Couragent Set to Raise Growth Capital With Nation’s First Legal Investment Crowdfunding Deal

Aug. 28, 2012 - PRLog -- Mobile scanner manufacturer Couragent Inc. is launching the nation’s first equity crowdfunding solicitation for consumer investors, using the Small Company Offering Registration (SCOR) procedure to register and legally solicit its stock offering intrastate. The cloud-based campaign’s goal is to raise $350,000 in working capital to accelerate the company’s flagship product, the Flip-Pal® mobile scanner, into the national and international retail marketplace, and develop and bring to market additional digital imaging products.

Couragent will employ crowdfunding technology developed by Boulder-based Funding Launchpad (www.FundingLaunchpad.com) to facilitate the transaction in New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado and Wyoming, and has fully registered its SCOR offering with the securities regulators of each of these states. Potential investors may visit www.courinvestor.com to download a prospectus for the offering.

“In addition to our dedicated team’s sweat equity, along with our trusted friends, family and private investors here in northern Colorado, we’ve already raised enough capital to build and sell a patented, disruptive product that’s gaining tremendous traction in the consumer marketplace,” said Couragent CEO Gordon Nuttall. “We don’t need millions in venture capital to take Couragent to the next level. But with the time constraints associated with approaching individual angel and accredited investors, and with the legal and accounting costs of traditional registered offerings, we were compelled to try something new. It is now much faster and cost-effective to use the Internet for investment crowdfunding. While this concept will be even more powerful once crowdfunding under the JOBS Act becomes legal next year, we believe we can successfully raise the funds we need today using the existing SCOR law, which permits us to generally solicit our own registered stock offering, including over the Internet.”

“Funding Launchpad is proud Couragent chose to utilize our technology in its capital raise, and to provide the entrepreneurial community with this first glimpse of consumer-driven investment crowdfunding,” said Funding Launchpad CMO David Milliken. “SCOR laws have been on the books for over 20 years, but remain complicated. SCOR offerings must be registered in individual states, each with its own specific requirements. With the finalization of the rulemaking process under the JOBS Act, this funding process and the opportunities for thousands of entrepreneurs and consumer investors will become easier and nationally streamlined next year.”

Couragent has already spent the time and money to raise initial start-up capital. With its early sales success, the company saw the advantages in using the Funding Launchpad platform to leverage its registered offering right now rather than waiting for the crowdfunding exemption under the JOBS Act to be finalized in early 2013. Relying on the SCOR process for the remainder of 2012, Funding Launchpad provides issuer-clients that have fully registered state securities offerings with private-label crowdfunding sites to conduct their own offerings on a centralized online platform, powered by Funding Launchpad’s technology. Starting with a simple fee-based system, Funding Launchpad expects to migrate to a success-based revenue model and toward a more aggregated platform with wider investment selections that will allow consumers to browse offerings once the JOBS Act rules are fully implemented.

“Couragent and Funding Launchpad have identified a creative way of launching a registered investment crowdfunding offering, marrying registered offering methodologies that have long been legal with today’s crowdfunding techniques,” said Phil Feigin, securities attorney representing Couragent and former Colorado State Securities Commissioner.

“Crowdfunding and the JOBS Act will allow thousands of companies to launch and grow, creating jobs and sparking an economic resurgence,” said Steve Reaser, CEO of Funding Launchpad. “We are thrilled to be leaders in this democratization of investment opportunities.”

About Couragent
Couragent's flagship product, the Flip-Pal mobile scanner, redefines photo and document scanning. With its patented flip-and-scan technology, the scanner is placed on an object, keeping it safely in place rather than having to remove it from an album or frame. The exclusive EasyStitch software can take multiple overlapping scans and “stitch” them back together to form one complete image, a major “memory collection” enhancement for the burgeoning scrapbooking and genealogy markets, and for millions of households who want to preserve their family histories, photographs and precious memories. Founded in 2009 and based in Ft. Collins, the Colorado C-Corporation reported 2011 revenues of $1.96 million, and is poised to distribute its product widely in the consumer market this year, both online and brick-and-mortar, and accelerating into 2013 with additional products. For more information please visit www.flip-pal.com.