Riches in the clouds
A GOLD Coast start-up is looking to harness the power of the crowd to provide a funding boost to companies seeking to scale.
Equity crowd-funding platform Crowdfunding.com.au is the brainchild of Gold Coast Junior Chamber of Commerce president Chaz Prezident.
Equity crowd-funding is where private company securities are offered to a group of people for investment.
Crowdfunding.com.au, which was founded late last year, will go live this month with its first offering of securities in Gold Coast eCommerce platform Konvo, which is aiming to raise $5 million.
Mr Prezident, who is a qualified accountant at Whitehouse Private Wealth, said he was looking into initial coin offerings (ICOs) for a client when he came across legislation relating to equity crowd-funding.
“Because we do a lot of capital raising at Whitehouse, I know the experiences, the troubles, and the shortcomings,” he said.
“When I read the legislation would be changed, in my head I was like, ‘wow this is going to be a thing’.”
Within two weeks, Mr Prezident had put together a team of people, including a lawyer and digital marketing specialist.
“We shot for the stars and we got amazing results really quickly,” he said.
“Originally we were building a brand. Then our digital marketing specialist asked who owns Crowdfunding.com.au. We approached the owner and brokered the purchase of the domain for Crowdfunding.com.au. It wasn’t cheap.”
Matt Vogt, of Bravo Studios, was engaged as chief technology officer, and built the platform.
“He did the digital design for Whitehouse. He thinks outside the box, which is what we wanted. Someone to understand the technology side but deliver it in a way that is user friendly,” Mr Prezident said.
“It will be five or six clicks to invest. It has to be really seamless, intuitive, and that is something that Matt is passionate about.”
Mr Prezident said the platform will aim to go live during the middle of this month.
Legislation stipulates investors put in a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $10,000 into a company of their choice.
WE SHOT FOR THE STARS AND WE GOT AMAZING RESULTS REALLY QUICKLY CHAZ PREZIDENT.