Blog
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Accelerating Start-Ups with the Crowd
Recessions are a prime environment for start-ups to flourish. During the first year of the 2009 recession, more than 550,000 new businesses launched. We wrote about this phenomenon and the rise of crowdfunding during such times. When traditional mechanisms fail, we see alternative financing sources spring up. This also goes for business support networks. Incubating… -
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A Market for Green Infrastructure
A few weeks ago, we wrote a blog about green infrastructure and how it can help cities adapt to weather events and protect our water sources. Most urban areas consist of impervious surfaces, think of the roads, sidewalks, parking lots, and roofs that surround us. These surfaces can get dirty with oil, sediment, and trash.… -
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Green Infrastructure can do it all, if only we let it
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For years, FEMA has been criticized for deflating flood risk to prevent insurance rates from skyrocketing. In late June, First Street published a new report exposing hidden flood risk throughout the United States. Compared to FEMA risk data, First Street identified millions of additional properties at risk of flood damage. For example, FEMA’s report shows… -
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Millennial Trends in Investing and Infrastructure Crowdfunding
What happens to a generation raised during the greatest recession the world had ever experienced? It produces generational trends that starkly contrast with previous generations. Generation X trusted large institutions and believed in owning houses by the age of 28. Millennials are increasingly turning away from banks and renting apartments. Beyond these trends, there are…
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Turning Infrastructure on It’s Head with New Business Models
The public investment and ownership model for infrastructure assets isn’t working anymore. As the infrastructure funding gap increases, it’s time for us to find and invest in new business models for constructing and maintaining key infrastructure assets. This means looking for new revenue streams and rethinking life cycle costs. We often think about private investment…
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Evaluating ConTech for your next Investment
In 2015 and again in 2020, the SEC published new rulings that allow companies to offer and sell securities through online portals. This ruling gave birth to regulation crowdfunding. Investment opportunities, once restricted to banks and venture capital firms, opened to millions of individuals. Since then, dozens of crowdfunding platforms have registered with the SEC… -
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Democratize Investments in ConTech and Drive Industry Innovation
In 2016, McKinsey published a scathing report of the construction industry. As compared to other industries, the report found that the construction industry had not only stagnated in terms of productivity, it was declining. In addition to that, the construction industry had the least amount of digitization. The only sector to lag behind construction was… -
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Infrastructure Industries are ready for COVID Stimulus Funds
COVID-19 has highlighted many, once (nearly) invisible, issues. Inequality in our communities. Lack of healthcare capacity. The negative effects of isolation. While these issues are now widely discussed, there is one issue that has remained obvious for years: the United States needs to invest in critical infrastructure systems. Prior to COVID, the United States was…
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Closing the Racial Wealth Gap with Crowdfunding
Like many of you, we’ve spent the last few weeks grappling with the roots and current state of social unrest throughout the country. As part of better understanding the underlying tensions of the racial divides in America, we have focused on the ways in which InfraShares can be a mechanism for reducing inequalities by building…
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Crowdfunding and Recessions: Two Peas in a Pod?
During recessions, banks and institutional investors, once eager to take on smaller projects and riskier ventures, tighten their lending standards and slow down investment outflows. The government can counteract these trends with loan programs and credit enhancements. But, during a recession, these dollars dry-up quickly, leaving businesses reeling. Even under these conditions, recessions can catalyze…
