CROWDFUNDx, American Express OPEN Forum and Nokia awards $25k to NYC based Social Enterprise THINX

NEW YORK - July 22, 2013 - PRLog -- Crowdcentric partnered with Crowdfunder, American Express OPEN Forum and Nokia@Work to host CROWDFUNDx NYC Challenge, a live pitch event that aims to help local small businesses, startups and social enterprises scale. Taking place at The New School's Theresa Lang Center, three top NYC companies competed for a $25,000 grand prize.

Over 45 days leading up to CROWDFUNDx NYC, more than 130 entries were submitted to the challenge in three categories: small business, social enterprise, and startup. The top 14 entries were chosen to compete Wednesday evening, with each pitching a 3-minute presentation to a panel of esteemed judges and more than 300 people in the audience.

THINX (http://www.crowdfunder.com/shethinx) was crowned the Grand Prize winner, taking home a $25,000 cash prize plus the green light for an equity crowdfunding round on Crowdfunder.com, among Crowdfunder’s Accredited Investor Network. THINX is a local New York business that makes high-tech innovative undergarments for women, while assisting women and girls in Uganda to have access to sanitary products.  The Sill (http://www.crowdfunder.com/thesill) and RentHackr (http://www.crowdfunder.com/renthackr) rounded out as our category winners for Small Businesses and Startups respectively.

"CROWDFUNDxNYC was the fourth community acceleration we've done at Crowdfunder to bring investors and a local community together to identify and fund top companies,” said Chance Barnett, CEO of Crowdfunder. “The crowd helped identify 15 top companies in the New York area. Crowdfunder will now be helping these companies meet their fundraising goals through our network of 500 Accredited Investors and funds. Crowdcentric was the ideal partner to lead CROWDFUNDx NYC, as an innovative organization that is extremely well connected and respected in the New York community. We look forward to more collaborations with Crowdcentric in New York, and globally."

CROWDFUNDx NYC also hosted a full day conference on the impact of equity crowdfunding on local businesses and demonstrate how crowdfunding can support business growth and job creation. Featuring crowdfunding experts Sherwood Neiss, Chance Barnett and David S. Rose, more than 250 attendees interacted with thought leaders to discuss the future of crowdfunding.

“Our mission is to help businesses scale through collaboration,” said Toby Daniels, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Crowdcentric. “So partnering with Crowdfunder.com, together with American Express OPEN Forum and Nokia@Work, to host CROWDFUNDx NYC has given us the opportunity to help New York's entrepreneurial and small business community understand the role of crowdfunding and how it can support business growth and job creation. CROWDFUNDx NYC provided a great intersection for the growing startup scene in the city and the recent SEC rulings on crowdfunding.”  

The CROWDFUNDx NYC online contest, conference and live pitch event finale was a collaboration between Crowdcentric and Crowdfunder.com.

CROWDFUNDxNYC Finalists

Social Enterprise

Charity Miles (http://www.crowdfunder.com/charitymiles)

THINX (http://www.crowdfunder.com/shethinx)

Addicaid (http://www.crowdfunder.com/addicaid)

Borne Digital (http://www.crowdfunder.com/bornedigital)

WeDidIt (http://www.crowdfunder.com/wedidit)

Small Business

The Sill (http://www.crowdfunder.com/thesill)

Made in the Lower East Side (http://www.crowdfunder.com/madeinles)

NOOKA Inc. (http://www.crowdfunder.com/nooka)

LoveThyBeast (http://www.crowdfunder.com/lovethybeast)

Startup

Dash (http://www.crowdfunder.com/dashmobile)

SolarList (http://www.crowdfunder.com/solarlist)

RentHackr (http://www.crowdfunder.com/renthackr)

Swishu (http://www.crowdfunder.com/swishu)

Waspit (http://www.crowdfunder.com/waspit)

About Crowdcentric

Crowdcentric creates ways for the world's greatest people and organizations to come together through collaboration and sharing to achieve shared goals and objectives. We envision a future where greater connectivity leads to a more information abundant, prosperous and sustainable world.  Our team is committed towards this goal because it will have a positive and measurable impact on economies and cultures around the world.

Crowdcentric owns and operates Social Media Week, a leading media platform and worldwide event with local presence and global reach across five continents.

About CROWDFUNDx

CROWDFUNDx was created by Crowdfunder.com and empowers local communities or groups to conduct entrepreneurial events which accelerate crowdfund investing across the country and around the world.

Each active city or group has a dedicated online community that powers recurring contests where investors and the crowd come together to identify and fund winning companies.

CROWDFUNDx NYC was done in collaboration with Crowdcentric.

About Crowdfunder

The Venice, CA based crowdfunding platform that brings together entrepreneurs and investors through online communities and local events to fund game-changing businesses and social enterprises.

Crowdfunder has a growing network of 23,000 investors and entrepreneurs and a growing number of local CROWDFUNDx communities in the US and Mexico.

Equity crowdfunding is currently live online among accredited investors on Crowdfunder. You must be verified as an Accredited Investor on Crowdfunder to see their deal and our other investment deals. Sign up (http://crowdfunder.com/user/signup).