Fundageek
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FundaGeek was a crowd funding resource designed for funding project involving technology, scientific research, inventions and community support.[1] Funding is provided through backers who make pledges in return for rewards provided by the project owners. Fundageek does not regard crowd funding as an investment or a debt instrument, and pledges do not involve any form of equity interest. The April 2012 JOBS Act opens up the prospects for "equity crowdfunding" however the SEC has not yet defined the required rules for participation. The industry expects this to happen in 2013.
As of the end of 2013 the web site is closed and underlying technology and domain is for sale. An archived copy from August 25, 2013 is available at the Internet Archive.
Founders
[edit]FundaGeek was soft-launched in November 2011 by co-founders Cary Harwin (President) and Daniel Gutierrez (CEO). Harwin is a graduate of CSUN with BS in Accounting/Law and co-founder of the software development company Catalyst Development Corporation. Gutierrez graduated from UCLA with BS in Mathematics and Computer Science. Prior to his CEO appointment at Fundageek, Gutierrez was CEO of AMULET Development Corp. and served for 18 years as an instructor for the Business and Management department of UCLA Extension. He is also author of three computer industry books and served as technical editor for Data Based Advisor Magazine.
Model
[edit]Only some FundaGeek projects used the "all or nothing" funding model adopted by many other crowdfunding sites. Such a model only applied to commercial, for-profit Fundageek projects, which must have reached their goal amount by the end of the campaign period in order to get any funding. Funding for scientific research and community support projects received whatever funding the project has attracted by the end of the campaign period.
There was no charge to submit a project for consideration on FundaGeek. Upon the successful funding of a project at the end of the campaign period, FundaGeek initiated a process whereby PayPal processed all pledge transactions. At this time, the project owner received the project funding in the PayPal verified account associated with the FundaGeek account, less PayPal's processing fee (2-3%) and FundaGeek's fee of either 5% of the total funds raised for Standard Marketing Resources, or 9% for Premium Marketing Resources.
References
[edit]- ^ Kroll, Karen M. (22 March 2012). "To 'Crowdfund,' Fundageek Targets Tech Angels". CFOworld. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
Further reading
[edit]- Giles, Jim (18 January 2012). "Finding philanthropy: Like it? Pay for it". Nature. 481 (7381): 252–253. doi:10.1038/481252a. PMID 22258587. S2CID 4382911.
- Burke, Adrienne (2 February 2012). "Science Startups and Basic Researchers Turn to Crowds for Funding". Forbes. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
- McIlwain, Sarah (16 February 2012). "'Geeks' find alternative ways for funding". The Miami Student. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
