I have included this entertaining tutorial in the beginning of the newsletter. If you don't know a whole lot about crowdfunding, go ahead and watch this video. It has been made by FundedByMe; a Swedish crowdfunding platform which by the way is one of the two equity crowdfunding platforms that are currently operating in Norway!

Will equity crowdfunding overtake angel and VC? The World Bank estimated that crowdfunding would reach $90 billion by 2020. If the trend of doubling year over year continues, we’ll see $90 billion by 2017. To put that in perspective, venture capital averages roughly $30 billion per year and in 2014 accounted for roughly $45 billion in investment, whereas angel capital averages roughly $20 billion per year invested.

Can venture capital investment and crowdfunding coexist? I personally think the answer is yes. Both have proven to be successful options for startups seeking capital, offering startups two distinct paths to their fundraising goal. However, venture capitalists seem to have misconceptions about equity crowdfunding and some are already downplaying its impact on the investment market.

As crowdfunding becomes mainstream, the potential for fraud will inevitably increase. It seems that each new day is accompanied by a scathing article or op-ed warning that we need to protect the general public from the impending onslaught of boiler room con-artists. Indeed, the issue of fraud protection has transformed the process of legalizing equity crowdfunding into a grueling, complex and contentious process – as regulators, industry stakeholders and special interests wrangled over new rules meant to protect investors from fraud.