New business ventures, social enterprises and creative projects can now get investment at Civilisedmoney, the next generation investment platform which launches this month. Whether its £500 for a local community scheme or £1m+ to launch the next big business venture, Civilisedmoney can help you secure investment.

What is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is the next generation of business investment, giving entrepreneurs the platform and opportunity to raise smaller amounts of funding from their own network of friends, family, colleagues, customers, suppliers and ordinary people, rather than from one or two wealthy investors.

By attracting lots of investors who invest smaller amounts of money into a person, company, product or idea, in return for equity or other rewards, entrepreneurs can bypass the traditional choices of business angels or venture capital and get on with the business, whether commercial, social or just personal.

With banks repeatedly failing to pump the much needed investment into business and enterprise, entrepreneurs need more effective, innovative ways to fund their ideas. Crowdfunding has the benefits of building a network of supporters and advocates, pre-selling your product and testing the market, and you begin your business without debts and loans.

About civilisedmoney

Civilisedmoney, online people-to-people financial services, owned by you, makes it easy for people to invest, donate, lend, borrow and transact money with each other directly at fair and transparent rates, cutting out need for the middlemen, the banks.

Civilisedmoney launches with two crowdfunding products for entrepreneurs, businesses, organisations and individuals. civilisedmoney is also developing a full range of people-to-people financial services products that offer a genuine alternative to those currently provided by banks.

Civilisedmoney and people-to-people internet services give people the opportunity to come together to create a fresh financial future. One that is fair, transparent and without the expense of branches and big bonuses or the dangers of banks gambling with your money. It is banking with people, not banks, simply people connecting directly, fairly and transparently.

Crowdfunding with Civilisedmoney

Civilisedmoney currently offers two crowdfunding products for entrepreneurs, businesses, organisations and individuals:

Invest & Get Investment is equity based crowdfunding to fund start-ups and business expansion. It connects entrepreneurs with like-minded people in order to raise capital.

Crowdfund & Get Funded is reward based crowdfunding. Likeminded people can pool their money to back an idea, a person, or a business, in exchange for goods, services or something else of value.

Contact Civilisedmoney

If you have a venture or project you would like to crowdfund, please contact Rudi Schogger at rschogger@civilisedgroup.com or for more information, please visit www.civilisedmoney.co.uk

The Global Social Venture Competition is the largest and oldest student-led business plan competition providing mentoring, exposure, and $45,000 in prizes for social ventures from around the world. Start forming a team today to submit your executive summary by January 20, 2010*!

Winning plans in the past have ranged from global health to microfinance, from cleantech to education, from fair trade to community development, from business concepts to operating companies, and have included for-profit and non-profit models.

ENTRANT REQUIREMENTS

· Every team must include at least one member who is a current student in ANY graduate business program or who has graduated from any graduate business program within the past 24 months.

· Operating companies are welcome to enter, though they must be less than 3 years old (as measured by first revenue or first patent issued).

· Plan can be for a for-profit or non-profit as long as either can be financially self-sustaining at scale.

For full details please visit: www.gsvc.org