Sequoia's Prosper and Tim Draper of Silicon Valley Keynote the Alternative Financing Conference

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Feb. 26, 2015 - PRLog -- The conference entitled “Silicon Valley: The Rise of Alternative Finance” will take place in Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA. The conference will draw tech startups and innovators seeking new avenues for funding projects. It will primarily zero in on crowdfunding and online investing as alternative ways for entrepreneurs to source necessary funds to make their idea a reality.

Crowdfunding platforms have seen tremendous growth driven by the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act. This method gives entrepreneurs the chance to pitch to a wider range of individuals through online crowdfunding platforms. Entrepreneurs will be able to see whether or not there is enough genuine interest for their projects, should it reach commercialization, and provide them an additional avenue for financing aside from venture capitalist and angel investors.

Aside from crowdfunding, the event will also look at the advantages of peer to peer lending, which works the same as crowdfunding, except the funds are treated as debt and repaid with interest.

David Drake (http://thesoholoft.com/david/), Founder and Chairman of Victoria Global, The Soho Loft Media Group and LDJ Capital, would also be speaking at the event. As a leading authority of crowdfunding in the real estate space, he thinks that online crowdfunding will be  a major source of capital for startups. “Online crowdfunding platforms raised $2.7 billion in capital in 2012 with expectations that the number would reach $5 billion by 2013, according to a study from crowdfunding-focused research firm Massolution. And these figures will likely continue to rise.”  He further adds, “The global market has seen noteworthy milestones in crowdfunding in recent years, and it  is getting so much bigger than expected. By 2020 the crowdfunding industry will have grown to $1 trillion dollars.”

The event plays host to some of the big names in tech innovation and venture capital. Key speakers include Timothy Draper, founder and managing director of venture capital firm, Draper Fisher Juverston, and serves in the board of Skype, SocialText, Glam MailFrontier and Chroma Graphics.

Joining him will be Richard Swart, Director of Research at the University of California Berkeley, Jason Best, co-founder and partner of Start Up Exemption, and Ron Suber, President of Prosper Marketplace.

Other speakers at the event include:

Aaron Kaplan - Founder of Coincross LLC,  and Associate at Gusrae Kaplan Nusbaum PLLC
Adam Draper - Founder and CEO of Boost Fund LLC
Alon Goren -  CEO and Co-founder of Investedin.com and INVST
Audrey Jacobs - Founder of StandWithUs
Axel Schultze - Founder and CEO of Society3 Group
Brian Korn - Capital Markets Partner at Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips, LLP
Brian Koscak - Partner at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
Candace Klein - Lawyer at Ellenoff Grossman and Schole LLP and  Founder of two startups
Chance Barnet -  CEO of Crowdfunder.com
Chris Tyrell -  Manager of Nehemiah Investments
Craig Cecillio - Founder and President of CCFG Investments and DiversyFund
David Khorram - Founder and business development manager of Crowd Innovators
Denise Thomas - Co-Founder and CEO of  ApplePie Capital
Howard Leondhart - Inventor, Serial Entrepreneur and Executive Chairman and CEO of BioLeonhardt
James Alexander -  Product Management Leader and  Co-Founder of the Alternative Capital Associates
Jason Fritton -  Co-Founder and CEO of the National Alternative Real Estate Lender and Patch of Land
Jason Tripp -  Director of Compliance and Risk Management at PENSCO Trust Company
Jess Perez -  Head of Marketing at EHANG Tech
Joel Block -  CEO OF Bullseye Capital Real Property Opportunity Fund, LLC
John Berlau -  Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Jonathan Frutkin -  Principal at The Frutkin Law Firm
Josef Holm -  Crowdfunding Entrepreneur, Founder and  CEO of Krowdster.co,  and Founder of Tubestart.com
Joseph Barisonzi -  Co-founder and CEO of CommunityLeader, Inc.
Matthew Sullivan -  Founder and CEO of CrowdVenture.com
Michael Markowski - Founder of Global Financial News Network (GFNN, Inc.), CrowdClassifieds.com, Inc., StockDiagnostics.com and the OnlineFinancialSector.com
Richard McCay - CEO and Co-creator of Tieback Realty Finance, Inc. and Co-founder of Tieback Holdings, LLC
Roger Royse -  Founder of Royse Law Firm
Ryan Schneider -  Vice President of Business Development at Self Directed IRA Services, Inc.
Sam Hodges -  Co-Founder and U.S. Managing Director, Funding Circle
Samuel Guzik - Corporate and Securities Attorney, and Founder of Guzik & Associates
Steven Cinelli - Founder of PRIMARQ
Sydney Armani - Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, and Publisher of CrowdFundBeat.com
Vincent Bradley - Co-Founder of FlashFunders
William Skelley - Founder, Chairman and CEO of iFunding

The participants of the event will also get to hear from the major sponsors and exhibitors at the conference: Victoria Global, CrowdfundBeat, Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, Pensco Trust Company, Crowdfunder, Manatt, Boost VC, InvestedIn, Patch of Land, ApplePie Capital, Mosaic, Leverage PR, Self Directed IRA Services, Prosper, Realty Mogul, CrowdVenture, Digital Film Cloud Network, Diversify Fund, Krowdster, Dealstruck, Primarq, Silicon Valley Bank, DFJ, Accredited Investor Markets, Realty XE, Tieback Realty Finance, Crowdsourcing.org,  CrowdFunding Planning, CommunityLeader, Crowdnetic, iFunding, Phoenix American Financial Services, Society3, Dynasty Wealth, DSB Capital Corporation, US-Asia Innovation Gateway and The Soho Loft Media Group.

For more information, visit:

The Soho Loft Sponsors the 3rd Annual Crowdfunding Conferen (http://thesoholoft.com/conferences/the-soho-loft-sponsors...)

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