New ways to leverage #crowdfunding are appearing on what seems like a daily basis. Its almost become regular news for established, mature industries to be disrupted by crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and the sharing economy. We are taking part in a crowdfunding project on Indiegogo that we believe will do the disrupting in the market for equity research. Working with a team at Zacks Investment Research, the second largest independent equity research firm in the United States, we are launching Indie Research by Zacks on Indiegogo. This is a first of its kind, Microcap Stock newletter funded entirely by the crowd.

The purpose of this project is to level the playing field for information in the microcap space between individual investors and the well funded, “in the know” hedge funds and other institutional investors. Backers of the campaign will receive their copy of the Indie Research newsletter two weeks prior to it public release and distribution. Offering individuals who back the campaign an advantage over others acting without knowledge of the research being done.

We encourage you to view the campaign, share it, provide feedback and take part in this exciting opportunity.
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Here are a few lines directly from the campaign:

“The single most important tool that any micro cap investor or trader has in their arsenal is information. Without in-depth information about a micro company, individual investors cannot win versus the hedge funds that trade the same micro cap stocks. The hedge funds pay their own staffs of analysts to provide the fund with objective, unbiased research on micro cap companies of interest. It is only after this intensive research effort has been completed that a hedge fund may decide to invest in the micro cap stock. Individual investors who do not have access to such objective research are at a significant disadvantage. That’s because much of the information available to the individual investor about most micro cap stocks is a “puff piece” created by the investor relations firm employed by the micro cap company.”

“Zacks Microcap Indie Research Newsletter is the first Crowdfunded investment newsletter that will level the playing field between individual investors and the microcap hedge funds. Zacks Indie Research consists of a series of monthly in-depth independent research reports on a group of micro cap stocks selected by Zacks. Each month, subscribers to Zacks Indie Research will receive a new issue of the newsletter that features an in-depth research report on a different micro cap stock, plus updates on the research included in prior issues.”

“Why EKSO?”

“To select EKSO as the company for the first issue of Zacks Indie Research Newsletter, we screened the universe of more than 3,500 micro cap companies that are not followed by any research providers based on market cap, trade volume, industry trends and more. We then looked for a company with a compelling story and found EKSO, a company pioneering new frontiers as they help survivors of spinal cord injury and stroke, or with forms of lower extremity weakness, to walk again.”

“EKSO has also forged partnerships with world-class institutions like UC Berkley, received research grants from the Department of Defense and licensed technology to the Lockheed Martin Corporation. They are in many of the leading rehabilitation facilities throughout the U.S. and host a variety of potential applications in the medical, military, industrial and consumer markets.”