Crowd-funding and crowd-investing platforms have ballooned in popularity over the past year. What is your assessment of raising capital in this manner?

Fund-raising is perhaps one of the toughest challenges a business or community project faces.
Over the past few years the financial crisis resulted in a tightening of credit, making capital harder to access. These capital sources were often individuals, financial institutions or angel investors to whom the initiator pitched a project in the hope of funding. Often these sources were familiar and local to the initiator.
Technological advancement has transformed the way we communicate. Digital platforms have enabled online communities that offer national, regional and global networking opportunities. In my opinion leveraging online technology is a direct, open and far more “democratic” route to accessing capital.