[1] Kenney, M. There Are No Easy A’s in Venture Capital These Days. The Wall Street Journal. 2025. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/there-are-no-easy-as-in-venture-capital-these-days-a1c1b27a. [2] Burton M. US seed funding and median round size trends. Crunchbase News. 2024. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://news.crunchbase.com/seed/larger-downturn-funding-rounds-data/
[3] SEC. Regulation Crowdfunding Study. SEC; 2019. (Official discussion of issuer costs: platform fees, legal, accounting, marketing). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.sec.gov/files/regulation-crowdfunding-2019_0.pdf. [4] Crowdfund Capital Advisors. How Much Does a Regulation Crowdfunding Campaign Actually Cost? (empirical issuer cost breakdown: average/median campaign spend on marketing/legal; sample figures). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://crowdfundcapitaladvisors.com/how-much-does-a-regulation-crowdfunding-campaign-actually-cost/.
[5] Investopedia. Crowdfunding: fees and typical ranges (5–12% platform fees + processing/legal/marketing). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdfunding.asp. [6] TechCrunch editorial reporting on startup capital efficiency and the rise of capital-efficient AI-native companies. TechCrunch. 2025. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/07/the-high-costs-and-thin-margins-threatening-ai-coding-startups/. [7] Andreessen Horowitz. Modelbusters / Narrow startup commentary (developer and infra costs have fallen dramatically). a16z; 2024–2025. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://a16z.com/insights-for-enterprise-ai-builders/ [8] Startup Genome. Global Startup Ecosystem Report (on how cloud, open-source, and tooling lowered fixed costs). 2021. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://cdn.startupgenome.com/sites/…/Global_Startup_Ecosystem_Report_GSER_2021.pdf [9] KingsCrowd. 2024 Investment Crowdfunding: Trends, Stats, and Platform Rankings — shows median Reg CF raise and platform-level stats (median raise $114k in 2024). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://kingscrowd.com/2024-investment-crowdfunding-trends-stats-and-platform-rankings/. [10] Crowdfund Capital Advisors. How Much Does a Regulation Crowdfunding Campaign Actually Cost? (gives average campaign sizes and issuer cost context). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://crowdfundcapitaladvisors.com/how-much-does-a-regulation-crowdfunding-campaign-actually-cost/. [11] KingsCrowd. 2024 Investment Crowdfunding: Trends, Stats, and Platform Rankings. KingsCrowd; 2025. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://kingscrowd.com/2024-investment-crowdfunding-trends-stats-and-platform-rankings/. [12] DealMaker official site / product overview (their positioning and product features). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.dealmaker.tech/ [13] KingsCrowd / platform coverage & DealMaker writeups (analysis & platform performance). Example: KingsCrowd — The Flyover on DealMaker Securities 2025. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://kingscrowd.com/the-flyover-on-dealmaker-securities-2025/ [14] DealMaker product pages describing funnel and investor acquisition services. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.dealmaker.tech/equitycrowdfunding [15] Industry writeups on platform economics and why acquiring retail (unaccredited) investors remains costly (Crowdfund Capital Advisors & SEC Reg CF cost discussion). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://crowdfundcapitaladvisors.com/how-much-does-a-regulation-crowdfunding-campaign-actually-cost/ ; https://www.sec.gov/files/regulation-crowdfunding-2019_0.pdf [16] Crowdcube history and European market context (Crowdcube market pages & industry press). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.crowdcube.com/ [17] KingsCrowd / industry reports showing Reg CF expansion in the US and faster recent growth figures (2024–2025). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://kingscrowd.com/2024-investment-crowdfunding-trends-stats-and-platform-rankings/ [18] Crowdcube company performance reporting and press coverage of growth & investor outcomes (Crowdfund Insider / CrowdfundInsider coverage on Crowdcube growth). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2025/02/236542-crowdcube-has-reportedly-returned-to-growth-in-2024/ [19] Crowdcube official site and platform case studies. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.crowdcube.com/ [20] Crunchbase / PitchBook coverage on 2024 deal activity and early-stage capital deployment (aggregate firm activity reporting). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://news.crunchbase.com/seed/us-investment-held-up-forecast-2024/ [21] Companies House filings for Crowdcube Limited (financial reports and filings). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07014587/filing-history [22] Seedcamp 2024 Year in Review report. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://seedcamp.com/views/our-2024-year-in-review/ [23] Balderton’s announcement of early-stage and growth funds. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/balderton-capital-early-stage-growth-fund-europe-startups [24] Atomico closes $1.24B across two funds for early and growth stage. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/08/european-vc-atomico-closes-1-24b-across-two-funds-for-early-and-growth-stage-startups/ [25] Index Ventures raises $2.3B across two new funds. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://vestbee.com/insights/articles/index-ventures-raises-2-3-b-across-two-funds [26] Google Trends (search interest for “equity crowdfunding”)
https://trends.google.com/trends/?q=equity%20crowdfunding. [27] KingsCrowd reporting on Reg CF activity & monthly net commitments (2024–2025). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://kingscrowd.com/markets/ and related monthly funding reports.
[28] Federal Reserve (FRED) — M2 money stock series (official time series data). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL.
[29] Were a large fraction of US Dollars printed since 2020? (explainer). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/53091/were-a-large-fraction-of-us-dollars-in-existence-printed-since-2020. [30] Barron’s / Reuters / Financial Times coverage on investor search for alternatives as inflation outpaces returns (e.g., Barron’s on M2/inflation dynamics). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/m2-money-supply-gain-22b793d5. [31] FT commentary on retail interest in private funds and alternatives. Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.ft.com/content/3a42bba3-4db1-4327-ad5d-fcf75055eb58.
[32] H.R.3339 — Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act of 2025. Congress.gov (text & status). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3339. [33] Press / industry analysis of H.R.3339 (summary & implications). Example: MFDF / RegComplianceWatch coverage (bill passage and implications). Accessed Aug 28, 2025.
https://www.mfdf.org/news-resources/news/2025/08/07/bipartisan-accredited-investor-bill-clears-u.s.-house/.