00:14:00] It, really sets the foundation of your campaign. If you have a strong, we’ll call it first chapter, instead of putting any time limit on it.
Targeting is not being done correctly. You could be generating leads from investors. You could have investors coming to your offering that are not able to physically participate. in the US we call it KYC, know your client. They’re not able to pass through the KYC process. That language is more commonly used when speaking about accredited investors and their household income, their net worth requirements to be able to, purchase shares in that round.
Yeah. Similar types of, prohibits, on some of our international campaigns, especially if it’s around a fund. lp, gp, limited partner, general partner, acquisition campaigns. We’re bringing in larger investors to come in and there’s some type of obstacle, monitoring press globally Yeah. Is a different animal.
So definitely, yeah. What [00:15:00] may be relevant in terms of messaging to us here in the us? It may not be, reflecting the times, internationally. So we have to keep a very close pulse on what news is coming out. Is that it’s, disturbing that, as Americans, we may not, may, we may not be, we may not be receiving all the news that people in Europe, people in these different areas are, and vice versa.
So it’s very important that we’re putting ourself in the shoes of the target audience and doing appropriate searches so that we’re able to get a better idea of what they’re being told.
Andy Field: That’s a really good point. I’d never even thought of that, but that’s a really interesting point.
Jason Fishman: Yeah, We could say something that, is out of line in advertising messaging.
Yeah. Or more importantly, we wanna model the campaign off what’s working today. When I work on one of these rounds, I recommend beginning with the strategy, could get more into that, but section, I built a model called the eight point plan. [00:16:00] Generally working on two sections a week over the course of a month, starting with the industry overview and moving to the competitor marketing audit because we want to have a
good understanding of what those prospects, what those potential investors are seeing on a daily basis. We do not wanna be shooting in the dark. What other investment opportunities are they being presented with? Via advertisements on social platforms, on the media sites that they frequent, through email and newsletters that they subscribe to.
And success leaves clues we want to take from that when building a campaign, right? Yeah, of course. Putting a brand’s touch on it. have to do a, more intensive dive. Extra layer of research for international campaigns as a whole.
Andy Field: and that kind of everything you’ve outlined there covers the question I was going to ask you next, which was what advice would you give for non-US founders who are hoping to attract, US investors?
So, people perhaps in Europe, businesses in Europe who are looking to target [00:17:00] investors in, the us. I don’t expect you to answer that question. There’s so much detail to that question. I know, but you’ve covered a couple of the main bits there actually.
Jason Fishman: I could elaborate on that a bit further because that eight point plan, building a strategy, it, it is often overlooked by founders and CEOs.
It sounds self-explanatory. But so does budget conservation. Yeah. And so does overall, finance, use of the existing funds. Marketing generally requires some type of budget. There are many things that you can do, using human capital and, leveraging existing audience. So I don’t wanna say it has to, but just.
It commonly does. So when it comes to allocation of those funds, hey, let’s skip the strategy. Let’s just run advertising. Let’s just do outreach. Let’s just pay to be featured in these publishers, programs. [00:18:00] I Wanna make sure everything we’re doing is direct response, meaning we’re able to measure a return on ad spend, the cost, of capital.
And I, I would encourage everyone to create a marketing strategy first. When I think about Reg CF, when I think about regulation a plus, I really define it as a marketing exercise, and that’s not just because I’m a marketer. You can hear lawyers, you could hear CPAs, accountants who are working on these campaigns saying the same thing.
It, is contingent on enough traffic if the deal is listed online, which, these filings are enough traffic to the offering page with a average, if not close to average conversion rate and a strong enough average investment value. Without enough traffic contingent upon that conversion rate coming through, you’re simply not gonna hit the full goal.
So you need to ask yourself, how am I gonna get this traffic? What is going [00:19:00] to engage them? What is gonna move them forward? When I talk about the eight point plan, just firing through the headlines, you’re looking at two to three different industries looking to take stats from there so you can really present the market opportunity, and have everyone involved, more connected to what the ecosystem looks like today, that competitor marketing audit.
Oh man, that, that’s the most important part to me. Yeah, I will do a brief one even before speaking with issuers, just so I have an understanding of what’s occurring in this space today, what the conversation between investor and issuer looks like today. you then map out your target audience personas.
Like I said, you wanna put yourself in their shoes and really understand. What do they do on the weekends? Where do they go online? What makes them move forward? What are they converting on today? before you start to, to pitch them and digital allows for this, you, could look into all of it, and have variance.
It’s not just one type of investor. you should be going after at least three to five. You want to understand the touch points of [00:20:00] those audiences, how you can reach ’em with paid advertising, how you can reach them with organic content on those channels. You then wanna prioritize. again, budget time.
Which channels do we wanna start with? Yeah. industry. competitor marketing, audit audiences, channels before you determine what am I gonna put any of these channels, what is going to be, the messaging in the first sets of ads? What does the content calendar look like? Yeah. Because you’re taking the audience through an experience, it’s likely gonna be seven touch points or more before they convert.
Even on a lead form, let alone a retail investment offering page. I say that because it’s, a lighter minimum. It’s gonna be at least seven touch points. You wanna be intentional about what those audiences see when they’re searching around and doing their own due diligence. A and this may sound a lot like a lot of work, but this is an opportunity.
Imagine you’re speaking to someone offline, you don’t know what they’re gonna look at, you don’t know where they’re going. From there, digital, you could actually get a good sense of where they’re going [00:21:00] and position for that. There’s headline worthy announcements showing up on ads, on organic content, on, third party mentions and they keep seeing you and with engaging content, you wanna look at strategic partners that could really have everything move faster for you, reach out to their existing, loyal, warm audience.
It’s how I’ve seen campaigns move the quickest. And then after the competitor marketing on it, the most important section for me is the projections. I think it’s the most important section for a lot of groups. the CFO will classically, just flip to the spends and the budget levels. Yep.
The projections. but it’s very important. The only way to measure is with numbers. So how much are you raising the first week, the first month, the second month? Not, just total amounts and, taking a guess as much as what does the algorithm look like? I, mentioned a term earlier of algorithmic roadmap, so I like to think of it [00:22:00] in digital terms of impressions, clicks, and conversions.
True. How many times an ad or a piece of content is being seen, how much traffic is it driving to an offering page or a landing page? You wanna look at the offering page after that, if it’s a landing page, but to, to an offering page. and then how many conversions are coming through and average projections.
You could even put an average transactional value, an average investment size, which I, could tell you for different filings, you could research for different filings. Again, there’s plenty of issuers that have done this before and the information is there. Sure. Maybe you see some larger investments that get you to a much higher average, but, I like projecting conservatively, if it’s a 1% click through rate and a 2% conversion rate.
On a Reg CF campaign last year, $1,500 was the average investment regulation a plus was about $2,300. Given we’ve worked on regulation A plus campaigns this year with, over $5,700 as [00:23:00] the average investment value. Reg D. If it’s a 100k minimum, maybe it’s a $260,000, $280,000 average investment, but you have to take in account how many leads it’s gonna take
maybe one out of 50, one out of a hundred. Convert your cost per lead, your acquisition cost. If you don’t know these numbers, you’re just hoping it’s gonna work. Yeah. Yeah, and that ties your hands to that thought. Once the campaign’s live, you may just shut off a channel and have no replacement for it.
You want to be able to speak about it in a very granular fashion of, Hey. We should be at this click through rate. we’re a bit lower. That’s affecting our conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and the conversion rate’s low too. So we’re paying way too much. You have to know where in the algorithm traffic’s per, falling off and I guess optimizations there.
Andy Field: I guess that helps founders as well plan for their budgeting because obviously they’re ev every, [00:24:00] absolutely, every cent, or every penny is counting for them. So they have to be able to, see what every single penny or cent that they are spending is doing. and I think you, when we were in LA we were talking very much about testing and learning and optimizing
and that’s absolutely crucial because you need to be able to measure and show to the founders everything that’s being spent has a an action if you like. So that’s, yeah, that, that’s really interesting. I’m sure we could talk loads more about tactics, but time is gonna prevent us doing it on this occasion.
Jason Fishman: Of course. We could probably do another,
Andy Field: of course, we could probably do another, another session though. That would be really interesting. But, so, you’ve worked closely with a range of platforms. What does, in your opinion, what does an ideal founder platform marketer relationship look like? How does that dynamic work?
Jason Fishman: I like how you depicted that. You didn’t ask me, Hey, what’s the best platform? What portal is gonna produce the best results? What you just described [00:25:00] is the right way for a founder to look at a platform, which it’s a tool that they can use to complete investments, that could drive traffic to the offering.
Yeah. And it’s really that, that collaborative between them. What does that relationship look like? Clear communication. Yeah. I’ve, spoken to founders that felt is their words. They were oversold by portals and, perhaps, the sales team. I, wanna say, in some cases it would. Younger sales staff
over promised, over committed. Hey, we’re gonna be able to raise $5 million for you, the full level on a Reg CF we just did this campaign, it did 75 million. This is gonna be a breeze. This is dangerous for a portal to speak. to speak that way. Yeah. same with [00:26:00] a tech platform or broker dealer.
And just referencing, past successes. Those are the outliers, or at least, top 10%, if you will. it, I, wouldn’t say, Hey, let’s just focus on the failures or success rates. Some of these platforms, they’ll look at the, minimum raise. There’s a minimum and maximum on the filing and say, they have a 90% success rate because they’ve hit the minimum on all these, which the minimum should always be hit.
you’re setting it to say, no matter what, we’re hitting that point. Yeah, that’s right. It’s the baseline. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. pay extra attention to the stats. But I would say, you speak to three, maybe five, but I like three. And you know who you have those best, conversations with the communication, the rapport you really want, gonna wanna gravitate towards them.
And then it’s a matter of setting up a good plan more than just the marketing plan. what you’re doing on the filing, the valuation, the offering [00:27:00] page, the pitch video. Starts getting into marketing where you’re planning your updates, you’re planning what you’re gonna post on social channels, on email channels, on long form content channels outside of the offering page.
You’re determining your traffic sources and what’s gonna go through. You have an understanding from the portal of what they can do. Yeah. And they cannot, FINRA regulates the portals here in the US and they have to treat. Every issuer the same. The portals cannot play favoritism. Yeah. So they build these, these rules of how they promote, issuers.
You hit 50 k, 120 5K, 2 50, 500 a million. Each portal has its own set of guidelines on how they work with issuers, but they’ll promote to their investor audience at that stage. You do not wanna work with the portal and think that. Me merely listing with them, you are going to raise the full amount, or their audience is gonna get you to the full [00:28:00] level.
If their audience comes to bat and 50% of your investments come from them, fantastic. But. You do not want to hold your breath on that. And, really when they say 50%, it means as you’re raising funds, you’ll see more of their audience, participating as well. Yeah. Yeah. Increased exposure to their existing investor base.
Andy Field: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess that’s probably when you just said it resonated with me. my next question is actually going to be along the lines of, what, would you say is the one thing founders must get right if they’re preparing a campaign today? But you mentioned the plan there and that.
That’s always been, certainly been how I operate. the, there’s the famous quote isn’t the something like, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. so I that, that sounds like it’s probably going to be along the lines of what you’d say is, a really important thing that founders need to get right, is their planning.[00:29:00]
Jason Fishman: Yes, but I don’t wanna be repetitive, so I’ll add to that. So what the plan is gonna tell you is that you need to have these traffic sources and you need to have this content to continue engage them to the point of conversion. So the reason I say the plan is it, builds all that out. They say the plan.
Great quote, by the way. It’s one I say a lot about if you fail to plan, but another one is that the plan is more about the process Yeah. Than the finished product. Yes. It’s asking yourself those questions. How am I gonna get enough people there? just to throw some numbers at it, on a Reg CF campaign, I said $1,500 is the average investment.
So if you are getting 50,000 visits. To the offering page and you’re seeing a 2% conversion rate. Google says an average conversion rate internet wide is 2.35%. in studies that I referenced, [00:30:00] thousand investments average of $1,500 each. That’s $1.5 million. To some people, $1.5 million is not a lot of capital.
It’s all relative. but that’s a thousand investors on a Reg CF campaign. That’s 50,000 visits. Can you do this? Yes. Do you have to have the traffic sources and ensure that you’re getting 50,000 people there? Yes. It, could happen, viral marketing. Yeah. Publisher finds you an email newsletter that charges investors to receive deal flow, finds you, there’s all types of things that, that could occur, but I having the resources in house so I’m not just, crossing my fingers, relying on chance.
yeah, You wanna have scalable channels. That’s why I like advertising so much. Outreach. It can work for larger investors, but be prepared. The outreach it has to generate that traffic. So think about the volume of outreach you need to do [00:31:00] to get that amount of traffic. There much more straightforward path to do that with advertising, but I would say scalable traffic source sources such as advertising and a good content marketing funnel to take those audiences from awareness.
To consideration. They’re considering investing to intent, they’re intending to invest, and there’s still a drop off there. Those that intend, it’s only gonna be a small percentage of ’em that actually do invest. So you only have content to support each step of the puzzle and get a higher conversion rate all the way through.
That makes sense, Jason? I got more. The more social proof, the better. The more third party validation, people don’t believe what they see online. The more of that, the better, all the way through.
Andy Field: That. Yeah, I was just gonna say that you’ve mentioned that to me before. I’m sure you did in your presentation, so that’s fantastic.
So just coming on to, your role with gcca and you, so you’ve, you’re obviously a seasoned expert in all aspects of, crowdfunding marketing. [00:32:00] but you’re also now, a valued member of our GECA steering committee, and I’d just like to. Touch on what motivated you to get involved with GECA? obviously I approached you because of the expertise.
I know you bring to the committee. what do you hope to contribute as part of the group? And then from your perspective on the steering committee, how important do you think that global collaboration is when we’re shaping the future of equity crowdfunding or, regulated crowdfunding as it’s known as in the US.
And what role do you think GECA could play in moving that forward, in breaking down some of those borders? Long question.
Jason Fishman: I’m gonna fire off a few points here. Yeah. That lead into GECA. When I look at the stats industry wide for the investment crowdfunding industry, I don’t believe there’s enough investors.
Yeah. I don’t believe there’s enough issuers and I don’t believe the success rate for either side of the table is great. I’d love to see a higher success rate for issuers. Yeah. Yeah. Industry wide. we’d love to see more awareness for the past. [00:33:00] Nine years. I’ve been explaining to people virtually every day what equity crowdfunding is.
Meanwhile, so many startups fail because they’re undercapitalized, and they should know about these tools. It’s why I put my energy into this space. it’s very fulfilling to be part, of a campaign where a company’s growing and working on later rounds, and I see their offices, their team, their market share, everything ramping up.
This is where I feel I could be most effective. I joined the Crowdfund Professional Association, the CFPA, here in the US January of 2024. I’m now on the executive committee and. Have been thrilled by the work that we’re doing. We’re working on tax incentives for investors here in the us, which would bring far more awareness, meeting with legislators.
Yeah. meeting with all different types of regulators, meeting with groups that can really get more attention, [00:34:00] to these exemptions, to these laws here in the us. and when you approached me about GECA, I said, yes, Let’s do this on a, global stage. I think, worldwide there could be more of an awareness.
And I, do believe that, five, 10 years down the line, this is gonna be the primary approach towards capital formation. And I wanna set the right best practices in place for marketing with the learnings that we’ve had. So speaking to founders all over the world, speaking to investors about what this type of deal flow looks like, it’s right in line with our initiatives.
And so I’m excited to be a part of.
Andy Field: That’s amazing. And, I couldn’t agree more with what you’re saying there. it, it resonates well with me and you’re a really valuable and welcome addition to our steering committee, so thank you so much for that. and, that’s actually all we’ve got time for, today.
Jason Fishman: Okay.
Andy Field: And I know we, we’d love to, to have a future session with you if that’s okay Jason, just to go into a bit more detail.
Jason Fishman: my pleasure. [00:35:00]
Andy Field: We’ll make sure there’s a link to the website where people can find out more about your, your eight point plan and all of the other services, that, you offer.
but I just wanna say a huge thank you for, joining us today and for sharing all those valuable insights. it’s clear that platforms like DNA are doing vital work in making, investing more inclusive and, then aligning with the global vision for a, more connected and, a better equity crowdfunding ecosystem.
Thanks Jason.
Jason Fishman: Again, my pleasure. Good to get the information out there and happy to speak further to your audience at any time.
Andy Field: Fantastic and if you enjoyed today’s episode, please make sure you follow GECA on LinkedIn, and visit the geca.org to learn more about our mission. we have our manifesto on the website, our growing global supporter base, and our steering committee, and of course how you could get involved as well.
And it just remains for me to say thank you very much for listening and stay tuned for more voices helping to shape the future of global crowdfunding. Thank [00:36:00] you.
The Global Evolution of Equity Crowdfunding: Strategic Marketing and the International Imperative
The $4 Billion Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight
Despite billions of potential investors worldwide and millions of companies seeking capital, the global equity crowdfunding market represents just $1.83 billion in 2025- a massive underutilization that reveals the industry's greatest opportunity. When industry expert Jason Fishman notes that "so many startups fail because they're undercapitalized, and they should know about these tools," he's identifying a market failure of unprecedented scale.
This isn't a story about modest growth. It's about unlocking transformative potential through international expansion and sophisticated marketing strategies that could revolutionize entrepreneurial finance as we know it.
The Man Who Cracked the Crowdfunding Code
Jason Fishman's journey from Fortune 500 ad tech to becoming the architect behind over 500 successful crowdfunding campaigns wasn't accidental. When he made the leap from running mobile advertising campaigns for major corporations to partnering with Digital Niche Agency (DNA) in 2014, he discovered something that would reshape his career: "we found capital raising to be a common theme among our clientele."
That insight led to a revelation. When Regulation 506C opened the door for digital marketing to accredited investors, Fishman realized: "we can use our digital marketing skillset. We can use these same channels to bring investors to your offering." From day one of Reg CF in May 2016, DNA had advertising campaigns live, marking the beginning of a systematic approach that would generate nine figures in capital for entrepreneurs worldwide.
But Fishman's true breakthrough came from recognizing that successful crowdfunding isn't about luck - it's about precision. His recent appearance on "The Crowdfunding Chronicles," the GECA Podcast, in a comprehensive discussion with Andy Field, Lead of the GECA Steering Committee, revealed the methodical framework that separates winning campaigns from those that struggle to reach their potential.
The DNA Difference: Why Most Campaigns Struggle (And What Separates Winners)
The brutal reality of crowdfunding is mathematical. As Fishman explains: "On a Reg CF campaign, if you are getting 50,000 visits to the offering page and you're seeing a 2% conversion rate... that's a thousand investments averaging $1,500 each. That's $1.5 million." Yet most founders approach campaigns hoping for viral success rather than engineering it.
"That eight-point plan, building a strategy- it is often overlooked by founders and CEOs," Fishman observes in his conversation with Field. This oversight explains why the industry suffers from what he calls systemic problems: "I don't believe there are enough investors. I don't believe there are enough issuers and I don't believe the success rate for either side of the table is great."
The Eight-Point Strategic Framework That Changes Everything
DNA's systematic approach addresses every critical failure point:
- Industry Analysis "You're looking at two to three different industries to take stats from there so you can really present the market opportunity and have everyone involved more connected to what the ecosystem looks like today." This isn't market research- it's competitive intelligence that positions campaigns strategically.
- Target Market Profile Deep behavioral analysis that answers: "What do they do on the weekends? Where do they go online? What makes them move forward? What are they converting on today?" This granular understanding enables precision targeting that most campaigns never achieve.
- Competitor Audit "That's the most important part to me," Fishman emphasizes. "I will do a brief one even before speaking with issuers, just so I have an understanding of what's occurring in this space today, what the conversation between investor and issuer looks like today." Understanding the competitive landscape prevents campaigns from shouting into an already noisy market.
- Creative Assets & Messaging Optimization of all creative materials based on audience research and competitive analysis, ensuring messages resonate with intended investors rather than founders' assumptions.
- Channel Recommendations "You should be going after at least three to five different investor types," with tailored approaches for each. This multi-channel strategy creates redundancy and optimization opportunities.
- Strategic Partnerships "It's how I've seen campaigns move the quickest," Fishman notes. Leveraging existing networks and warm audiences accelerates momentum beyond paid advertising alone.
- Projections "I like to think of it in digital terms of impressions, clicks, and conversions." Mathematical modeling that removes guesswork from budget allocation and performance expectations.
- Activation Systematic execution with milestone tracking and optimization opportunities built into the timeline.
This framework has powered remarkable successes: Mode Mobile's $45 million Regulation A+ raise, BOXABL's $12 million goal achievement, and Atom Beam's $5 million Reg CF campaign completed in just 43 days.
The International Breakthrough: Why Domestic Platforms Are Hitting a Wall
While DNA was perfecting its systematic approach, academic researchers were uncovering something profound about platform performance. A comprehensive 15-year study of 317 European ECF platforms revealed that "international platforms outperform domestic ones as they mobilize a larger pool of investors" and achieve "higher success rates and funding amounts" (Farè & Vismara, 2025).
This wasn't a small advantage—it was a fundamental performance differential that explains why the most successful platforms are racing toward international expansion.
The Four Pillars of International Advantage
Enhanced Investor Mobilization: International platforms access diverse geographic markets, creating larger, more resilient investor communities.
Superior ESG Orientation: Global platforms demonstrate stronger commitment to sustainability principles, "which enhances their attractiveness to investors" (Farè & Vismara, 2025).
Network Effects: "The enhanced opportunities afforded to international platforms to tap into broader networks, cultivate a larger and more diverse investor community, and augment their knowledge reservoir" (Farè & Vismara, 2025).
Risk Diversification: Reduced dependence on single market conditions provides stability during regional economic fluctuations.
From Los Angeles to Istanbul: How Global Experience Changes Everything
Fishman's international journey began in 2017: "we started getting inquiries that would include the word blockchain, and we started getting invitations to speak at conferences globally." What followed was an education in global crowdfunding complexity that few marketing professionals possess.
"I've been to Istanbul for the World Congress of Angel Investors Forum. I've been to Australia for Google Startup Grind APAC. I've been to conferences in Asia and Europe. I think I've spoken at events in eight different countries."
This exposure revealed critical insights about cross-border campaign execution. "We've had to exclude US investors from many campaigns... They're telling us, 'Hey, we want to do this globally.'" But global ambitions require sophisticated navigation of regulatory and cultural complexities.
The Hidden Complexity of Cross-Border Success
Regulatory Navigation: "Compliance is always part of the discussion. If we speak with a group and they say they're launching in a month or three months, we want to prepare to do a longer pre-launch campaign so that if there are any delays, we can continue audience building."
Cultural Intelligence: "Monitoring press globally is a different animal... What may be relevant in terms of messaging to us here in the US may not be reflecting the times internationally. So we have to keep a very close pulse on what news is coming out."
Technological Precision: "We can geo-target down to very small areas, geofence around buildings, and target people who've been in conference centers in the past six months." This technological sophistication, combined with cultural awareness, creates competitive advantages that purely domestic operators cannot match.
The $4.45 Billion Reality Check: Why the Current Market Is Just the Beginning
The equity crowdfunding market's projected growth from $1.83 billion in 2025 to $4.45 billion by 2032 sounds impressive until you consider the true scale of global opportunity. When viewed against the vast number of companies worldwide seeking capital and billions of potential investors, these figures reveal massive underutilization of the crowdfunding model.
This gap explains Fishman's conviction shared on The Crowdfunding Chronicles: "I do believe that five, ten years down the line, this is going to be the primary approach toward capital formation." But realizing this potential requires addressing fundamental industry constraints.
The Three Critical Barriers to Explosive Growth
Insufficient Investor Participation: "I don't believe there are enough investors" in current markets. International expansion multiplies available investor pools exponentially.
Limited Issuer Awareness: "For the past nine years, I've been explaining to people virtually every day what equity crowdfunding is. Meanwhile, so many startups fail because they're undercapitalized, and they should know about these tools." Global awareness campaigns could unlock millions of potential issuers.
Poor Success Rates: "I don't believe the success rate for either side of the table is great." Professional marketing frameworks like DNA's eight-point system could dramatically improve campaign outcomes industry-wide.
The GECA Vision: Building the Infrastructure for Global Transformation
Fishman's discussion with Andy Field on The Crowdfunding Chronicles highlighted his involvement in the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance steering committee, which represents more than professional development—it's a mission to "set the right best practices in place for marketing with the learnings that we've had."
"When you approached me about GECA, I said, yes. Let's do this on a global stage. I think worldwide there could be more awareness." This commitment goes beyond business considerations to personal fulfillment: "It's very fulfilling to be part of a campaign where a company's growing and working on later rounds, and I see their offices, their team, their market share, everything ramping up."
The Mathematical Reality of Marketing Excellence
Fishman's approach to crowdfunding success is relentlessly mathematical: "When I think about Reg CF, when I think about Regulation A+, I really define it as a marketing exercise, and that's not just because I'm a marketer. You can hear lawyers, you can hear CPAs, accountants who are working on these campaigns saying the same thing."
The precision required is unforgiving: "You have to know where in the algorithm traffic is falling off. We should be at this click-through rate. We're a bit lower. That's affecting our conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and the conversion rate's low too. So we're paying way too much."
This mathematical approach extends to strategic planning: "What the plan is going to tell you is that you need to have these traffic sources and you need to have this content to continue engaging them to the point of conversion... the plan is more about the process than the finished product."
Breaking the Platform Illusion: Why Listing Isn't Enough
One of the most dangerous misconceptions in crowdfunding is platform dependency. Fishman frequently encounters founders who believe "that merely listing with them, you are going to raise the full amount, or their audience is going to get you to the full level."
The reality is harsher: "I've spoken to founders that felt- in their words- they were oversold by portals and perhaps the sales team... over-promised, over-committed. 'Hey, we're going to be able to raise $5 million for you, the full level on a Reg CF. We just did this campaign, it did $75 million. This is going to be a breeze.' This is dangerous for a portal to speak that way."
Successful campaigns require "scalable traffic sources such as advertising and a good content marketing funnel to take those audiences from awareness to consideration. They're considering investing to intent, they're intending to invest, and there's still a drop-off there."
The Credibility Imperative: Why Social Proof Determines Success
In an era of digital skepticism, credibility building becomes paramount: "The more social proof, the better. The more third-party validation, people don't believe what they see online. The more of that, the better, all the way through."
This insight, combined with international platform advantages and systematic marketing frameworks, creates a roadmap for unlocking crowdfunding's transformative potential.
The Path Forward: Three Immediate Actions for Industry Transformation
The convergence of international expansion and sophisticated marketing capabilities isn't a future possibility- it's an immediate necessity. With the global equity crowdfunding market projected to reach $4.45 billion by 2032, platforms and founders who act now will capture the majority of this expanding opportunity.
For Platforms: Embrace International Infrastructure
- Develop cross-border operational capabilities
- Invest in sophisticated marketing support for campaigns
- Implement systematic strategic planning frameworks
- Focus on ESG integration to attract global investors
For Entrepreneurs: Recognize Marketing as Mission-Critical
- Adopt systematic planning approaches like DNA's eight-point framework
- Budget appropriately for professional marketing support
- Understand that crowdfunding success is fundamentally a marketing exercise
- Plan for international expansion from day one
For Investors: Choose Platforms with Global Vision
- Recognize the performance advantages of international platforms
- Understand the importance of platform marketing capabilities
- Consider ESG factors in platform selection
- Appreciate the complexity required for successful crowdfunding
Final: The $4 Billion Question
As Fishman articulates his global mission in his conversation with Andy Field on The Crowdfunding Chronicles: "Speaking to founders all over the world, speaking to investors about what this type of deal flow looks like, it's right in line with our initiatives." The question isn't whether international expansion and sophisticated marketing will dominate crowdfunding's future- it's whether stakeholders will recognize this reality in time to benefit from the transformation.
The platforms, founders, and marketing professionals who recognize these imperatives and invest accordingly will shape the future of entrepreneurial finance, creating a more inclusive, efficient, and globally connected capital formation system. The opportunity is enormous, but the window for establishing leadership position is narrowing rapidly.
The choice is clear: evolve toward international sophistication or remain constrained by domestic limitations in an increasingly global marketplace.
For more insights on international crowdfunding marketing strategies and DNA's eight-point strategic framework, visit digitalnicheagency.com. To learn more about GECA's mission to facilitate global crowdfunding collaboration, visit geca.org. Listen to The Crowdfunding Chronicles podcast for more expert insights on global equity crowdfunding.
Karsten Wenzlaff joins the GECA steering Committee bolstering GECA's global ambitions
One of Europe's most influential crowdfunding architects brings a decade of market-building expertise to accelerate borderless investment vision
In a move that signals GECA's evolution from ambitious startup to industry powerhouse, the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance today announced the appointment of Karsten Wenzlaff as strategic advisor to its steering committee.
The Man Who Helped to Build Europe's Crowdfunding Infrastructure
While most people were still trying to understand what crowdfunding meant, Karsten Wenzlaff was busy inventing it. As author of Europe's first crowdfunding study in 2011 and Germany's first crowdfunding survey in 2012, he didn't just document the industry's emergence - he created the analytical framework that made institutional adoption possible.
Today, as Secretary-General of Digital Invest Germany (German Crowdfunding Association) and Alternative Finance Expert at the University of Hamburg, Karsten occupies a unique position at the intersection of policy, academia, and industry. His MPhil in International Relations from Cambridge, focused on international financial regulation, provided the theoretical foundation for what would become a career spent building the regulatory architecture of European alternative finance.
The Cambridge Connection: Building Global Standards
Since 2013, Karsten has co-authored the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance's Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report, becoming the European editor in 2017 and contributing to the Global Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report in 2020. These reports are the data backbone that regulators, investors, and platforms rely on for market intelligence.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Karsten joined Cambridge's COVID-19 Response Team, helping map how alternative finance could support economic recovery. The influence of this work extended far beyond academia, informing policy responses across multiple jurisdictions.
The ECSP Architect: From Vision to €5 Million Reality
Perhaps Karsten’s most significant achievement was his role in helping to create the European Crowdfunding Service Provider (ECSP) regulation. As a member of the European Crowdfunding Stakeholder Forum, he helped design the framework that allows platforms to raise up to €5 million across EU borders with a single license.
This wasn't just theoretical work. Karsten coordinated networks of European fintech associations to develop practical frameworks for implementation, bridging the gap between policy intention and market reality. The result? A harmonized regulatory environment and a network of platforms, which are connected through the European Digital Finance Association, where Karsten is a board member.
The Global Network: From Bundestag to UNDP
Karsten’s influence extends far beyond Europe through an unmatched network of institutional relationships:
European Influence:
- Expert advisor to the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) on FinTech regulation, in the Digital Affairs Committee and the Finance Committee
- Consultant to German federal and regional governments
- Coordinator of European fintech association network and board member of the European Digital Finance Association
Global Reach:
- External advisor to the UNDP Alt Fin Lab
- OECD consultant on civic crowdfunding implementation
- Regulator Advisor in Tunisia and Uganda
- World Economic Forum contributor on disruptive financial services
It’s safe to say that when regulatory changes need to happen, Karsten often knows the right people to make them reality.
The Academic Powerhouse: From Research to Implementation
Karsten’s academic credentials provide intellectual rigor to his policy work. His publication record spans landmark contributions to "Advances in Crowdfunding Research," "Commentary on the European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regime," and "Crowdfunding in Higher Education."
As editor of the European Crowdfunding Market Report 2023, he continues shaping industry understanding through data-driven analysis.
But Karsten isn't just an academic. As founder of the Institute of Communications for Social Media (ikosom), he's consulted for organizations from startups to multinational corporations, always bringing evidence-based approaches to practical challenges.
The Technology Visionary: Blockchain, AI, and the Future of Finance
Karsten’s work on blockchain-based business models and AI compliance frameworks addresses challenges many regulators are also in the process of tackling. This forward-looking perspective proved crucial during his time on validation boards for EU projects like CitizEnergy and his ongoing research into sustainable finance solutions.
His speaking engagements span continents - from London to Kuala Lumpur, Brussels to Tunis - always focused on how emerging technologies can enhance financial inclusion while maintaining appropriate oversight.
The Strategic Imperative: Why GECA is a great fit.
GECA's mission of creating borderless equity crowdfunding markets requires more than good intentions - it demands the regulatory expertise and institutional relationships that Karsten possesses. His appointment signals GECA's evolution from advocacy organization to implementation partner.
"The future of crowdfunding is inherently global," Karsten noted. "But globalization without proper regulatory frameworks creates risks for investors and entrepreneurs alike. GECA's approach of building consensus while maintaining standards aligns perfectly with the lessons we've learned from a decade of European harmonization efforts."
The Network Effect: Amplifying GECA's Global Reach
Karsten’s extensive institutional relationships dramatically expand GECA's ability to influence policy development. His connections span:
- Academic Networks: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, European Centre for Alternative Finance (Utrecht), University of Agder research collaborations
- Policy Circles: European Commission, national parliaments, international organizations
- Industry Associations: Secretary-General role provides direct access to platform networks across Europe
- Innovation Ecosystems: Regulatory sandbox frameworks and fintech development programs
Building Tomorrow's Financial Infrastructure Today
With the recent high profile steering committee appointments, combining with the existing team, GECA is assembling the intellectual firepower needed to tackle crowdfunding's biggest challenges - combining complementary expertise in data analytics, regulatory design, and market development.
In a market where regulatory clarity often determines success or failure, GECA has just acquired one of Europe's most influential regulatory architects. For an organization with global ambitions, having someone who has successfully helped to harmonize regulations across 27 European countries provides both proof of concept and practical roadmap. In the rapidly evolving world of financial technology, that kind of expertise is vital.
The appointment of Karsten Wenzlaff signals that GECA is no longer just planning for the future of global crowdfunding - it's building it.
The Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) is an international organization dedicated to advancing regulatory harmonization, market development, and best practices in equity crowdfunding worldwide. Learn more at thegeca.org.
Contact: For media inquiries about GECA's steering committee appointments and global initiatives, please contact the steering committee at: contact@thegeca.org
Want to join GECA's mission? Visit thegeca.org/join to learn about supporter opportunities for platforms, service providers, and industry stakeholders.
The $5.7 Trillion Innovation Crisis: How Regulatory Fragmentation Is Choking Global Innovation - And Why the World Can't Afford to Wait
How disconnected equity crowdfunding regulations are preventing the next wave of global innovation - and what cutting-edge research reveals about the urgent path forward
The World Economic Forum's January 2025 analysis reveals that global financial system fragmentation could cost up to $5.7 trillion in lost GDP- representing 5% of global economic output and twice the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet nowhere is this fragmentation more acutely felt, or more preventable, than in equity crowdfunding, where regulatory barriers prevent 40% of successful campaigns from accessing essential cross-border investment.
This isn't just an industry problem - it's a global economic crisis hiding in plain sight. As confirmed by World Economic Forum analysis involving over 25 global finance leaders, fragmented financial regulations are systematically destroying innovation potential while imposing an invisible tax on every startup, every breakthrough technology, and every entrepreneur seeking to change the world.
Consider the stark reality: while global cross-border bank credit stands at nearly $40 trillion and bond issuances reached $9 trillion in 2024, the entire global equity crowdfunding market struggles to reach $2.1 billion annually. The mathematical impossibility is glaring - and the cost is measured not just in lost funding, but in breakthrough innovations that never reach the market.
"The potential costs of fragmentation on the global economy are staggering,” says Matthew Blake, Head of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems. “Leaders face a critical opportunity to safeguard the global financial system through principled approaches."
Recent doctoral research from the University of Zurich analyzing the European regulatory framework provides compelling evidence of this crisis. Even within the relatively harmonized EU system - considered the world's most advanced crowdfunding integration - only 2% of crowdfunding capital comes from outside Europe, demonstrating the massive untapped potential that World Economic Forum research shows could unlock unprecedented economic growth.
This is the $5.7 trillion question facing the global economy today. And it's exactly why the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) exists.
The Hidden Tax on Innovation: Beyond Direct Costs
Every day, promising startups around the world face an invisible barrier that has nothing to do with their product quality, market potential, or team capability. It's a regulatory maze that prevents a tech innovator in Lagos from accessing investors in London, or stops a breakthrough medical device company in Mumbai from connecting with supporters in Melbourne.
But the World Economic Forum's analysis reveals this goes far beyond simple market access. Fragmentation creates a compound crisis:
The Inflation Tax on Innovation: WEF research shows fragmentation drives inflation increases from 0.6% to 5.2% depending on severity. For startups and SMEs that equity crowdfunding serves, this inflation tax is particularly devastating, as higher interest rates make traditional bank financing even more inaccessible while eroding the real value of crowdfunded capital.
The EMDE Development Crisis: Emerging markets and developing economies face GDP losses up to 11% from financial fragmentation—making alternative financing mechanisms like equity crowdfunding not just beneficial, but existentially critical. When traditional financial systems fail these markets, crowdfunding represents a lifeline that current regulations systematically choke off.
The Financial Institution Strain Multiplier: The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has quantified that regulatory inconsistencies cost banks and financial institutions 5–10% of their yearly revenue - over $780 billion annually across the global financial services industry. This burden makes traditional banks even less likely to serve the SME markets that crowdfunding could efficiently fill, creating a vicious cycle of reduced capital access.
For equity crowdfunding platforms, this burden is particularly acute. Each jurisdiction requires separate legal entities, compliance infrastructure, and operational procedures. A platform seeking to operate across major markets like the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia must essentially build and maintain five separate businesses -a cost structure that prevents the scale necessary to serve global innovation effectively.
The Systemic Risk Multiplier: Beyond Direct Costs
Drawing from WEF's multi-scenario fragmentation analysis, the true cost extends far beyond immediate market inefficiencies. The research identifies four escalating scenarios:
Low Fragmentation ("Small yard, high fence" approach): 0.6% global GDP loss with 0.6% inflation increase—representing the baseline cost we're already paying.
Moderate Fragmentation: 2.3% GDP loss with 2.3% inflation increase—the trajectory we're currently following as regulatory walls continue rising.
High Fragmentation: 3.6% GDP loss with 3.5% inflation increase—comparable to Great Recession impact for major economies.
Very High Fragmentation: 5.5% GDP loss with 5.2% inflation increase—a scenario that would make current crowdfunding market development virtually impossible.
These projections align with World Economic Forum analysis showing that even 'low fragmentation' scenarios cost 0.6% of global GDP annually. Applied to equity crowdfunding's $2.1 billion market, this suggests current fragmentation costs exceed $12.6 million yearly in direct efficiency losses alone - before accounting for innovation multiplier effects that research shows typically generate 10-50 jobs for each million dollars of successful funding.
The academic evidence is stark: Research analyzing post-2007 financial crisis regulatory approaches reveals that fragmented systems create "shadow banking" risks while failing to capture the economic potential of integrated capital markets. Instead of one sophisticated, globally competitive platform serving entrepreneurs worldwide, we get fragmented, domestically-focused systems that lack the scale to drive meaningful innovation.
The Geopolitical Imperative: Why Crowdfunding Harmonization Is Economic Security
The WEF report's analysis of Russia-Ukraine conflict responses provides sobering context. When the EU froze $300 billion in Russian central bank reserves and disconnected Russian banks from SWIFT, it demonstrated both the power and the fragility of interconnected financial systems.
But it also revealed a critical vulnerability: fragmented crowdfunding systems cannot provide the resilient alternative financing mechanisms that economies need when traditional financial channels face geopolitical disruption. Countries with sophisticated, internationally integrated crowdfunding frameworks possess enhanced economic resilience, while those trapped in regulatory isolation remain vulnerable to financial system shocks.
This transforms crowdfunding harmonization from an industry preference into a national security imperative. As WEF research confirms, financial fragmentation creates compound risks that extend far beyond immediate economic costs, affecting innovation competitiveness for years after appropriate regulations are finally implemented.
When First-Mover Advantage Becomes Permanent Advantage
The United Kingdom's experience provides compelling evidence of how regulatory timing can create lasting competitive benefits that WEF analysis shows compound over time.
The UK introduced equity crowdfunding regulations around 2011, approximately five years ahead of most other major markets. The impact was dramatic: By 2016, the UK alone accounted for nearly 40% of the global equity crowdfunding market, despite representing only a small fraction of global economic activity. British platforms like Seedrs and Crowdcube didn't just capture market share—they became global brands that pioneered industry best practices.
Meanwhile, the United States—despite possessing the world's largest economy—was slow to embrace retail equity crowdfunding. Regulation Crowdfunding only became effective in 2016, five years after the UK's implementation. The immediate response revealed massive pent-up demand: annual funding jumped from just $25 million in 2016 to $479 million by 2021 - a 25-fold increase.
As confirmed by World Economic Forum analysis of regulatory timing effects, this demonstrates how delay in emerging financial technologies imposes compound costs. The lesson is clear: regulatory delay imposes compound costs that extend far beyond immediate market impact, affecting innovation competitiveness for years after appropriate regulations are finally implemented.
Europe's Harmonization Success Story - And Its Critical Limits
Perhaps the most instructive example comes from Continental Europe's transformation from regulatory fragmentation to integration—a case study that perfectly illustrates WEF's framework for successful financial system reform.
Before the European Crowdfunding Service Providers Regulation (ECSPR) took effect in 2021, Europe operated as a collection of incompatible national markets. The results of harmonization have been remarkable:
- Cross-border activity now accounts for 17% of all EU crowdfunding investment
- 159 platforms are now licensed EU-wide
- The transformation occurred within just 18 months of full implementation
Yet academic analysis of the ECSPR reveals both the success and the persistent limitations of even this advanced harmonization effort. While the regulation successfully created what researchers term a "proportionate agency relationship" between crowdfunding service providers and investors, only about 2% of EU crowdfunding funds come from outside Europe, demonstrating how much international capital remains locked out by regulatory incompatibility with non-EU markets.
This aligns precisely with WEF's analysis showing that even successful regional integration efforts fail to capture full economic benefits without broader international coordination. More significantly, research reveals that current regulatory frameworks fail to address the emerging convergence of crowdfunding with crypto-asset technologies. The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and traditional crowdfunding operate in parallel rather than integrated systems, creating artificial boundaries that prevent the development of what academics call "composite assets"- innovative financial instruments that could dramatically enhance liquidity and investor participation.
The WEF Blueprint: Eight Principles for Harmonized Crowdfunding
The World Economic Forum's research with global finance leaders has identified eight core principles that provide a concrete framework for crowdfunding harmonization. Each principle directly addresses critical barriers currently fragmenting the global market:
Principle 1 - Rule of Law: Predictable legal frameworks enable cross-border crowdfunding platforms to operate with confidence, reducing the compliance uncertainty that currently forces platforms to choose between markets rather than serving global innovation.
Principle 2 - Property Rights: Respect for financial and physical property ownership creates the investor confidence essential for cross-border crowdfunding, where investors must trust that their rights will be protected across jurisdictions.
Principle 3 - Sovereign Asset Protection: Avoiding unilateral asset expropriation maintains the international financial stability that crowdfunding platforms require for consistent cross-border operations.
Principle 4 - International Institution Independence: Safeguarding standard-setting bodies enables the development of common crowdfunding frameworks that transcend national political interests.
Principle 5 - Financial Infrastructure Integrity: Crowdfunding platforms represent critical emerging financial market infrastructure that should remain apolitical and accessible, enabling capital to flow to the most promising innovations regardless of geopolitical tensions.
Principle 6 - Interoperability: The 2% of EU crowdfunding capital from outside Europe demonstrates the massive untapped potential when systems remain compatible rather than creating digital borders.
Principle 7 - Cross-Border Flow Support: Structuring policies to support continued capital flows directly enables the cross-border investment that research shows 40% of successful crowdfunding campaigns require.
Principle 8 - Monetary Policy Independence: Shielding fiscal and monetary policy from political interference creates the stable macroeconomic environment that long-term innovation investment requires.
The Three-Model Future: Beyond Traditional Crowdfunding
Cutting-edge regulatory research identifies three distinct crowdfunding models that could serve as templates for global harmonization, perfectly aligned with WEF's three-tier action framework:
Model 1: Traditional Platform-Based Funding (Tier 1 - Immediate Implementation)
- Bulletin board trading systems
- Direct investor-to-project relationships
- Suitable for SME funding and early-stage ventures
- Implements WEF's "anchor guardrails through voluntary norms" approach
Model 2: Collective Investment Approach (Tier 2 - Medium-term Integration)
- Similar to private equity structures
- Professional "lead investors" guide retail participation
- Enables funding of larger enterprises and complex projects
- Supports "blended finance" combining public and private capital
- Aligns with WEF's "resist further fragmentation" strategy
Model 3: Secondary Market Trading of Composite Assets (Tier 3 - Long-term Reform)
- Integration with tokenization and crypto-asset frameworks
- ETF-like structures for crowdfunded investments
- Enhanced liquidity through secondary market development
- Addresses the fundamental challenge of exit opportunities
- Enables WEF's "reform the system" vision
Research shows that the viability of advanced models depends on sophisticated frameworks addressing fiduciary duties, systemic risk management, and what academics term "macroprudential oversight" to ensure that innovation doesn't create new vulnerabilities - precisely the approach WEF recommends for sustainable financial system evolution.
The CBDC Opportunity Window: Building Tomorrow's Infrastructure Today
The WEF report identifies that over 90% of central banks are exploring Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), creating both unprecedented opportunity and existential risk for crowdfunding platforms. This transformation will occur whether or not crowdfunding harmonization keeps pace—but the timing creates a unique window.
Integration with emerging wholesale CBDC systems could enable the seamless cross-border transactions that research shows 40% of successful campaigns require. Blockchain-based compliance systems could automatically enforce multiple jurisdictions' requirements simultaneously, while AI-powered analysis could provide standardized risk assessments across different accounting standards.
However, if CBDC implementation proceeds without coordinated crowdfunding frameworks, it could create new digital barriers even more impermeable than current regulatory fragmentation. The choice isn't whether digital transformation will reshape cross-border finance - it's whether crowdfunding harmonization shapes that transformation or gets swept aside by it.
The Financial Innovation Act of 2024 has already enabled over 35 cross-border equity crowdfunding pilots using standardized blockchain protocols. Meanwhile, platforms like Dacxi Chain are building comprehensive infrastructure specifically designed for global equity crowdfunding. Research shows that effective technology integration requires more than just removing barriers - it demands sophisticated frameworks addressing what academics term the "convergence of crowdfunding with crypto-asset regulations," ensuring that innovation enhances rather than undermines investor protection.
The Mathematics of Lost Opportunity
The academic research on cross-border investment dependency provides a quantitative framework for understanding the scale of opportunity being lost, now validated by World Economic Forum's institutional analysis. The "40% rule" isn't just an academic curiosity - it's a mathematical foundation for calculating what regulatory harmonization could unlock in the context of the $5.7 trillion fragmentation cost.
Conservative scenario: Regulatory harmonization that increased meaningful cross-border investment by just 25% could expand the global market from $2.1 billion to $2.6 billion annually - generating $500 million in additional innovation funding while reducing the broader fragmentation tax by billions.
Moderate scenario: A 50% improvement could drive annual expansion to $3.1 billion, with cumulative impact over a decade reaching $15 billion in additional capital formation - contributing meaningfully to WEF's economic integration benefits.
Aggressive scenario: Full integration enabling composite asset trading and secondary market development could expand the market to $4.2 billion annually, with 10-year cumulative impact exceeding $30 billion in additional innovation funding - demonstrating how coordinated action on crowdfunding could model broader financial system harmonization.
These figures represent only direct funding increases and don't account for the multiplier effects of job creation, technological spillovers, and ecosystem development that successful ventures generate. Supporting research from Oliver Wyman analysis suggests that effective crowdfunding harmonization could serve as a template for addressing the broader $5.7 trillion fragmentation crisis.
The Diaspora Opportunity: $400 Billion Waiting to Flow
One of the most immediately addressable opportunities lies in mobilizing diaspora investment - a solution that directly addresses WEF's emphasis on supporting emerging market development. With 280 million people living outside their birth countries and collectively sending over $400 billion annually in remittances, the potential is enormous and directly relevant to addressing EMDE funding gaps.
Current regulations severely constrain diaspora participation despite their natural alignment with equity crowdfunding. Academic analysis suggests that harmonized frameworks incorporating "blended finance" mechanisms could redirect significant portions of remittance flows toward productive investment rather than consumption - precisely the kind of innovative financing WEF research shows could address global development challenges.
If harmonization enabled just 5% of current remittance flows to be redirected toward equity investment, this would generate approximately $20 billion annually - nearly ten times the current global equity crowdfunding market size. For EMDEs facing 11% GDP losses from broader financial fragmentation, this represents a critical alternative financing mechanism that could substantially offset traditional capital flight.
This connects directly to WEF's finding that EMDEs are disproportionately harmed by fragmentation, making diaspora-enabled crowdfunding not just an opportunity but an economic necessity for maintaining development momentum in an increasingly fragmented global financial system.
Learning from Financial Crisis Response: The Coordination Imperative
WEF's analysis of post-2008 financial crisis responses provides crucial insight into why crowdfunding harmonization can't wait for broader financial system reform. The research reveals three key risks from continued fragmentation that directly apply to crowdfunding:
Compound Regulatory Failures: When multiple jurisdictions impose similar restrictions simultaneously, they can create unintended systemic effects. In crowdfunding, this manifests as simultaneous platform shutdowns that eliminate funding options across multiple markets simultaneously.
Macroprudential Blindspots: Fragmented oversight prevents comprehensive risk assessment across integrated markets. Crowdfunding platforms operating across multiple jurisdictions face regulatory arbitrage pressures that can undermine investor protection.
Crisis Response Coordination: Emergency interventions become less effective when regulatory frameworks don't align. During the COVID-19 pandemic, crowdfunding could have provided critical emergency funding for affected businesses, but regulatory fragmentation prevented rapid, coordinated response.
The research proposes enhanced roles for macroprudential authorities (like the European Systemic Risk Board) to assess cross-border impacts of regulatory decisions - a model that could be adapted globally for crowdfunding oversight.
As confirmed by World Economic Forum analysis, coordinated regulatory responses enhance rather than undermine system stability, while fragmented approaches amplify risks even when individual regulations appear sound.
Technology: Building Bridges Across Regulatory Moats
Drawing from WEF's analysis of emerging financial technologies, innovative solutions are emerging that could reduce fragmentation costs while maintaining investor protection - but only if implemented within coordinated regulatory frameworks.
Academic analysis of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation reveals how "composite assets" - combining traditional equity with tokenized elements - could create new liquidity mechanisms that address fundamental secondary market challenges. However, realizing this potential requires the kind of international coordination that WEF research shows is essential for financial system stability.
Blockchain-based compliance systems can automatically enforce multiple jurisdictions' requirements simultaneously, while AI-powered analysis can provide standardized risk assessments across different accounting standards. But these solutions only work when regulatory frameworks are designed for interoperability rather than isolation.
The Financial Innovation Act of 2024 demonstrates how coordinated policy can accelerate technology adoption: over 35 cross-border equity crowdfunding pilots now operate using standardized blockchain protocols. Meanwhile, platforms like Dacxi Chain are building comprehensive infrastructure specifically designed for global equity crowdfunding - infrastructure that could support the kind of financial system integration WEF research shows could save trillions in economic output.
GECA's Vision: Crowd 2.0—Implementing the WEF Framework
This is where the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance comes in. GECA is advocating for what we call "Crowd 2.0" -a revolutionary approach informed by cutting-edge regulatory research and World Economic Forum's institutional validation that transcends borders and removes unnecessary barriers to investment.
Our mission encompasses four pillars, enhanced by WEF insights and designed to implement their eight-principle framework:
Cross-Border Collaboration: Harmonizing regulations using proven frameworks like the ECSPR as templates, while addressing identified limitations through enhanced international coordination that follows WEF's three-tier action approach.
Standardized, Smarter Regulations: Creating common standards that implement the three-model approach, enabling everything from traditional crowdfunding to sophisticated composite asset trading, while incorporating WEF's principles for maintaining financial system integrity.
Thriving Secondary Markets: Developing liquidity solutions incorporating tokenization and ETF-like structures that academic research shows could dramatically increase investor confidence, building on WEF's emphasis on interoperable financial market infrastructure.
Education & Investor Empowerment: Building informed investor communities through global education initiatives that address the sophisticated risk management frameworks required for advanced crowdfunding models, supporting WEF's call for transparent, inclusive decision-making.
As Bruce Virga, CEO of Title3Funds and GECA Steering Committee member, puts it: "We envision a future where everyone in the world can invest in companies anywhere in the world" - a vision that now has institutional validation from the world's leading economic research.
The Sustainability Imperative: Beyond Pure Economics
WEF research reveals that harmonized crowdfunding frameworks could enable transformative approaches to global challenges, addressing sustainability issues that fragmented systems simply cannot tackle effectively:
Green Crowdfunding: Funding environmentally sustainable projects through specialized frameworks that address "greenwashing" risks while promoting genuine environmental innovation. Current fragmentation prevents the international coordination necessary for effective green finance standards.
Blended Finance: Combining public and private capital to address market failures in social and environmental investing, potentially unlocking funding for projects that traditional finance mechanisms cannot adequately serve. WEF research shows this requires exactly the kind of international coordination that crowdfunding harmonization could pioneer.
Financial Inclusion: Democratizing access to both investment opportunities and capital, supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals through enhanced social and financial inclusion. For the 280 million diaspora population, this represents both opportunity and obligation.
Research shows that current fragmentation prevents the development of these sophisticated approaches, as they require coordinated regulatory frameworks that can manage complex multi-stakeholder arrangements across borders - precisely what WEF's eight principles are designed to enable.
Learning from Proven Models: The Implementation Pathway
The path forward isn't theoretical. Academic analysis of the EU's ECSPR provides a comprehensive template, while research on bilateral approaches suggests that targeted mutual recognition agreements could serve as stepping stones toward broader harmonization - exactly the phased approach WEF recommends.
Key structural elements that research shows work, now validated by institutional analysis:
Single licensing frameworks enabling cross-border operation with proportionate regulatory burden - implementing WEF Principle 7 on supporting cross-border flows.
Standardized disclosure requirements that maintain investor protection while reducing compliance costs - supporting WEF Principle 1 on predictable rule of law.
Unified investor protection standards incorporating sophisticated fiduciary duty frameworks - ensuring WEF Principle 2 on property rights protection.
Coordinated macroprudential supervision among authorities to manage systemic risks - implementing WEF Principle 4 on international institution independence.
Technology-enabled solutions offering practical integration without requiring formal policy coordination, as demonstrated by emerging blockchain-based compliance systems and AI-powered standardization tools - supporting WEF Principle 6 on interoperability.
The Economic Development Imperative: Jobs, Growth, and Global Competitiveness
The stakes extend far beyond financial markets. Small and medium enterprises worldwide face an estimated $5.7 trillion financing gap - the same figure WEF identifies as the cost of financial system fragmentation. Meanwhile, emerging markets alone have startup funding gaps exceeding $50 billion, while trillions of dollars in institutional and retail capital seek productive investment opportunities.
WEF research reveals that the innovation multiplier effects are substantial: Successful startups typically generate 10-50 jobs for each million dollars of funding received. Regulatory harmonization enabling an additional $500 million to $1 billion in annual funding could support the creation of 5,000 to 50,000 new jobs annually - jobs that current fragmentation systematically prevents.
More significantly, research on "composite asset" frameworks suggests that enhanced liquidity mechanisms could dramatically increase the efficiency of capital allocation, ensuring that funding reaches the most promising innovations regardless of geographic location. This directly addresses WEF's emphasis on ensuring that financial system reform benefits all participants, particularly emerging markets and developing economies.
For countries facing the 11% GDP losses that WEF research projects for EMDEs under continued fragmentation, crowdfunding harmonization represents not just opportunity but economic necessity.
The Call to Action: Economic Crisis Demands Urgent Response
The evidence is overwhelming: regulatory fragmentation in equity crowdfunding is imposing massive, unnecessary costs while constraining innovation and economic development worldwide. But cutting-edge academic research, now validated by World Economic Forum's institutional analysis, provides a clear roadmap for harmonization that maintains investor protection while unlocking unprecedented opportunities.
The World Economic Forum's analysis provides a clear timeline: fragmentation costs compound daily, while coordinated action following their eight-principle framework could unlock unprecedented innovation funding. The choice isn't whether harmonization will occur - the $5.7 trillion economic imperative makes fragmentation unsustainable. The choice is whether equity crowdfunding leads this transformation or gets swept along by broader financial system reforms.
Every day of continued fragmentation means:
- Promising ventures failing to reach funding targets
- Investors missing global opportunities
- Platforms constrained to sub-optimal domestic markets
- The global economy losing job creation and technological advancement
- The inability to develop advanced financing mechanisms like blended finance and green crowdfunding that could address global challenges
- EMDEs falling further behind as traditional financing becomes increasingly inaccessible
As confirmed by World Economic Forum analysis involving over 25 global finance leaders, this isn't an industry problem - it's a global economic crisis that demands immediate, coordinated response.
Join the Movement: Implementing Proven Solutions to a Documented Global Crisis
GECA is building a coalition of platforms, regulators, policymakers, and industry stakeholders committed to making equity crowdfunding truly global. As Konstantin Boyko, CEO of Lenderkit & Crowdspace and GECA Steering Committee member, explains: "It's not about competition, it's about growing together."
But now we have more than vision - we have institutional validation. The academic research is clear, and World Economic Forum analysis confirms: the future of equity crowdfunding lies in sophisticated, harmonized frameworks that enable everything from traditional SME funding to advanced composite asset trading. Whether you're a platform operator, policy maker, investor, or entrepreneur, you have a role to play in unlocking the trillion-dollar opportunity that research-backed regulatory harmonization represents.
This positions GECA not just as industry advocacy but as implementation of research-backed, institutionally-validated solutions addressing a $5.7 trillion global economic crisis. The innovation ecosystem of tomorrow depends on the choices we make today. Join GECA in building a borderless future where capital flows to the most promising opportunities, regardless of geography, supported by the most advanced regulatory frameworks that institutional research can provide.
The future of innovation funding must be borderless. And with World Economic Forum research providing the roadmap, that future can begin today.
Ready to join the movement for borderless innovation funding? Become a GECA Member | Download Our Manifesto
About GECA: The Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance brings together platforms, regulators, technology providers, and stakeholders worldwide to advance regulatory harmonization and market development. GECA is the leading advocate for borderless equity crowdfunding, driving the transition to Crowd 2.0 - a truly global innovation investment ecosystem informed by cutting-edge academic research, institutional validation from the World Economic Forum, and proven regulatory frameworks developed by the world's leading financial experts.
Strengthening GECA's Global Vision: Chris Lustrino Joins as Strategic Advisor
KingsCrowd's Founder Brings Data-Driven Expertise to Advance Borderless Equity Crowdfunding
The Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) is proud to announce that Chris Lustrino, Founder and CEO of KingsCrowd, has joined our steering committee as a strategic advisor. This appointment marks another significant milestone in GECA's mission to create a truly connected, transparent global investment ecosystem.
A Distinguished Career in Financial Innovation
Chris Lustrino brings a unique combination of institutional finance expertise and entrepreneurial vision to GECA's steering committee. His career journey from traditional private equity to pioneering equity crowdfunding analytics reflects the evolution of modern capital markets.
From Private Equity to Crowdfunding Innovation
Before founding KingsCrowd, Chris honed his analytical skills at L.E.K. Consulting from 2014 to 2017, where he conducted due diligence for private equity clients. This institutional background provided him with deep insights into investment evaluation methodologies that would later become foundational to KingsCrowd's rating algorithms.
Following his consulting career, Chris demonstrated his startup acumen by supporting travel-tech company Freebird prior to the company's acquisition by Capital One. This experience bridging traditional and innovative finance sectors positioned him perfectly to understand both sides of the investment equation.
Building the Industry's Data Foundation
Recognizing the data gap in emerging crowdfunding markets, Chris founded KingsCrowd in 2018 with a bold vision: to make private markets "look and feel like the public equity markets" through comprehensive data and analytics. His commitment to transparency and democratized access has driven remarkable results:
- $7 million raised from over 4,00+ investors, demonstrating strong market validation
- 7 acquisitions rolling up the best in class services across consumer, institutional and advisory services in the equity crowdfunding space
- 15 full-time staff building the industry's most comprehensive database
- $2M+ in AUM and nearly 60equity crowdfunding investments out of their innovative Kingscrowd Capital fund division
- 10,000+ companies tracked across Reg CF and Reg A+ markets
- $3+ billion in deals analyzed, providing unprecedented market insights
Media Recognition and Thought Leadership
Chris's expertise extends beyond platform building to industry thought leadership. As founder of Simple.Innovative.Change, a fintech publication focused on alternative investments and lending, he established himself as a respected voice in the space. His analytical reporting and market insights earned him recognition as a finalist for the 2018 LendIt Fintech Journalist of the Year.
Transforming Private Markets Through Data
"Companies are staying private longer, and retail investors are finally gaining access to opportunities that used to be reserved for venture capitalists," Chris explained during a recent industry presentation. "The landscape has shifted, and data is playing a bigger role than ever in helping investors and founders make informed decisions."
Strategic Acquisitions and Market Leadership
Under Chris's leadership, KingsCrowd has achieved remarkable growth, serving tens of thousands of investors as well as hundreds of founders and institutions alike. The company's recent strategic acquisitions of CrowdCheck, the leading legal advisory firm for investment crowdfunding, and Lustro, a premier investor relations platform, demonstrate Chris's vision for comprehensive market infrastructure.
These moves position KingsCrowd to serve the entire lifecycle of equity crowdfunding -from deal structuring and SEC filings to ongoing investor relations - while providing the data backbone that powers informed investment decisions across the ecosystem.
Aligning with GECA's Global Mission
Chris's appointment comes at a crucial time as equity crowdfunding markets mature globally. His expertise in democratizing access to private market investments through data transparency aligns perfectly with GECA's commitment to breaking down barriers in cross-border investment.
"We're building toward a truly borderless investment ecosystem," Chris noted, "and the addition of comprehensive data and analytics strengthens both our reach and our ability to create real-world outcomes for investors and founders worldwide."
Beyond Traditional Venture Capital
Through KingsCrowd's research, Chris has demonstrated that successful equity crowdfunding extends far beyond consumer products or "friends and family" rounds. The platform's data reveals that over 500 companies with revenues between $1 million and $300 million have successfully raised capital through crowdfunding, challenging traditional notions about when and how companies should seek public investment.
"This isn't just about filling gaps between traditional funding rounds," Chris emphasizes. "We're seeing established companies with real traction choosing crowdfunding as a strategic tool for growth, community building, and long-term investor engagement."
A Data-Driven Future
As GECA continues expanding its global footprint, Chris's expertise in quantitative analysis and market intelligence will prove invaluable. His pioneering work in developing proprietary rating algorithms and AI-powered investment tools positions GECA's members to benefit from cutting-edge approaches to deal evaluation and market analysis.
The KingsCrowd Capital fund, which uses data-driven algorithms to invest in highly-rated startups, exemplifies the type of innovation that can accelerate GECA's vision of efficient, transparent global markets.
Looking Forward
With Chris Lustrino and other recent high-profile strategic appointments to our steering committee, GECA is building the intellectual foundation needed to navigate the complex challenges of international regulatory harmonization, cross-border investment facilitation, and market standardization.
"The future of private market investing is digital, data-driven, and global," Chris concluded. "I'm excited to work with GECA's network to ensure that future benefits investors and entrepreneurs everywhere."
As we welcome Chris to our steering committee, we're reminded that the path to borderless equity crowdfunding requires not just regulatory innovation, but also the data infrastructure and analytical tools that enable confident, informed investment decisions across markets and jurisdictions.
The Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) is an international organization dedicated to advancing regulatory harmonization, market development, and best practices in equity crowdfunding worldwide. Learn more at thegeca.org.
Contact: For media inquiries about GECA's steering committee appointments and global initiatives, please contact andrew@thegeca.org
Want to join GECA's mission? Visit here - to learn about membership opportunities for platforms, service providers, and industry stakeholders.
The Capital Revolution: Building a Borderless Future for Crowdfunding
How Jenny Kassan and the global crowdfunding movement are dismantling the barriers that keep innovation capital locked away from the businesses that need it most
In a recent episode of Crowdfunding Chronicles, the GECA Podcast, host Andy Field sat down with Jenny Kassan, President of the Crowdfunding Professional Association, for a wide-ranging discussion about the future of borderless crowdfunding. Their conversation revealed both the enormous progress made in democratizing capital access and the significant barriers that still constrain the industry's transformative potential.
In the gleaming towers of Wall Street, $400 trillion circulates through global financial markets daily. Yet according to Jenny, only 15% of that staggering sum ever reaches the productive businesses that form the backbone of local economies. The rest, she argues, "is just money flying around this global financial casino, not actually doing anything productive."
This stark reality has fueled Jenny's two-decade crusade to democratize capital access - a mission that began in the vibrant commercial streets of Oakland, California, and now finds powerful alignment with the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) through the CfPA's recent decision to become GECA supporters.
From Legal Theory to Street-Level Reality
Jenny's journey into crowdfunding wasn't paved with Wall Street ambitions. After earning her law degree from Yale, she found herself working with immigrant entrepreneurs in Oakland's low-income neighborhoods - brilliant business owners with compelling stories who couldn't access the capital needed to scale their ventures.
"There was so much money in our global financial ecosystem," she recalls, "and yet so little of that money reaches these businesses. How much better would the world be if these businesses had access to some financial resources?"
That question sparked what would become the legal framework for modern crowdfunding. As co-founder of the Sustainable Economies Law Center, Jenny helped draft the petition that ultimately became the JOBS Act of 2012 - landmark legislation that opened private investment opportunities to everyday Americans for the first time in decades.
The Numbers Tell a Compelling Story
The impact has been substantial. Since Regulation Crowdfunding went live in 2016, over $2 billion has flowed to startups and small businesses through this single exemption alone. Combined with the expanded Regulation A+ framework, the JOBS Act has facilitated more than $10 billion in capital formation for smaller issuers - a testament to the pent-up demand for alternative financing channels.
But these figures represent just the beginning. Recent data from KingsCrowd shows that equity crowdfunding was the only segment of private capital that grew in 2022 (+16% by deal count) while venture capital declined sharply. This resilience during market turbulence suggests crowdfunding has evolved from experimental financing tool to essential infrastructure.
The European Union's 2024 market report reveals similar momentum, with €1 billion raised across 5,782 projects in the first year under the harmonized European Crowdfunding Service Providers Regulation (ECSPR). Notably, 17% of EU crowdfunding funding now crosses borders - early evidence that regulatory harmonization can unlock international capital flows.
Breaking Down the Borders
Yet for all this progress, Jenny sees fundamental limitations in the current patchwork of national regulations. While institutional capital moves freely across borders with a click, individual investors face significant barriers when attempting to invest in businesses they care about internationally.
"If you're a money manager who manages billions of dollars, you don't have to worry about that stuff," she observes. "But those of us who want to invest in smaller businesses... we're totally left out of it."
This asymmetry has profound implications. Consider the estimated 280 million people living outside their countries of birth - diaspora communities with deep knowledge of opportunities in their home markets, yet largely unable to deploy investment capital there due to regulatory fragmentation.
The solution, according to both Jenny and GECA's vision, lies in creating what Andy Field, GECA's Steering Committee lead, calls "borderless crowdfunding" - a system where passionate investors can back meaningful ventures regardless of geographic boundaries. In a recent appearance on the GECA Podcast, Jenny articulated this shared vision with compelling clarity.
The Technology Catalyst
The tools to enable this transformation are already emerging. Blockchain technology promises to standardize compliance through programmable smart contracts that can enforce investor caps and disclosure requirements across jurisdictions automatically. Recent analysis shows the real-world asset tokenization market grew 85% year-over-year in 2023, suggesting institutional appetite for digitized securities.
Artificial intelligence is streamlining the compliance burden that has historically constrained smaller offerings. DealMaker's AI-driven compliance process reduced regulatory timelines by 65% in 2024, while achieving 99% onboarding success rates. Such innovations address one of crowdfunding's persistent challenges: the fixed costs of compliance that can consume 5-12% of funds raised, particularly burdensome for smaller campaigns.
Local Roots, Global Reach
Perhaps counterintuitively, Jenny believes the path to global crowdfunding runs through intensely local initiatives. Her current project, Baltimore Community Commons, aims to create a place-based ecosystem where residents become comfortable investing in their own community first.
"My theory of change is that things really do change when we can be face-to-face with each other," she explains. "It's overwhelming when you think about global change, but I believe it has to be a global movement of local activism."
This philosophy aligns with emerging investment patterns. During the pandemic, crowdfunding campaigns with strong community connections consistently outperformed those targeting purely financial returns. Investors, research shows, are motivated by both potential profits and personal passion for the ventures they support.
Regulatory Evolution and International Cooperation
The regulatory landscape is evolving to accommodate these realities. The EU's ECSPR represents the most ambitious harmonization effort to date, allowing companies to raise up to €5 million across all member states under a single authorization. Early results suggest success: platforms report reduced compliance costs and increased cross-border participation.
Similar momentum is building globally. Canada unified its provincial crowdfunding rules in 2021, Australia has maintained steady growth with A$289 million raised to date, and emerging markets from Malaysia to Nigeria are implementing frameworks designed to channel both domestic and diaspora capital to local entrepreneurs.
In the United States, discussions around "JOBS Act 4.0" could raise Regulation Crowdfunding caps beyond the current $5 million limit and create limited secondary trading exemptions - changes that would enhance liquidity and attract larger check writers.
The Platform Evolution: From Scale to Ecosystem
The platform landscape is evolving rapidly, with major players like Wefunder, StartEngine, and Republic collectively accounting for roughly 80% of US Regulation Crowdfunding volume. These leading platforms have made remarkable strides, transforming from simple marketplace hosts into comprehensive service providers offering integrated legal, marketing, and compliance support. Many have pioneered innovations in secondary trading, tokenization, and investor education that benefit the entire industry.
However, their very success highlights an emerging opportunity. If crowdfunding is truly meant to serve the 99.9% of companies that don't access venture capital, the industry may benefit from a more distributed approach that combines the strengths of established platforms with specialized local expertise.
The fundamental opportunity lies in scalability with specialization. While major platforms excel at standardized processes, regulatory compliance, and investor acquisition, the diverse needs of global entrepreneurs may be best served through complementary ecosystem models. Local and specialized platforms can provide deep domain expertise, community relationships, and cultural understanding that enhance campaign success rates.
Rather than viewing this as competition, the future likely favors collaborative networks where established platforms and emerging specialized providers work together. Major platforms could provide infrastructure, compliance frameworks, and investor pools, while local partners contribute market knowledge, due diligence capabilities, and community engagement.
This distributed model could unlock the true potential Jenny envisions: leveraging the scale and expertise of successful platforms while enabling local specialization and cross-border connectivity. The current market structure exists partly due to regulatory complexity and operational barriers - as these inefficiencies are addressed, we may see new collaborative models that benefit all participants.
The goal isn't to replace successful platforms but to expand the ecosystem in ways that serve more entrepreneurs effectively while creating new opportunities for platform innovation and growth.
Measuring Real-World Impact
Beyond capital formation statistics, early data suggests crowdfunding is delivering on its promise of economic democratization. The SEC's 2024 analysis found that successful Reg CF companies correlated with continued business growth and ability to secure follow-on financing. While only 0.25% have reached IPO and 2.2% have been acquired - expected given the market's youth - survival rates match or exceed those of traditionally funded startups.
More importantly, crowdfunding appears to be reaching underserved entrepreneurs. Women and minority-owned businesses show strong representation in crowdfunding campaigns, often outperforming their participation rates in venture capital. This suggests the "crowd" may be less prone to the unconscious biases that have historically limited access to growth capital.
However, as Jenny notes, significant challenges remain. In the United States, a recent study revealed that 60% of people don't have enough money to afford even basic necessities - highlighting the wealth concentration that limits who can participate as investors. "We are in a time of wealth being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands," she observes, pointing to a fundamental constraint on crowdfunding's reach.
The Road Ahead
Looking forward, industry leaders anticipate several convergent trends that could accelerate the shift toward borderless crowdfunding:
Regulatory Harmonization: Industry associations and advocacy groups are beginning to coordinate efforts across jurisdictions, potentially laying groundwork for future mutual recognition agreements that could allow qualified offerings to access international investor pools seamlessly.
Technological Integration: The convergence of traditional crowdfunding with DeFi protocols and tokenization could create programmable compliance that transcends national boundaries, while AI continues to reduce operational friction. Initiatives like Dacxi Chain are building blockchain infrastructure to connect global crowdfunding ecosystems while maintaining regulatory compliance across jurisdictions.
Demographic Shifts: Millennials and Gen Z, digital natives with strong values alignment preferences, are entering their prime investment years with expectations shaped by seamless online experiences and social impact considerations.
Institutional Participation: Early signs suggest larger investors are beginning to view crowdfunding not as competition but as complementary deal flow, potentially bringing additional validation and capital to successful campaigns.
A Vision Realized
The transformation Jenny envisions isn't merely about regulatory reform or technological advancement - it's about fundamentally realigning how capital flows through the global economy. Instead of money chasing money in increasingly abstract financial instruments, she sees a future where investment becomes "a joyful, values-driven act" connecting people to enterprises they believe in.
"Every human being is affected by a financial system that often doesn't serve them," she reflects. "This is a global issue. And it's time we start acting like it."
Through organizations like the Crowdfunding Professional Association, which recently became GECA supporters, and the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance itself, that vision is becoming operational reality. By sharing best practices, coordinating advocacy efforts, and demonstrating successful models, these coalitions are building the infrastructure for a more inclusive capital ecosystem.
The goal isn't to replace traditional finance but to create alternatives that serve the 99.9% of businesses that will never access venture capital or public markets. If successful, the movement could redirect even a small percentage of global financial flows toward productive investment - potentially unleashing unprecedented innovation and economic opportunity.
As Jenny puts it: "We're not looking at the money side first and foremost. There's nothing wrong with making money, but it's not the driving force in true innovation. The thing about true innovation is there's always money down the road."
For the millions of entrepreneurs worldwide with compelling visions but limited access to capital, that road may soon lead everywhere.
Listen to the full podcast conversation with Jenny Kassan: Watch here
Jenny Kassan's book "Raise Capital On Your Own Terms": Buy here
GECA manifesto: Read here
The Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA) brings together platforms, investors, and advocates from across the globe to shape a truly borderless future for investment. Learn more about joining the movement at thegeca.org.
Building a Borderless Crowdfunding Future: Jenny Kassan on Breaking Investment Barriers | GECA Podcast
Building a Borderless Crowdfunding Future: Jenny Kassan on Breaking Investment Barriers | GECA Podcast
In this insightful episode of the GECA podcast, Andy Field welcomes Jenny Kassan, the current President of the Crowdfunding Professional Association and a true pioneer in community investment crowdfunding. A Yale Law School graduate with a master’s degree from UC Berkeley, Jenny’s journey began in civil rights advocacy but transformed when she witnessed the funding struggles of vibrant small businesses in Oakland’s low-income communities. This defining moment led her to co-found the Sustainable Economies Law Center and become instrumental in advocating for the JOBS Act, which she witnessed President Obama sign into law in 2012. As the author of “Raise Capital On Your Own Terms: How to Fund Your Business Without Selling Your Soul,” Jenny has dedicated decades to democratizing investment opportunities and challenging a financial system where only 15% of capital flows reach productive economic activities. In this conversation, she reveals her vision for borderless crowdfunding, explains why the industry needs both global movements and local activism, and discusses the CfPA’s current efforts to reform outdated regulations that burden startups with unnecessary compliance costs. Jenny also shares insights from her latest project, Baltimore Community Commons, a financial inclusion ecosystem designed to build wealth in underrepresented communities. This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in the intersection of social justice, community development, and crowdfunding reform, offering both historical perspective on how far the industry has come and a roadmap for where it needs to go.
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Andy Field: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the GECA Podcast, the Voice of Global Equity Crowdfunding. I am Andy Fields Steering Committee lead of the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance, GECA, where we bring together platforms, investors, and advocates from across the globe to shape a truly borderless future for investment.
And today I am thrilled to be joined by Jenny Kassan. Jenny’s the current president of the Crowdfunding Professional Association in the United States. she’s also an attorney, coach and ecosystem builder focused on capital access for underrepresented entrepreneurs. Jenny earned her law degree from Yale Law School and a master’s degree from.
from California, Berkeley, I believe Jenny, and she’s the author of Raise Capital On Your Own Terms, how to Fund Your Business Without Selling Your Soul, and Co-founded the Sustainable Economies Law Center. The Force for Good Fund, crowdfund Main Street, and Angels of Main Street. And most recently, she founded Baltimore
Community Commons, a financial inclusion and wealth building ecosystem project. And Jenny and I met recently in an event in Los Angeles where she was there in her [00:01:00] capacity as president of the CfPA. And we immediately started some dialogue as to how we could strategically work together and CfPA have recently become GECA supporters.
And I just wanted to have a chat with Jenny to find out a little bit more about her journey in the industry and what the CfPA are up to at the moment, what they’re prioritizing. So welcome, Jenny, and thanks very much for joining us on the podcast.
Jenny Kassan: Thank you for having me.
Andy Field: No problem at all. and I think this will be a really interesting discussion.
We are, we’ll kick straight off if that’s okay. We’ll dive straight in. So if we could start about your little bit, about your journey into equity crowdfunding, that would be great. So the obvious first question is how did you first get involved in the equity crowdfunding industry?
Jenny Kassan: Yeah. So after law school, in law school I really wasn’t very focused on business. I was more focused on sort of civil rights and advocacy. But after law school, I went to work for a nonprofit which did community development in a low-income neighborhood in [00:02:00] Oakland, California. And one of my jobs was to work with the small businesses in that community.
There was like a. Kind of a commercial street with a lot of different kinds of businesses. People from all over the world, had businesses on the street and it was, in spite of the fact that it was a low income community, it was an incredibly vibrant place. Yeah. And all the business owners were so impressive and their stories were so incredible.
And I saw how they were struggling and I started to wonder why is it. That we have so much money in our global financial ecosystem, and yet so little of that money reaches these businesses and how much better the world would be if these businesses had access to some financial resources. So I started looking at, the US laws governing, Finance and started to understand a [00:03:00] little bit more, some of the reasons why, that is the case. And of course. Almost every country has similar laws, and these laws are, they make investing in your own community, in businesses that you care about, whether it’s in your geographic community or a community of something that you’re really interested in, that’s maybe another place.
it’s very difficult for the regular person to figure out how would I invest in something that I care about? And and in a private business, and so people end up investing on, the public markets. And, that’s where almost all of the money that we have invested is invested. And that really doesn’t benefit these small businesses at all.
Maybe a little bit, but very indirectly. And so I just started really trying to understand this and became fascinated by the possibility of [00:04:00] regular folks being able to invest in things they care about outside of the public markets. And I realized that it actually had already happened to some extent in the US.
There’s a really great story of a ice cream company called Ben and Jerry’s that back in the eighties. Yep. They ended up figuring out a way to legally raise money from residents of the state of Vermont where they were located. Anyone in Vermont was able to invest the minimum investment. I forget it was like $464 or something like that.
And so I just started trying to understand how does this work? How do, how can we make the, how can we make this more common and easier? And so I started, I realized there were laws on the books that made it possible. Although in the US there was no way to do it At the national level. We have over 50 different jurisdictions in the US Yeah, the states, the territories, [00:05:00] Washington DC and so you had to do state by state compliance, and so I ended up as part of Sustainable Economies Law Center, I ended up advocating for a change in the law that did result in a federal, national law that does now make it possible to do it at the national level, but there’s still a long way to go.
So I’ve, that’s been my passion for decades. I’ve helped. many organizations raise money that way, both before and after that law went into effect. So we used to do it at the state level. I’ve done it myself several times, using many different tools. There’s lots of different legal tools in the us but we still have a long way to go to make it more user-friendly and more widespread.
Andy Field: So that, excuse me, that, that sort of, moment when you realize something needed to be done to get access to finance to people who really need it. Would you describe that as what, as the defining moment in your career when you knew this is what you were [00:06:00] gonna be doing now, this is something that really is gonna make a difference.
Jenny Kassan: Looking back it definitely was. I mean it became something that I am so passionate about. I really believe that if we could get more finance into the hands of small businesses, non-public companies, not taking away finance from the big public companies necessarily, but just having some amount of security in what is flowing to those non-public companies in the us. Like our public companies are only, there’s only about 3000 of them and there’s hundreds and hundreds of thousands of small businesses. So it’s very , it’s a very disproportionate amount of funding that is in the public markets and I’d just like to see some level of access. Greater than what we have now. And unfortunately I have been working on this for almost, and we [00:07:00] still have a long way to go.
Andy Field: And I guess it’s that keeps you motivated to, to keep doing it because like you said, there’s lots of progress that’s been made. Definitely. But still a long way to go before you reach that. the term I often use when talking about the crowdfunding industry is utopian land. If you like, there’s a long way to go and you are not gonna, rest until you get there.
Jenny Kassan: Yeah.
Andy Field: Brilliant. Okay, so moving on to the Crowdfunding Professional Association. so first of all, if you could just tell us how you got involved with the association and then perhaps outline some of the current priorities that you have as a body and the main areas of focus at the moment.
Jenny Kassan: Yeah, we did get a big change to the law. I was a co-founder of Sustainable Economies Law Center, which was a nonprofit, and one of the very first things we did back in 2010 was to write a petition to change the law at the federal level. [00:08:00] To allow regular folks to invest in small businesses, with some level of regulation.
And amazingly enough, the president Obama signed the jobs Act into law in 2012, and I was at the signing ceremony and we were so happy it did take another four years for the rules to actually go into effect. So it was four years before anyone could use it. So it started getting used in 2016. And yeah, so I was involved in that law being passed, from the very beginning and then monitoring like, okay, when.
What are the rules gonna look like and what, how is this actually gonna work? And so I was very interested in being a part of an organization that, of people that were also interested in that topic, you know? Yes. what is the future of crowdfunding in the US? Our… the CfPA isn’t just focused on that one law regulation crowdfunding under [00:09:00] the Jobs Act, there’s many different legal pathways to doing crowdfunding in the US, including the ones that I was using before that law passed. there was also another thing that went into effect under that law Regulation A, which we already had, but it got greatly expanded.
We those of us who are part of CfPA are just super interested in investment crowdfunding and we call it investment crowdfunding instead of equity crowdfunding cause some of, some people who do crowdfunding raise money in the form of debt, not equity. So it’s basically anyone who wants to raise money from the crowd regardless of the legal tools they use.
We wanna. make sure that’s working well and that industry is a healthy one. And so I, I’ve been involved in that organization for a while. It’s a wonderful group of people. Very diverse. there’s people like me who are super passionate about small business, like mom and pop, [00:10:00] and then others who are super passionate about opening up investment opportunities in businesses that are on a high growth path are currently private, but may someday go public. That’s not as much my focus or and passion, it’s a big tent and we think that people should have more choice. About where they put their investment dollars.
Andy Field: So that’s what we’re all about as an organization and really important actually to have that mix. I think. I think that’s a really good strategic, strategic plan is to have the people who are all focused and have maybe have slightly different priorities and slightly different wants and needs, but essentially are all collaborating together for the same outcome.
Jenny Kassan: Yeah.
Andy Field: so are there, is there anything right now, what’s the challenge or the, a number of challenges that you are working to solve right now in the US ecosystem?
It is quite a complex ecosystem when you look at it compared to other jurisdictions. And I’ve learned that very quickly over the [00:11:00] last few months, just meeting so many, interesting and powerful people in the industry. But yeah. Anything right now that you’re working to solve.
Jenny Kassan: Yeah, I would say it’s almost more an opportunity than a challenge because, ever since the law went into the new laws went into effect, after 2012, we started to see some issues with the laws, both how they were written and how they were being implemented. Yep. And we had many things that we wished could change. We could get some updates to the regs a few years ago. I think it was in like 2020, 2021. There’s still a lot of challenges and we still see it not thriving the way we hoped it would after it’s been almost 10 years since that law passed or in since regulation crowdfunding went into effect even longer since the law passed.
And so we’ve had this [00:12:00] wishlist of things that we wish would change, and now we do have an administration and a, Congress that is interested in making some reforms. So it’s our, an opportunity that we haven’t had for a while, ever before to in, with the current configuration of our lawmakers is to actually make some change and not just at the, so in, in the US and I’m sure this isn’t uncommon, but we have the laws which the legislature makes and then they get implemented through rulemaking. Yes. And so we have both the actual statute, which has not changed since 2012, and then we have the rules that were adopted by our Securities and Exchange Commission, and we would like to see changes made in the statute because the Securities and Exchange Commission, it’s very easy for them to change regs. We wanna see the [00:13:00] statute be more, friendly and supportive of the industry. and we have an opportunity to make that happen. So we’re putting a lot of effort into really trying to educate the lawmakers and their staffs about the things that are frustrating and maybe not necessary.
Just as one example, if you raise money under regulation crowdfunding, you, no matter, even if you’re a brand new company and you have had no financial activity, you still have to get, financial statements that are, prepared in a special way that usually requires a professional accountant.
And then if you’re raising more than a certain amount, you have to have a CPA. So it’s silly like you, you have to pay all this money for a professional accountant when maybe it doesn’t really make sense. So Sure. Some of the lawmakers don’t even [00:14:00] realize that. Yeah. So we’ve been trying to Educate them about what it’s like to live under the existing, rules and see if we can’t, get some positive changes.
Andy Field: And that’s really interesting because it mimics, two areas in particular. One is that’s happening to a certain extent. I know the UK Crowdfunding Association, lobbying for some similar changes. to be made to some of the, the rules and the regulations around getting access, to even open accounts on, platforms, which is, perhaps they need to be looked at.
Nobody’s saying that we should do away with the regulation. We just need to. keep it, how did we term it? I think we discussed this when we were in LA just to keep it on a level that’s appropriate if you like. And it, and also very similar to, I did a podcast fairly recently with Oliver Gajda, who heads up EuroCrowd.
And essentially EuroCrowd, helped write the European law, which is [00:15:00] fantastic. there is a harmonized set of regulations for members of the EU called ECSPR, and, but they share very similar frustrations to you in that the implementation of those rules and laws have seen things just happen a lot slower than they would like them to happen.
And there’s been some reports actually fairly recently that have come out and we’ve shared some of the content to the GECA community, just talking about why that’s the case and how potentially those challenges could be fixed, if you like. So it’s interesting that we’ve got these sort of, across the globe, we’ve got these sort of parallels that are happening, even though they’re happening in siphons, it’s, it’s this, it’s very similar in different jurisdictions.
So just actually, just moving on to the global opportunity. I know we had a discussion in LA about what GECA were doing and what we’re asking our supporters to support us with really in our mission to, to find this, this notion of genuinely, [00:16:00] borderless crowdfunding.
What does borderless crowdfunding mean to you? How, would you define it and how would you expect it to work? And as part of that, what do you think would be the main barriers to making cross border investment more accessible. you can do it at the minute, but the whole process is very laborious.
I’d be interested to get your views on that.
Jenny Kassan: Yeah, it is really challenging, for example, I’m actually getting ready to launch a crowdfunding campaign for this project I’m working on in Baltimore and I’m doing it on a platform called Small Change. And, I was told, and I have to, I’m a, lawyer, a securities lawyer, and I have to be able to offer that investment opportunity to non-US people is totally legal for any US person to invest in that under our law. Yeah. But what if someone from another country wanted to invest in that? You actually have to check each and every country’s securities laws [00:17:00] to make sure it’s okay. And I was told I, because I haven’t checked, I didn’t know, but I was told by the platform that we can add Canada and Australia.
And I was like, that’s random. So it’s just really frustrating that, We, it’s so onerous and laborious. If we happen to have someone in another country, maybe a relative, maybe people who are happen to be in another country, but absolutely are passionate about the thing that we’re building here. Because it resonates with something that they really care about. and that’s why investors invest, by the way, because it’s not just about them, them making their return. Of course, making return on the investment is important, but people invest. And we know this, there’s been various studies, and findings have come out fairly recently actually talking about the fact that’s what investors do.
They want to invest in something that they’re passionate and they’re interested about. And borders don’t, shouldn’t stop that.
Andy Field: So I take up all what you’re saying. Sorry [00:18:00] to interrupt.
Jenny Kassan: No, yeah, exactly. And, the, the public markets, or I hate, I don’t even wanna call it the public markets. I’m not sure even what to call it, like the financialized professionalized markets for money are borderless, right?
Yeah. if you’re a money manager who manages billions of dollars, you don’t have to worry about that stuff. You put your client’s money wherever you wanna put it, and so it’s really not a very fair or level playing field when, there’s this huge financial, industry and I was. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Rana Foroohar.
She wrote this book called Makers and Takers. It’s unfortunately, it’s already, I can’t bel, I would, I took it off my shelf and it’s already 10 years old. I need to see if there’s an update. It’s a really great book and it talks about how, the [00:19:00] financial industry has become the tail that wags the dog.
So when we, when the market economy or industrialized economy first started, finance was in service to the productive economy. Yeah. The purpose of finance was to help the productive economy. to grease the wheels to, to put the fuel in the engine to allow it to do what it does.
But we’ve now gotten to a point where only, and according to the book, and the book is a little old, I don’t know what the number is now, only 15% of the money that flows through the financial markets actually goes to productive activity. The rest of it is just money flying around this global financial casino, not actually doing anything productive in the economy, like growing a business. Yeah. Allowing real estate to get developed, so it’s [00:20:00] become, as she says, the tail that wags the dog. And, so we, those of us who are not part of that system, because we’re not managing billions and billions of dollars, we’re totally left out of it.
We don’t get any benefit from it. I would love for those of us who want to invest in. Smaller businesses that are not part of that system, which by the way are the, are make up 99.9% of businesses in the world. I would love for us to have some, the freedom to put our money into productive activities, businesses, real estate projects, etc, instead of having to put our money into this global financial system, which really isn’t creating a lot of productive activity and is just basically enriching financiers.
Andy Field: Absolutely. and to have the opportunity to invest in those businesses. It shouldn’t matter where you are in the world, and where the business is in the world. That’s, if you’re passionate about it and if it’s something you’re interested in, you should be able to invest in.
That’s certainly what we [00:21:00] believe as well. And Okay, so that, yeah, that definitely answers my question on how do you know, what does borderless crowdfunding mean to you? It’s exactly what. It means to us as well. And do you think, how do you see this sort of movement evolving? Like we know it’s not gonna happen overnight.
And we’re very clear and we tell all of our supporters, this is something that’s going to take time. There’s going to be changes needed, lots of changes needed in lots of different jurisdictions to make this happen. They don’t necessarily have to be massive changes, but there’ll be, there’ll be a fair few of them.
How do you see things evolving? Do you think it’s, it’s something that we should be, look, it’s certainly not a lost cause. is what we believe and I hope, hopefully you’ll agree.
Jenny Kassan: Yeah. I think ironically, even though we’re talking about a global movement. I feel my belief is that for things to really change, we need to have a global movement of local activism. I feel like the, my [00:22:00] theory of change is that things really do change when we can be face-to-face with each other, maybe in the same room, not necessarily virtual over time, not just meeting. That’s why I’m working on this project in Baltimore, which is the place-based ecosystem to grow people’s comfort level with investment crowdfunding because.
It’s amazing how difficult it is to get someone who’s never done something like that before, invested outside of the public markets on their Schwab account or Fidelity account or whatever, E-Trade account. Two, that’s, those are US things. yeah. You know these platforms where you can just press a button and invest, quote unquote invest in Apple, which by the way, when you invest in Apple, the money does not go to Apple.
It goes to another investor who owned stock in Apple and is selling it to you. So it’s not actually helping Apple at all, except [00:23:00] indirectly. So people are so used to investing that way and there’s all these professionals that tell them that’s how you invest, that we need to get people really comfortable with this other way of doing it.
And I believe that doing it in a place over time. Building trust, building relationships, getting people comfortable with it, helping people learn how to make these decisions about what to invest in and how to evaluate investments. I honestly think that’s what’s gonna move the needle. And it’s overwhelming when you think about it…cause it’s oh my God, that’s gonna take forever, But yeah. Yeah. I’m trying to create this ecosystem in Baltimore, Maryland, which is it, which will be a model that could be replicated throughout. Sure. The country and the world and of, and I know. I know it’s already happening in places all over the world, very much under the radar where people are super [00:24:00] passionate about investing in their own communities.
And, like the UK has, not to go too far off topic, but the UK has some local currencies. that whole local currency thing is a similar idea that, you, that you have money that. Stays local, that stays in your community, that builds wealth in your community. So these movements for localization, ironically…. could create, could be our part of a global movement to allow us to do whatever we want with our money, which sometimes will be to invest in our own community. And sometimes we’ll be to invest across the world because we’re passionate about that thing. Or may, maybe our grandparents came from a certain country and yeah.
You wanna invest in something in that country, there we shouldn’t have limits, but I do believe it, the movement has to be a global movement of local face-to-face activism and getting and education.
Andy Field: So that was gonna be my point. I was literally just [00:25:00] going to move on to that and I was just gonna say.
What you’re saying there sounds to me. So we’ve published our manifesto recently and one of, one of our key pillars is education. And there’s education across the board actually. So it’s to raise awareness of, the industry, it’s education for founders on how best to, set up their business for a crowdfunding campaign, education for platforms on what founders are looking for and education for investors into how they can.
Invest in, in sort of different businesses, in different jurisdiction, in different areas and in different ways as well. So it sounds to me actually, ’cause the next thing I wanted to talk about was, how we could strategically align what GECA are doing and what the Crowdfunding Professional Association are doing.
And education would probably be the first thing, the low hanging fruit, if you like. That, that, that comes to mind because I think we, we would certainly agree that education piece is gonna be huge if we’re to have any kind of catalyst for change. I, that’s where I see the natural alignment between the Crowdfunding Professional Association and GECA.
Would you agree [00:26:00] with that? Is there anything else that you would, you could think that we could maybe align on? To work strategically together.
Jenny Kassan: Absolutely. I think there’s certain principles that apply globally. there’s certain very specific nitpicky things that we’ve been focusing on to change the US law, but there’s other things that are totally, universal, what level of financial, statements have to be prepared and what is a reasonable amount to ask people to prepare? that’s something that’s gonna be universal. Yeah. And how, and then how do you evaluate a financial statement? If you are an investor, how do you decide what to invest in?
So there’s certain things that I think are not country jurisdiction specific that and of course every place we wanna honor every place and their unique context. But again, I think, business is business. If you’re gonna invest in a business, you wanna know What are its [00:27:00] projections?
what are its future expectations? Who’s the team? these are things that we can help people understand regardless of where they are.
Andy Field: Absolutely. And on the investor level, I think some of the things that you talked about that are gonna be the same across the board and perhaps should be the same across the board, helping to harmonize those kind of things makes perfect sense.
That can only help in the sort of global collaboration and the, the, being able to invest across borders. so I guess how do you think we could collaborate to. To influence policy share, best practice. Perhaps we could look at, events either online or in person. Certainly being part of your events and you potentially being part of our events would make perfect sense to me.
What sort of would an impactful partnership look like to you? That, in the sense that obviously we are supporters now of, of your organization and you are, you’ve kindly supporting, GECA, which is fantastic. Yeah. What sort of things do you think we can get involved in?
Jenny Kassan: [00:28:00] I do love the idea of trying to grow this global movement.
I have to admit, as a US attorney, I have been super focused on the US but I think it people all over the globe. Every human being on this planet is affected by our financial system, not necessarily serving. The best interest of most people. Yeah. Yeah. and this is something that applies to everybody on, in the, on the globe.
The financialization of our economy where finance has taken such a big role in our economy is taking away from the productive. activities that could result in good job creation and, good things happening in our communities and small businesses thriving, like this is an issue for everybody in the world.
So I think, starting to have that conversation at a [00:29:00] global level instead of just focusing on our, our own country is exciting because, we can make it into a global movement. Yeah, there’s a, there’s an organization, there, there’s something coming up called the World Localization Day, and that’s a really great model to me.
It’s it’s a global movement of people who care about their own communities. I’ve seen you mention this on LinkedIn actually. Yeah. Yeah. And. We’re interconnected with each other. Like nobody, I don’t think anybody, maybe some people, but most of us don’t wanna go back to a time where we had no connection to people around the world.
It’s such an enriching thing to know what’s happening all over the world and to have friends and colleagues throughout the world. and we also care about our own places and our own communities. So I think building that global movement of people who care about this. And having, maybe speaking with one voice on this desire to [00:30:00] be able to invest in the things we care about, I think could be really powerful.
Andy Field: And that’s actually what GECA, I hope you provide essentially a means to have a talking shop. So you’re quite right. you are quite rightly focused on things that are happening in the US but we have supporters who are very focused on what’s happening in Belgium or what’s happening in Portugal.
And actually to get those heads together, talking and explaining to each other some of the, some of the challenges and some of the positives as well about, about what’s going on in their particular jurisdiction. I think that can really help. and bring people together.
Jenny Kassan: That’s brilliant.
Andy Field: We’re actually, we are very close to running out of time, so I’ve got a couple more quick questions if that’s okay. And the ones I always ask at the end of the, at the end of a podcast, so the first one is, where do you see the industry in five years time? Where would you like to see the industry in five years time?
Jenny Kassan: Oh my gosh. I would love to see more people participating in, community investing. there’s a lot that has to happen. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer people have [00:31:00] assets to invest in the US and again, I’m apologize for being so US focused. No, not at all. A study just came out that 60% of people in the US.
Don’t have a money, enough money to live even to afford even the basic necessities of life. 60%. Yeah. So we are in a time of wealth being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands and the impoverishment of more and more people, which is. Horrific, And so unfortunately, like a lot of people can’t invest in anything.
They don’t have any investments and they can’t make any investments. But for those of us who do have any money to invest, to the extent we have like a retirement account or a, any money that we have invested most of us, to the extent we have money invested, it is in the public markets.
More and more of us getting comfortable with moving some of that money into [00:32:00] private, into crowdfunded investments and it becoming a bigger and bigger movement where people start to see, wow, I can actually do better with my money. Maybe make. Return and again, we could have a whole debate about what’s riskier, what’s less risky.
I think that’s subjective in a lot of ways. But, there are people who invest only in crowdfunding and they do quite well with their returns and they can feel good that their money is actually going into productive, actually, a difference.
Andy Field: Yeah, that makes sense. I think that would be almost if any of us could leave any kind of legacy in the industry, if we could do, if we could help to achieve that kind of, vision, within five years, that would be, fantastic.
I think that’s the same for me as well, actually. that’s brilliant. Thank you very much, Jenny. I just wanted to ask you just to share where any listeners can follow you or CfPA’s work as well. Do you want to just give out that information?
Jenny Kassan: Yeah, so you could [00:33:00] learn more about CfPA @cfpa.org.
We are having our awesome annual event in Washington DC in October, so we invite everyone to come. Even if you’re we, you’re not a US resident, it’ll still be really fun and interesting, so please come. Then in terms of my private work, JennyKassan.com, I have all my private work and information about my book and free resources.
Very US focused, to be honest. But, for those who are interested in US, we have lots of us listeners, so that’s, good. And who knows? It might be interesting to see what we’re struggling with in the US and again, I’m sure there’s tons of like overlap between the things that we all wanna see in our own country’s laws.
Andy Field: No, that’s brilliant. Thank you once again. Jenny, that was absolutely fantastic. Really valuable insight. It’s clear that CfPA and GECA, I think we’re both doing vital [00:34:00] work, you, in the US obviously, and, us on a global level. It’s also clear that I think there’s definitely room for collaboration in the future.
so that just leaves me say thank you. But yeah, thank you so much again. And if you enjoyed today’s episode, please make sure to follow GECA on LinkedIn. Visit the thegeca.org to learn more about our mission, our growing global supporter base and, just how you can get involved. And, thanks as always for listening to the podcast.
Stay tuned for future episodes and we’ll continue exploring the evolving world of crowdfunding and the innovations that are helping to shape its future. Thanks again, Jenny.
