Entertainment crowdfunding platform FundingNomad has launched in Canada.

The equity crowdfunding portal allows Canadian investors to back a curated selection of homegrown television, film, direct-to-digital and other entertainment projects. In return for investment, when a project becomes profitable, investors get priority payback and, depending on the structure of the deal, will receive a percentage of the project’s profits.  

FundingNomad, which is based in Toronto, was co-founded in 2015 by the former president of corporate finance firm, Belair Capital Group, Bradley Kerr. Through his Exempt Market Dealer, which was established in 2003, Kerr and his FundingNomad partners have financed entertainment deals including “Mat Franco Magic Reinvented Nightly,” “Rock of Ages Las Vegas” and “Absinthe at Caesar’s Palace.” While Kerr said the bulk of his experience is in financing live theatrical productions, FundingNomad is open to film and TV productions as well.

Kerr told Playback Daily that, in addition to raising funds, the goal of the portal is to help increase exposure for Canadian productions.

“Canada struggles with lack of exposure. It’s a problem not only for the producers in Canada but also for finding investors. By doing this online, we are able to reach investors everywhere, so all of a sudden it makes it easier to fund Canadian projects,” he told Playback Daily.

The Canadian Securities Agency only recently opened up the rules to allow for online equity crowdfunding, said Kerr. It wasn’t until January of last year that the majority of provinces adopted the same Offering Memorandum Exemption model, making rules for online investment relatively consistent (B.C. and Newfoundland still have slightly different versions of the model). 

Both accredited investors and the general public can sign up on FundingNomad and, based on an investor’s status and region, the portal will offer descriptions of different projects that he or she is eligible to invest in and it also controls how much he or she is allowed to invest. (Accredited investors can invest as much as they want in any number of projects, as many times per year as they want. For the general public, or “retail investors,” however, the rules vary. In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec and Nova Scotia, they can invest only $10,000 per year. While those in Manitoba and P.E.I. can invest $10,000 per project and those in B.C. and Newfoundland can invest as much as they want.)

Like many crowdfunding platforms, funding is tied to a goal and investments won’t be accessed until the goal is reached.

While Kerr said the company has a database of past investors who have funded projects through its EMD, it is targetting new (and specifically millennial) investors through a series of marketing initiatives, including social media and search engine marketing. It is also reaching out to the Canadian production community through industry events.

Kerr said FundingNomad has partnerships with producers across North America who refer projects for the portal. It currently has a partly-funded project based on the original Soul Train TV show posted on the platform, with more projects soon to be launched. Kerr added, that projects are vetted for criteria including the experience of the producers, feasibility of the project’s financials, and market demand for the show. Companies submitting projects are also vetted by a third party agency who checks for past financial irregularities.

For those projects that are posted on FundingNomad, Kerr said the producer’s IP is protected in a number of ways, including signed contracts with clear ownership and IP clauses, and the platform limits who is allowed to see the details of any project.

FundingNomad aims to launch within the U.S. and internationally within the next two months, at which point international investors will be able access to Canadian projects, and the platform will also open up to international projects.