PopCom Founder Disrupted Retail Industry; Raised Over $3.5 Million in Equity Crowdfunding and Traditional Funding
Dawn Dickson Launches PopShop Local, a new contactless retail experience. Photo Credit: JehanLLC
PopCom founder and serial entrepreneur Dawn Dickson- Akpoghene has raised over $3.5 million for her startup business ideas using equity crowdfunding. Thanks to the 2012 JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act signed into law by President Obama, Dickson has been able to leverage community support to reach her funding goals.
“I want to be able to create wealth in my community,” Dickson-Akpoghene shared during a 2019 Interview with The Breakfast Club. “That’s what I’m passionate about. I know that the real way to create wealth is through investments. One thing that we don’t know as a people, in general, is that we are kept out of deals because you have to be an accredited investor to invest in early-stage deals.” She adds, “Now there is a way for B
Black-Owned Food Chain Launches Campaign for Community Investment
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Black-owned Supreme Foods Franchising launched a crowdfunding campaign calling for general public investment in a franchise management/development corporation.
Photo credit- BlackNews.com- Facebook
A Black-owned business called Supreme Foods Franchising (SFF) is offering a chance for community investors to help build multigenerational wealth through a shared prosperity concept. According to a press release, the Atlanta-based franchise management corporation aims to become the nation’s first crowd-invested ecosystem for entrepreneurs and investors who are interested in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry. Supreme Food Franchising’s crowdfunding campaign, #SupremeFounders, will reportedly cater to accredited and non-accredited investors. The goal is for the effort to become the largest equity-focused crowdfunding raised to date, for the general public to invest in a Black-owned, global franchise. SF
ICOs and a soon-arriving flood of SEC enforcement investigations
The Securities and Exchange Commission late last month filed charges against the person and entities responsible for two related initial coin offerings (ICOs) that defrauded investors.
See SEC v. ReCoinGroup Foundation, LLC, et al, here.
In the ReCoin case, a typical security offering fraud became far more notable because the vehicle for fraud was two ICO offerings.
ICOs are frequently discussed today as Crowdfunding 2.0. This is a stretch as Crowdfunding was authorized by federal legislation (See Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.
There are no new federal laws designed to foster a marketplace for ICOs. There is regulatory guidance, however, showing ICOs are on the SEC’s radar and that many (and likely most) ICOs are offers and sales of securities.
If Mabry’s club was legendary, so was Mabry herself: 3rd-generation West Oaklander Noni Session remembers her for the annual scholarship she gave out to a C-grade student indicative of caring for those that the system left behind.
Esther’s Orbit Room closed in 2010, and not long after, Mabry herself passed away. The building has been vacant ever since.
But now Session is shepherding a new effort to revitalize the property as an anchor for the revitalization of the entire 7th Street commercial corridor. The plan is to re-open the space as an arts and culture hub, including a gallery space and a performance space, as well as space for incubating food businesses, with three apartment units above. In late March, as executive director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, she reached an agreement to acquire the property for $1.45 million from the current private owners.
Stephen Voss/Redux
Editor s Note: Arlan Hamilton will be appearing at the Inc. Vision Summit on Thursday, March 25.
As one of the first funds to prioritize underrepresented founders, Backstage Capital has long been hailed as an innovator. Now its founder, Arlan Hamilton, is raising money for what could be another breakthrough: hitting the new $5 million crowdfunding limit enacted on Monday.
March 15 marks a key milestone of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act, which then-President Barack Obama authorized to make it easier for small businesses to raise money. The rule change, which was announced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission November 20, sets a $5 million limit for crowdfunding campaigns, up from the previous ceiling of $1.07 million.