Fayetteville, AR, Sept. 17, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EquityNet is announcing the release of its new, free interactive crowdfunding resources at (www.equitynet.com/crowdfunding-resources.aspx).  The new resource center includes business valuation and risk analysis tools, interactive industry, geography, and trend charts, and a large crowdfunding glossary.  Entrepreneurs, investors, fund managers, journalists, policy makers, and researchers in academia alike can now analyze and track many aspects of the business crowdfunding market using EquityNet's unique tools and eight years of platform trends and statistics.

"This is an exciting new addition to our platform, and these new resources provide anyone with an interest in crowdfunding a clear and concise view of the business crowdfunding landscape, as well as help entrepreneurs prepare to start a crowdfunding campaign, " says Judd Hollas, Founder and CEO of EquityNet.  "As an industry leader, it is necessary for us to educate and inform all who wish to participate in this constantly evolving industry," he adds.

EquityNet has operated the longest running business crowdfunding platform and has trends and statistics based on over 5,000 businesses that used EquityNet's platform from 2007 to 2014.  EquityNet's new crowdfunding charts allow anyone to discover research statistics about the crowdfunding market using EquityNet's unique platform data.  Visitors can view over ten business attributes that are segmented by industry sector, geography, and eight-year trends, including funding goals, funding raised, valuations, investor equity, prior and current year revenue, revenue growth rates, market size and growth rates, and company age and number of employees.

"Our new crowdfunding charts provide an interactive solution to access a wealth of knowledge pertaining to private companies that utilize business crowdfunding," says Josh Eno, CTO of EquityNet.  "For example, a visitor can evaluate and compare funding goals, revenue growth rates, and market growth rates between multiple industries and in all regions of the country."

Dr. Richard Swart, Director of Research at the Coleman Fung Institute, stated, "EquityNet's crowdfunding resources are invaluable for the study of the crowdfunding industry, the development of fundraising strategies by entrepreneurs, and investment strategies for investors.  EquityNet is setting the standard for crowdfunding platforms by making such detailed and compelling data available for all to utilize."

EquityNet's crowdfunding tools include valuation and startup risk calculators that help entrepreneurs determine if they're on the right track as they prepare to raise capital and pursue their business opportunities.  The Business Valuation Calculator asks entrepreneurs questions that deal with their industry sector, their current cash and other assets, current liabilities, estimated annual revenue now and in five years, and estimated operating profit now and in five years.  The calculator immediately estimates the business' valuation and compares it to the average of peer businesses in the same industry sector.

The Startup Risk Calculator asks questions chosen from the wide-ranging list of questions used in EquityNet's patented business planning and analysis software Enterprise Analyzer™, and the calculator's results helps entrepreneurs better understand how to improve their odds of business success.  Entrepreneurs answer questions that deal with amount of capital investment, difficulty in obtaining funds, quality of financial management, degree of business planning, annual industry growth rate, management experience, and industry experience.  The Calculator immediately generates the company's odds for success (defined as the business still operating) within a given timeframe identified by the business owner.  The results are based on real-world data gathered by EquityNet from over 500,000 businesses across North America.

EquityNet's new crowdfunding terminology page is a large and constantly growing resource of terminology common to the crowdfunding industry.  These comprehensive pages of terminology are educational, help to alleviate confusion around new terms and principals, and explain some of the legal language within crowdfunding.

To use EquityNet's new crowdfunding resources visit:  www.equitynet.com/crowdfunding-resources.aspx

                                                                                   www.equitynet.com/crowdfunding-tools.aspx

                                                                                   www.equitynet.com/crowdfunding-charts.aspx

                                                                                   www.equitynet.com/crowdfunding-terminology.aspx

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About EquityNet

EquityNet has operated the world's leading business crowdfunding platform since 2005.  The multi-patented EquityNet platform has been used by over 45,000 individual entrepreneurs and investors, incubators, government entities, and other members of the entrepreneurial community to plan, analyze, and capitalize privately-held businesses.  EquityNet provides access to thousands of investors and has helped entrepreneurs across North America raise over $240 million in equity, debt, and royalty-based capital.  For more information, visit www.equitynet.com.

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